I have had some opportunities to do some additional “experiments” with the clothing items I purchased as Christmas presents to myself. The items turned out very well and all of them were purchased at a very reasonable price. Today I have been working out in the green Tesla running tights, doing my usual stationary rowing and bike riding along with a little weightlifting.
In the case of swim briefs, the question or issue that always comes up is what is the proper or correct size? I realize that a lot of guys have a good deal of apprehension about wearing any swimming brief period let alone swim briefs that are undersized.
An interesting question is whether this same apprehension is of concern when a guy contemplates wearing running tights, and whether guys are scared of undersizing or even getting a correct fit in the same way that guys are fearful of close-fitting swim briefs.
The past ten years has seen some very interesting changes in men’s fashion. Guys everywhere wore very loose-fitting jeans and usually equally loose fitting boxer shorts. Then almost overnight, snug-fitting jeans came into fashion, and these have only gotten snugger and more body conforming. And the denim now stretches. Cuffs on some of my jeans from PacSun measure only 11 inches and I would have trouble getting my feet through them were it not for the fact that the denim itself stretches a lot. I really like the fit, which is close to the fit of a running tight especially in the calves and thighs.
Then there are the real running tights. I too am uncertain whether these are meant to be won with loose-fitting shorts over or whether they are meant to be worn without a cover of that sort. It seems to me that varies by manufacturer. Some running tights have a more obvious pouch or even an open fly, and I presume that those would be worn with looser-fitting shorts over. But the Tesla ones I just got are cut fairly flat in front, and they strike me as being fine to wear to the gym without any other cover in the groin area.
Then there is the sizing question. The whole point of compression gear is compression, and to me it seems like it is better to err on the side of undersizing than oversizing. I really like the look, fit and feel of these one size down. I suggested that buyers downsize on the Amazon review and I got a question from a customer who was buying them for her son who was 5’9 and 140 lbs, and she wondered if the best size was a SM or a MED. I told her it depends how snug a fit he wants, but I was 5’10” and 150 lbs and SM fit me fine.
Today, I wore the green ones alone but then decided to see how they would feel with a pair of snug gold football pants over (wonderful) and I worked out some in that combination. Tonight it is cooler and I am wearing them under sweat pants. I love the feel. They have somehow made me feel happy all day long.
Whether some guys have the same body issues wearing Lycra® running tights that they have with wearing swim briefs is an interesting question. There seems to be less of a debate on the Internet over that topic. But I can’t help but sense that some guys might also experience a similar “problem”.
Still snug-fitting compression gear like this seems to be increasingly popular, riding the wave not only of other snug-fitting gear such as compression tees and shorts and also the general rend toward very snug-fitting jeans. This is a very interesting turn of events.
To be continued…