What to look for in the best sports bra resistant for the gym

A sports bra is an essential part of the fitness kit – as anyone who has bads will say.

Breasts can be a serious obstacle to a successful workout if they are not well attached.

Too much rebound can be embarrbading, uncomfortable, painful and even cause long-term damage to the bad tissue, back and shoulders.

But does your sports bra really do enough work? A former sports bra tester explained why so many bras on the market are not up to standard – and all of this is due to an "upward movement".

"Few people know that some sports bras are tested under laboratory conditions. It was my job, "said Mari Thomas at Metro.co.uk.

"I worked in a laboratory doing experiments on different models of sports bras. Many of the world's leading sports brands have visited our Loughborough University facility to evaluate the effectiveness of their design. "

But how would you effectively test sports bras? Is it just jumping up and down and monitoring the jiggle levels? Not exactly.

"The tests would involve recruiting women of different sizes who were not afraid to run on a treadmill with their sports bra," explains Mari.

"Motion capture sensors would be placed over most of the chest to measure movement. The bigger the movement, the better the performance of this bra will be. "

One of the main things to remember about Mari as a sports bomber tryer was to understand the complexity of how bads move when we are active.

Mari says that too many consumers – and manufacturers – only focus on the downward movement of the bad – but when we run, jump, spin or play sports, our bads have their own ideas.

"Breasts move in all kinds of directions, not just down. Even when you make a repetitive movement, like running, "says Mari.

"They complete a three-dimensional figure of eight when they run up and down, side by side and in and out.Thus, making a sports bra that only seeks to reduce downward movement is a short-sighted concept. and exceeded.

"It is very important to reduce the downward movement of the bad.

"The Cooper's ligament in the chest can stretch and lie down if subjected to sufficient downward force for a long time, but if our bads are allowed to travel upwards to start, this allows for a longer great distance of descent.

"After all, what goes up must come down.

"Our bads consist of many components, and the ligament of Cooper is one of them. It extends from the clavicle to the deep fascia of the bads and helps shape the bads.

"It is important to prevent excessive stretching of the Cooper ligament to reduce sagging and pain in the bad. Sports bras will help minimize this risk as they can reduce chest movements by up to 95% during exercise. "

It is a solid logic: if your bads rise higher when we run, the downward force will be greater. It makes sense to limit this movement completely.

And Mari says that it's not just stretching the ligaments. Wearing the wrong sports bra can also affect performance.

"Having insufficient support can also affect our pace," explains Mari.

"I compare that to running with a backpack on my back. This is not a problem when we walk, but as soon as you start running, the game is completely different.

'If the bag is not attached to move to the rhythm of your body, it will throw your racing pace.

"It's because the backpack reaches its lowest possible position later than your body, it has a delayed motion relative to your body."

Breast discomfort and excessive movement is one of the main deterrents for women – and all people who have bads – to exercise.

Mari launched her own line of sports bras in 2018 to help solve this problem, with an emphasis on upward and downward movements.

"I had the idea of ​​the Overband® bra about five years before I even started MAAREE.

"I used to run and think about myself; "This bra would be perfect if only it kept things from climbing too."

"By combining my own experience with what I learned from my sports bra tester job, I could not understand why no one was solving this problem.

"I thought someone would eventually do it. However, the years pbaded and I got tired of waiting. So I started sewing prototypes at home to see if my concept was true.

"When I made my very first sports bra with the Overband® prototype, I noticed a marked improvement in my design.

"So I designed two bras for my first collection; the Solidarity high-impact sports bra and the Empower medium-impact sports bra.

"This is a radical change in the current offer in the market and I was not sure anyone would understand the problem I'm trying to solve. No one has yet shed light on this aspect of sports bras.

"Many companies will try to improve bras by making them tighter and tighter, which can affect the user's breathing. While I treat the problem differently.

"Fortunately, I could not be happier with the answer I got to date. I have already received so many messages saying how much people love my bras and how they even changed their lives. & # 39;

As an active woman, Mari knows how crucial it is to find the perfect sports bra. She wants to make it easier for people to find something that suits them and helps them feel good and comfortable.

"It's extremely important to be aware of the support of your chest and your comfort when you train," says Mari.

The purchase of a sports bra should be an experience similar to the one you have chosen for your running shoes. You would not want to leave the store with a pair that would bother you or was not the right size.

"It's a very important piece of equipment that is used for something and wearing a poorly performing bra can be detrimental to our body.

"It's not always easy to feel how much our bads move when we're active, because we do not run in front of a mirror most of the time.

"So I would ask you to check yourself regularly by placing your hands just above the bads when you're active, to feel the amount of movement you're feeling."