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Working out at the gym in your favorite cotton T-shirt and cut-off sweatpants is a lot like playing
tennis with a wooden racquet: You’ll be doing a lot more work than you ought to.
“To continue the analogy, the new generation of workout wear is a graphite racquet,”
says Lew Applebaum, president of Summit Knitting Mills, a major fabric supplier. “It’s
high performance. It’ll make you better at whatever you’re doing, whether it’s
running, lifting weights, or using exercise machines. If you’re still wearing 100 percent
cotton, you either don’t care or haven’t been out shopping for a while.”
What’s wrong with old-fashioned gym clothes?
Two things: Cotton retains one-and-a-half times its weight in sweat, turning you into a wet rat
after 30 minutes on the Lifecycle; also, cotton garments don’t assist your muscles.
By contrast, modern moisture-management fabrics such as Cool-Max are dryer against your skin, more
comfortable, and are better at fighting off infection. They keep your body cooler when it’s hot, warmer when it’s cold, and dryer all the time. Nearly every company has a proprietary technology that pulls moisture from your skin and helps it evaporate quickly at the garments’ surface layer, so that it dries quick enough to avoid a chill.
Why performancewear rules
Another function of “performancewear” is that it assists your muscles. The original
performancewear, Bike Athletic’s Compression Shorts, circa 1985,
protect muscles and male genitals by keeping everything from flopping around. Another big plus:
Wash it and hang it to dry and performancewear is ready to go the next day, a boon for the
dedicated fitness enthusiast.
Nike Team Dry-Fit Singlet
Cost: $25
Thumbnail: So light that you almost feel bare-chested, this minimalist running tank has large,
airy scoops for arms, shoulders, and lats. It is ideal for aerobic animals who spend an hour on
the treadmill or elliptical machine. The fabric is a mini-mesh of Dri-Fit, a 100 percent
microfiber polyester circular knit that speeds the transport of sweat from your skin to the
outside of the garment, where it evaporates faster. For this reason, the Team also makes an
effective base layer for cycling and colder-weather outdoor activities.
Asics MR 917 CoolMax Tank
Cost: $26
Thumbnail: Providing fuller coverage than a singlet, this sleeveless tank is ideal for circuit
trainers because it eliminates the clammy, unsanitary feeling of bare shoulders contacting the
dirty vinyl pads of weight benches, sit-up racks, and sit-down weight machines. CoolMax, like
Dri-Fit, wicks moisture away from the skin. The MR 917 works well for cycling and other outdoor
routines because it combines open-armpit ventilation with sun protection.
Hind Munich Short
Cost: $30
Thumbnail: Don’t want to show it all off, especially while getting a post-workout latte at the
corner Starbucks? This loose-fitting short is great for team sports such as basketball as well as
regular gym use. The design features two side seam pockets, an elastic waistband and drawstring,
and a back credit card pocket. It’s made of comfy ProCore, a quick-drying rayon/polyester/Lycra blend that looks like cotton and feels even softer.
Hind Drylete Animal Short
Cost: $23
Thumbnail: These skin-tight shorts provide almost full-thigh coverage with a 10-inch inseam,
drawstring waist, and gripper elastic on the leg openings. It’s made of fast wicking and drying DryLete, a moisture-management fabric composed of Hind’s proprietary blend of polyester, Hyfro-nylon, and Lycra spandex.
Bike Athletic Compression Performance shorts
Cost: $25
Thumbnail: The granddaddy of performance athletic apparel, this product has been copied so much
since it was invented 15 years ago that the term compression short has become generic. But even
today, none do a better job of providing the thigh muscles with the pressure and support that
keeps them warm and protected from pulls. The key is a two-way stretch nylon-Lycra spandex that
moves side-to-side, not up-and-down. This shields leg muscles from jarring and fatigue, like a big
athletic bandage wrap. A crotch panel of reversed two-way stretch gives men’s privates lateral
stability. They can be worn alone or under loose-fitting shorts, NBA-style.
Two other Bike-brand products I recommend, though they’re not available online, are the
Maximum Performance Short (model #MPS4; $32.50) and the Athletic Supporter Underwear ($10.50 to
$18.50). The MPS4 uses Dupont’s super-strong Lycra Power material, and is targeted at runners,
basketball and tennis players whose muscles experience a great deal of impact-born vibration.
It’s claimed to reduce fatigue and improve performance up to 12 percent more than regular
compression shorts. Also, men will love Bike’s Supporter. It’s underwear on steroids.
Combining a jock strap with a compression short, the ASU is a veritable underwire bra for
genitalia.
Smartwool Cross Train Mini Crew socks
Cost: $8.50
Thumbnail: Okay, 11 bucks is a lot to pay for socks. But we aren’t pulling the wool over your
eyes—your feet and your locker-room neighbors will thank you for it. Made of a blend of 10
percent nylon and 90 percent Smartwool (a special breed, long-strand, itch-free Australian merino
wool), these socks don’t stink—even after several days without washing. This wool not only inhibits fungus, blisters, and odor, but supposedly wicks sweat away 275 times faster than
synthetic materials and holds it within its fibers, so the insides of your shoes don’t get soaked.
Adidas Mercury Crosstrainer ($100)
Remember 1990, when crosstrainers zoomed to popularity on the multisport coattails of
football and baseball star Bo Jackson? It wasn’t long before the public discovered that
crosstrainers were just “okay” for everything—not as good for running a 10k as
running shoes, or as good for an afternoon of basketball as basketball shoes. As the dream of
an uber-shoe faded, so did sales.
Today, the crosstrainer has a more realistic niche: a health-club dilettante good for a
little (not a lot) of everything. One of the best is Adidas’ stunning, all-silver Mercury.
It has a wide-bottomed forefoot and heel for standing and lifting dumbbells, enough
lateral stability for a game of racquetball, enough flexibility for 20 to 30 minutes on a
stairclimber or treadmill, and—if you’re single—enough eye-catching style to
make a statement. With its synthetic mesh upper, lining of Climalite (a moisture-wicking
material), and Adidas’ “Feet You Wear” podular sole (which segments the sole
into ergonomic pods that try to replicate the dexterity of a naked foot), this shoe feels as
cool as it looks.
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