The sweat stings your eyes. You’re soaked from head to toe and smell like a week-old egg salad sandwich. As you’re panting heavily and catching your breath, you wonder “what happened?” Oh, you just finished a workout. And you picked grey for your shirt color? No one wants to see those sweat stains man, no one. Rarely do we find ourselves looking our best when exercising rigorously. We do it to feel good now and look good later on. But what about looking good now? While you’re slogging through that 10k run or in the middle of that bench press? There hasn’t been many viable solutions yet, as many have tried and failed, due to the difficult task of balancing performance and aesthetics. Until now.
Tops
Tank
A sleeveless top to show off your massive gains bro! Alright, I’ve reached my gym lingo quota for the day. A tank top leaves your arms as mobile as possible with complete freedom of movement for any activities. Having a free range of motion for your arms is imperative for just about any gym exercise to be performed correctly. Now you can flex those hard-earned biceps for the gir… aaahh… I can’t do it anymore.
Gloves
Not really a top, but whatever. Gloves are purely a functional piece in the workout wardrobe to protect your hands from building callouses. However, unless you’re a hand model, we recommend staying away from workout gloves. They don’t look very cool and you get a closer, thus better, grip on any equipment with your bare hands.
T-Shirt
If you want to keep things low-key, cover the arms with a t-shirt. Since it sometimes gets cold in the gym, more coverage means you keep your arms warm AND it can prevent chaffing your skin on equipment with certain exercises. Look for a polyester build as cotton will soak up all your sweat and will stay damp and soggy on your skin. Compression shirts are a wise choice as they can keep your joints and muscles warm, increase blood flow, and wick away sweat. Just stay away from greys, they’ll make your sweat stains stand out like a sore thumb.
Sweater
Seriously? Yes, sweaters are great functional wear while exercising. They can accelerate the warm-up process by keeping you toasty throughout your routine. Also, the thick material provides great padding for heavy lifting exercises such as squats and Olympic lifts as well as chaffing resistance.
Bottoms
Track Pants
Used most commonly as a layer over shorts before a race or competition, track pants are also now popular at the gym for guys that don’t want to wear shorts. The most popular options today are the soccer-style pants with a slim leg and zip-up at the calf for easy removal. The pants should have enough stretch in the material for you to perform all your exercises and movements as if you were wearing shorts. And don’t use these to hide when you skip leg day, we’ll know. Never skip leg day.
Shorts
The most common type of clothing at a gym, shorts are fantastic for ventilation and mobility compared to pants. A good length for workout shorts should be at mid-thigh level because it provides great mobility and does not have any bulky extra material. Longer shorts should only cut off above the knee and no lower. Anything beyond that and we’re entering pants territory. No short shorts either. We don’t want to be invited to your public indecency party.
Tights
“Meggings”, “Mandex”, the list of terrible nicknames go on, but they are indeed tights for men. As a recent trend, you see all kinds of professional athletes endorsing them due to the benefits they provide to such an important part of your leg movements: Warmth, blood flow, and recovery. Many people wear their compression clothing underneath a pair of shorts to not expose their manhood to the general public, as well as to not be mistaken as a yoga pants model.
Footwear
Training Shoes
Built for a variety of exercises, training shoes are built lower to the ground and possess a wide-based sole for improved balance. The soles are usually flexible for dynamic movements during cross-training use as well. Just promise you won’t get those toed-shoes that look like gloves for feet. It should be self-explanatory.
Weightlifting Shoes
A unique product that is built solely for one purpose, weightlifting shoes are made to help you lift heavy things, including all your groceries in one trip. They have a raised heel to take pressure off the front of your foot and to get the front of your body lower under the lifting bar. In addition, they have straps along the forefoot to lock down your feet for additional balance.
Running Shoes: More common outside the gym than inside, to be honest, running shoes have made their way into mainstream fashion while still being a staple in the exercising world. Shock-absorbent foam runs along the sole to provide cushioning for every step while running or walking. There are usually two options in regards to the sole, either a thick cushioning for long distance runs or a more flexible one with grooves for a natural stride. Stylistically, running shoes have recently received an upheaval in fluorescent colors, mainly because of a fashion touch as well as being visible during nighttime runs.
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