Gear up: Some body parts require greater support

That’s it, I’m not going jogging anymore!” The 27-year-old housewife, who doesn’t want to be named, made the announcement to her husband as she walked in through the front door in a huff. She’d been putting on weight steadily after childbirth and it was he who suggested that she start going running in the morning. So after much procrastination, she finally got up at the crack of dawn and got out there. But less than five minutes into brisk-walking for warming-up, she noticed fellow joggers and morning walkers sniggering at her. Why was that? “Well, why do you think?” she barked at her husband. “If your chest size was 40D and you were sprinting across the streets , they’d be sniggering at you too.”

But, the young woman needn’t have stopped jogging. She should have just invested in a sports bra designed to cater to large women. And not just to prevent people from smirking. Says Preetom Mukherjee Roy, fitness consultant with the gyms Bodyline in Salt Lake and Solace in Sunny Park, Calcutta, “While exercising or engaging in sports activities, some parts of the body require special attention as far as protective clothing is concerned. This is because some areas ? like the eyes, head, feet, and for men the groin and for women the breasts ? are more prone to injury.”

Sports bras, which are designed to fit tightly around the upper part of the torso, for instance, provide extra support to muscle mass in the breasts and help reduce the possibility of muscle strain or pull while doing exercises that involve jumpy or jerky movements. Made of cotton or synthetic material like lycra, these are elasticated, but unlike regular bras, are meant to flatten out, rather than simply provide contour support.

Another gender-specific sports apparel is the ‘athletic supporter’ or ‘jock strap’, known simply as ‘bikes’ in India. These are extra-support underwear for men, made of a blend of cotton and lycra. These are designed to keep muscles from sagging in order to help prevent injury while jogging, running swimming, weight-training, etc. According to Mukherjee Roy, all boys and men should wear these to prevent hernia or other related disorders from setting in.

The importance of the right shoes to reduce the negative effect of jogging or running on a hard surface on the body (knees, shin, feet, etc.) cannot be over-emphasised. A well-designed pair is one that fits well around the arch, providing adequate cushioning and a good grip.

Sports socks have extra padding and doesn’t just help take the pressure off heels and toes, but acts as an auxiliary aid to shoes, by absorbing the shock of impact. It goes without saying that these help reduce the incidence of foot injury or nerve damage.

Many gym-goers complain of calluses, corns and abrasions that form on hands and palms. This happens when exercisers repeatedly grip bars, dumbbells, etc. To prevent this, they should wear specially-designed ‘exercise gloves’ that have added padding. These are designed to provide better grip, preventing hands from slipping off bars and weights from dropping.

While headbands are designed primarily to prevent sweat from dripping into eyes, wristbands have a specific support purpose. These strengthen the wrists so those individuals involved in sports or exercise regimens, which presuppose a certain amount of wrist-strength ? as in racket games or weight-training ? should find this item of use.

To market, to market

• According to Mukherjee Roy, to get international brands of quality, the best bets are the retail outlets located in various parts of the city. Stores like Bodyline Sports on Ballygunge Circular Road and the older G.K. Sports on Kyd Street stock sports apparel. You can also check out the shops retailing sports goods and clothing in shopping malls.

• The price of sports bras (international brands) ranges from Rs 800 to Rs 1,200.

Imported jock straps cost between Rs 500 to Rs 800. Indian-made brands are cheaper and are priced at Rs 100 to Rs 300.

• Good quality shoes (international brands) are expensive and cost anywhere between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000. Often more.

• Padded socks range from Rs 150 to Rs 200 a pair.

• Exercise gloves (imported), which are made of a blend of leather and spandex, cost between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000 a pair.

• While the lower range wristbands can start as low as Rs 100 a pair, the higher-range imported brands are no less than between Rs 300 and Rs 500 a pair.

 

Clothes that breathe

• Pilates expert Mrinalini Mukherjee too emphas- ises the importance of body-hugging apparel during exercise or sporting activity. She says, “Pilates works on the principle that in order to strengthen muscles in the entire body, you need to build up and strengthen muscles in the central body.” While tight-fitting clothes help support muscle-mass, wearing loose-fitting clothes during exercise interferes with body movements. Mukherjee says that during workouts clothes should be like second-skin. She recommends wearing close-fitting comfortable cotton “for our climate” because it helps the skin to breathe.

• “Achieving balance through a controlled movement of body and breath is the basis of pranayama and hathayoga,” says Madhav Kumar Nag, director of the Sivananda Saraswati Insti- tute of Yoga in Calcutta. “The kind of clothing you wear during yogic exercis- es is vital to achieving this balance. It should be an aid and not a hindrance”. He too votes for cotton because it breathes. Shor- ts, fitting-shirts, leotards and “anything which mak- es you feel positive and in control,” should work.