FIT PLANET ARTICLE: SPORTS BRAS – by Les Mills
Surprising reasons you need a good sports bra + 5 steps to the perfect fit.
“It’s like wearing a cactus, painful, distracting and never a vibe.” Dannielle Lally, Fitness Presenter
Fitness presenter Dannielle Lally says wearing an ill-fitting sports bra can sabotage any workout. It’s not just the discomfort, science suggests badly fitting bras can seriously derail your training progress.
Everyday millions of movers suffer through their workouts in an ill-fitting bra. A survey of UK female athletes, found 51% experienced breast pain during their training and 29% believed an ill-fitting bras affected their performance. When these athletes were individually assessed and fitted with a sports bra, 97% of those wearing the prescribed bra reported greater comfort, fit and support, while 17% said it significantly improved their performance.
Running better, becoming more agile, improving posture and moving with greater confidence … these are some of the performance benefits that go hand-in-hand with a well- fitting sports bra.
The importance of a well-fitting sports bra comes down to the fact that breasts are such a unique part of our anatomy. There are no muscles in the breast, simply glandular and adipose tissue, blood vessels and fragile connective tissue (known as Cooper’s ligaments). This means our breasts have minimal internal support, so when the body moves there is little to control how our breasts move too.
And they can move a lot. Together with breast health expert –Professor Joanna Wakefield-Scurr and the University of Portsmouth – found that when you run, your breasts can move up to 19cm and could experience the same G force as an F1 driver!
Such significant movement can overstretch the breast tissue which is thought to cause damage and breast pain. When breasts are insufficiently supported during exercise it affects the body’s kinetics, compromising physical performance. For example, researchers found recreational runners seemed to adopt inefficient technique and take shorter strides when wearing unsupportive sports bras. According to a recent study, simply starting to wear the right sports bra could increase running performance by seven percent. Wearing insufficiently supportive sports bra may also affect the way other parts of your body move. Some believe it forces your upper body to work harder so you fatigue faster.
In some cases, breathing frequency can be altered, and there is even evidence to suggest that a lack of breast support can affect ground reaction forces, so the impact of landing on the ground is greater, increasing risk of leg injury.
“A bra needs to be a best friend. Any sign of discomfort it’s an immediate red flag.” Dannielle Lally, Fitness Presenter
Anna Murphy, senior manager of brand and product learning at adidas says the most common misconception about sports bras is where the support comes from. “People always assume that most of the support comes from the shoulder straps, but that’s not the case. The underband is where 80% of a sports bra’s support comes from.” With this in mind, checking the band fit is the first priority, because there’s no point in checking the rest of the bra if the band’s not right.”
Fit check: 5 steps to check your sports bra fit
Top tip:
When trying on a new bra always fit it on the loosest setting. This allows you test the fit at its biggest. You can always adjust to a tighter setting after a little bit of wear and tear.