Does Attire Influence Your Sports Performance And Recovery?

Athletes and sportspersons endorsing sportswear brands often make us wonder if sports attire is more of a fashion statement. 

However, what many of us might not know is that the right kind of attire can significantly influence or impact the performance of athletes.

How is sportswear different from regular wear?

Plain t-shirts, Army T-shirts, track pants, or hoodies are comfortable and look good. But they are not meant for high-intensity workouts or sports. 

They don’t make us feel comfortable when we sweat it out or help preserve the heat of our body as much as we would like them to. Cotton t-shirts are notorious for getting drenched in sweat in no time, weighing us down. Sportswear is made keeping all these factors in mind and more. Sportswear ensures proper fit and movement of the muscles and helps them recover faster. Now there is specially made sportswear which helps regulate blood pressure and body temperature!

How does sportswear ensure optimum performance?

Some athletes claim that their performance level dips when they are not wearing their favorite sportswear. This may sound overkill to most, yet they are actually correct. If there are unusual patterns in movement or are plagued by climatic changes, injuries can happen suddenly. Sportswear ensures proper movement patterns to increase stability, keeping them mobile for best performance. They support the muscle groups in your body the way it is meant to be, providing maximum protection from injuries. For example, let’s consider the case of a powerlifter; they lift heavy weights and are vulnerable to career-threatening injuries. How does sportswear help them? By properly supporting the muscle groups, sportswear helps them practice the motion over and over again. The neutral memory of repeatedly performing the sets helps develop a correct posture of the exercise in training. This practice helps in reducing chances of injury later. There is sportswear which is specially designed and helps increase blood flow. Our muscles need blood to perform at their peak, and with this increased blood flow, the performance remains at the optimum level.

Sportswear for recovery

We already discussed how sportswear can help in improving performance and reducing injuries. How does sportswear help in recovery? There is a particular phenomenon called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) that happens after the workout. When an athlete trains in sportswear, it is noticed that incidence of DOMS and post-workout cramps are reduced noticeably. Sportswear helps in maintaining proper blood flow to the muscles. We have noted this feature of sportswear earlier, and with the flow of blood, nutrients reach the muscles properly. Some sportswear manufacturers are now pushing the limit and developing novel products that incorporate infrared material that helps regulate the body temperature, pain relief, and accelerated recovery from post-workout stress.

To wrap up, we can say that sportswear helps in improving the performance of athletes, helps them avoid injuries, and speed up recovery. With time as more features are incorporated in sportswear, it will help push the level of performance even further.