High Tech Workout Gear Can Boost Performance

Is it better to look good than to feel good? Is there a correlation between looking good and feeling good? Washington Post writer Carolyn Butler seems to think so. Butler is a recent convert from ratty T shirt to shiny and costly "athletic apparel," and she reports on the surprising rewards of just looking more fit. Butler also finds backup in academia, in the form of exercise physiologist Thomas Altena of Missouri State University. "There’s no doubt that better-quality, more comfortable athletic clothing can have benefits, from both a physical and psychological standpoint,” Altena tells her. “It’s like cars: Until you get into the high-tech gear, you don’t really know what you’re missing.” Delia Roberts, an exercise physiologist with the American College of Sports Medicine, tells Butler that the right material will help regulate your body temperature, which can affect heart function, which in turn influences how difficult you perceive an activity to be. Roberts points out that compression garments, alleged to improve blood circulation, may also boost athletic performance — although probably not for the reason manufacturers state. She points to research published this year in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, which found no evidence that positive effects of compression tights are due to increased blood flow. Rather, she says, benefits may stem from the fact that these tight pants, shorts and other clothes reduce muscle vibration and provide additional muscle support during a workout.

Read more in the Washington Post.