Your Sporting Must-Have - A Great-fitting Sports Bra!

What’s the big deal?

Ever wondered if you actually need that sports running bra and if you can get away with your old t-shirt bra or crop top instead?   Read on to discover why buying a great-fitting sports bra could be one of the best decisions you could ever make! 

 

 

It sounds like a serious start to this article, but a great-fitting, supportive sports bra is vital for the long-term health of breast tissue and helps prevent irreversible damage.

Breast tissue is attached to the chest by Cooper’s Ligaments, which help to keep your breasts lifted and shaped. If you don’t wear a good-fitting sports bra during exercise, the weight of the tissue combined with movement can stretch the Cooper’s Ligaments leading to irreversible damage and causing your breasts to ‘sag’. 

During exercise, breasts move on average 15cm in a figure of eight (up-down, side-side, front-back). Average bra size in the UK is 34/36D and at this size, each breast will weigh 500g, meaning that the average women will have the challenge of coping with 1kg of breast tissue movement! A well-fitted sports bra can reduce this movement by a massive 83%.

 

 

Obviously, women with larger breasts will face an increasing challenge and the pain factor alone associated with breast movement puts many women off exercise. In fact, Runderwear found that in their sample of 100 women, 25% of those women chose not to run or participate in high impact exercise due to concerns about breast bounce, a trend that Runderwear are determined to help overcome.

Finding the perfect fit

When it comes to getting the right fit women need to remember just how many changes their body goes through in a lifetime; pregnancy, menstrual cycle, and fluctuating weight to name a few, all of which impact bra size. With this in mind, it’s recommended that women have their bra size measured at least once a year to ensure the fit is always right.

 

 

Despite this recommendation a recent Bra Survey conducted by Runderwear found that 47% of women have never had their bra size measured, or were measured over 3 years ago. Runderwear are determined to change this, so they now offer an online bra calculator where women can enter their underbust and overbust measurments to find their correct bra size. This means women can measure their bra size regularly, and in the comfort of their own home, to ensure the fit is always perfect.

Runderwear also offer telephone and email consultations, and free exchanges to help women find the perfect fitting sports bra.

Choosing the right style

When choosing a sports bra, women should firstly look for things that they might naturally look for when choosing performance sportswear and underwear such as breathable, moisture-wicking fabric and a label-free concealed-seam design to prevent rubbing and chafing.

For women with a larger bust taking part in high impact activity, such as running, the support aspect of the bra is even more important. Women with larger breasts should be looking for moulded cups to encapsulate and compartmentalise each breast, controlling movement. They should also consider a high neckline to ensure breast tissue is fully encased within the cups in order to minimise upward bounce. A wide underband, as well as being soft and elasticated, should be a priority for larger busted women to ensure additional support.

The Runderwear Easy-On Support Running Bra for example, has all the afore-mentioned features as well as a fully opening back feature with double adjustable hook-eye closures, making it easy to get on and off. Specifically designed for women with larger breasts this bra is available in sizes 28C – 40H to ensure women get a precise fit, which as we’ve mentioned is critical for breast health!

 

  

The Runderwear Original Support Running Bra would be more suitable for women with smaller bust sizes that are looking for the same level of chafe-free comfort while running.

Available in sizes 28A – 38D, you can even match them to Runderwears comprehensive underwear range; there’s a choice of six underwear styles from the barely-there g-string to the brief to the running hot pants or thigh-covering long short.

 

 

Sports Bras should not celebrate birthdays!

One final thing to say is that, like your trainers shouldn’t last more than around 6 months or 500 miles, your sports bra should also be replaced regularly depending on how often you use it and wash it. 

Runderwear bras are durable, wash well and dry quickly but like all sports bras, they should not see their birthday if you are using them regularly, to make sure they maintain their support.