Finding the Perfect Fit for your Sports Bra

November 21, 2011

Question of the Week:  “I can’t believe I did it again—made a fast grab-and-go decision to buy a cute sports bra without giving it a decent try-on.  But when I took it out for a workout, it was majorly ‘body-unfriendly’ and failed at keeping ‘the girls’ from flying all over the place.  How can I stop wasting time and money on the wrong sports bra?

I know, I know…we ALL hate dragging a pile of unfamiliar sports bras into a dressing room with scary lighting and mirrors that add 15 pounds, but when it comes to getting home with your dream model, you gotta do the absolutely, positively essential dressing room drill!  The three things to keep at the top of your mind are fit, feel, and anti-flying (bounce control).

1.  Test-drive for bounce.  If keeping ’the girls’ down and secure during high impact sports is at the top of your must-have list, you want to start your dressing room drill with a rousing test drive:
  • Jump high and land hard.  Run in place or up and down the dressing room aisle.  Don’t just softly pussyfoot it—longer and more strenuous is better, as some annoying problems aren’t going to reveal themselves in just a few easy strides. 
  • Check out your side-view action in a mirror as you jog—do your breasts surge up and zoom all over the map or stay comfortably close to home?

2.  Expand your mini-workout to cover all your favorite exercises:
  • Strike your most typical sports poses to make sure you have the comfortable coverage you need.  You’d hardly want gravity tumbling the girls out of their cups during your favorite inverted yoga pose!
  • Windmill your arms, bend deeply forward and backward, twist and wiggle, leap for that imaginary rebound. Does the bra still stay put and feel friendly?

3. Fine-tune fit and feel.  Once you’ve done everything you can to inflict the punishment of your regular workouts on a bra, zoom in your full attention to getting that perfect fit and feel.  Here’s what to check for:
  • Spillage patrol.  If you’ve underestimated the size of your curves, the girls may be trying to escape the bra at center front or under the arms, and you’ll need to trade up a cup to keep them nicely corralled.  Wrinkles or folds in the cup tell you to trade down to something smaller.
  • Root out “riding up”.  Does the bottom band stay put front and back through all your body gyrations?  If not, you may need a smaller, snugger band and/or shoulder straps that can adjust longer.
Just between you and your sports bra….  Take a deep breath, close your eyes and focus carefully as you wiggle and move your arms and torso to put a little stress on the bra.  Direct your full sensory attention to every square inch of it against your skin, scanning for these check points:

√ Is there any cutting in at your ‘pits both either when your arms are still and when they’re moving? 
√ Can you detect any itchy/hot spots or stitching on the shoulders, back or bottom band?  
√ Are any fasteners or adjusters starting to poke or dig?
√ Do the straps annoy you in spots where they cross bones and muscles in your neck, shoulders or back?
√ Can you breathe easily or does your bra feel like a boa constrictor is squeezing your chest? 

If the bra you’re considering passes all of these final fit, feel, and anti-fly tests, you’re good to go!

Happy shopping…and if you find a style you’re super crazy about, go ahead and ask for a duplicate on your holiday wish list!

LaJean