Why Sports Bras are as important as Running Shoes

Have you heard the saying before? You know, the ones that goes "all you need is a good pair of shoes for running". This may be the case for men, however women need both a good pair of shoes and a good sports bra when exercising!

A poor sports bra, or forgetting a sports bra altogether, can stop a woman in her track when exercising. I've heard so many people say they've had to stop their workout midway after they experienced too much breast pain while exercising.

Mindset Around Running Shoes

Let's face it, if you saw a pair of running shoes going for £20 in a shop you'd probably be quite suspicious as to how well they would work. And rightly so!

Shoes are not cheap to make. Especially the technical ones. There's more technology, time, research and development that goes into them. They can be the difference between a blissful run and one that gives you painful blisters, poor running technique and even injury. There won't be one design that suits everyone and so it's important to spend some time to figure out which ones are right for you. You want to get a pair from a reputable company that knows what they're doing.

Sports bras should be treated exactly the same way.

You see them more prevalent in high-street shops these days and they have made their way into mainstream lifestyle outfits. But make no mistake, the super elastic, fashion sports bra styles you see will not be suitable for your tough workouts. Especially the larger you are in the cup.

Unfortunately, as men don't wear sports bras, the industry is quite a bit behind the running shoes industry. It's received much less attention over the decades in comparison, but sports bras are just as important for women. Ever wondered why so many women have complained so much about the lack of good sports bras over the years? This is why.

I was one of these women. That is why I started MAAREE.

After my experience of testing the performance of sports bras under lab conditions at Loughborough University, I realised how little knowledge there was in the industry around this product and the movement of breasts. Additionally, I gained a lot of experience as to what makes a good bra and the construction techniques available.

It was clear to see a pattern where the less 'technical' the sports bra was, the worse it would perform. The price of the bra would usually align very well with this too.

Changing how we shop for sports bras

Recently, we're starting to better sub-categorise our sports bras into their uses, rather then collectively thinking of them all as 'sports bras' which all strive to achieve the same purpose. Which just isn't true. We've seen this for decades in athletic shoes though. We see them labelled as 'tennis shoes', 'running shoes', 'trail shoes', 'astroturf shoes', 'shoes for over-pronation', 'wide shoes' and so many more.

The same mind set and knowledge from manufacturers needs to come for sports bras. Knowing the difference between Compression and Encapsulation sports bras is a good place to start. Another feature to take note of is whether the sports bra is suitable for low, medium or high-impact activities. 

You wouldn't wear flip flops for running a 5K, so you shouldn't wear a yoga bra for running either.

You can then get into the nitty-gritty of the features of the bra following this, to hone in on the aspect that matter most to your needs. Does is have a racerback? Does it have a wide enough underband? Does it have underwire?

Probably the number one thing to keep in mind when sports bra shopping, THE number 1 rule - be sure to get your right size! Don't think it's that important? Imagine being a size 6 in shoes and trying to run in either a size 4 or a size 8 instead?! No matter how good the shoe is meant to be, it's going to hurt and not work as the designer or engineer intended.

Not sure how bra sizing works? Need help finding your right size? Would prefer the convenience of doing it from the comfort of your own home? Book a free online fitting with us now or check out our Sizing Guidelines!

MAAREE has the world's only sports bras with Overband^® Technology.

I didn't feel like the sports bra industry ever brought out anything new, let alone revolutionary. There was never any new design which really claimed to make much of an improvement on the already lacklustre designs. 

I knew from my time testing that reducing all-round breast motion was vital. Not just downward. Which is why we released the Solidarity High-Impact and Empower Medium-Impact Sports Bras in 2019. Winning many 'Best in Test' awards from the industry. Take a look at our sports bra collection now.

Conclusion

I hope you have found this blog insightful and that it's raised some more awareness to how your view and shop for your sports bras. I hope to help as many women as possible de-bunk the confusing world of sports bras and get as many of us wearing our most supportive and comfortable bras possible. We all deserve to perform at our best.

You wouldn't put up with a bad pair of shoes, so please, PLEASE don't put up with bad sports bras any longer!

If you have any further questions at any time or would like to suggest some topics to delve into further, please reach out to us at anytime.

Mari x