Gym Time: It’s Okay to be VAIN!!
Investing in good quality workout gear is important and a great investment. Wouldn’t you rather spend more on quality [yoga] pants than $10 sweats at Urban Planet or something that will stretch and pill after a couple washes? Quality materials don’t change shape, will keep you dry, don’t hold odor and can last you years even after lots of washes.
Your workout gear should be:
- comfortable
- non-restrictive
- form-fitting
But I strongly believe that functional AND AESTHETICAL workout clothing is essential; functional— points listed above and aesthetics purely for motivation. It doesn’t hurt to look good at the gym. 
Know your body shape:
General rule of thumb: don’t wear baggy, shapeless clothing!
- Banana? Create curves with pops of color [like along the waist line and the side of your waist/hips], interesting cuts, fun details [like scrunching along the side of your waist], padded sports bras, and fitted pants that lifts your bum with some flare to curve you out.
- Apple? Tops that are fitted around the chest but looser around the belly, ends a little past the waist [with a A-line bottom] will give an illusion of slimming and fitted pants with a thick or roll-down waist will give an illusion of flatter stomach. Avoid tight-fitting tops and pants with a slim colored waist band.
- Pear? Wear a lighter color top to draw attention away from your lower body and slim-fitting, dark-colored pants with slimming vertical stripes and a small flare to balance your body out.
- Hourglass? The easiest shape to work with! Accentuate your curves with v-necks and scoop necks, slim-fitted clothing, details around the waist to show it off and flared pants. But really, you can practically wear anything… just don’t cover up too much or else you might look bulkier.
Random tips and things I noticed:
- Black is always chic and slimming.
- Dressing in one color from head to toe can make for a longer and leaner silhouette.
- Dress for your activity: layering for the outdoors, flexible fabrics with lycra for yoga, breathable fabrics to soak up sweat for activities like Bikrams Yoga, etc.
- Wearing proper shoes is extremely important, especially if you’re a runner.
- Cotton allows you to breathe BUT can weight you down with all the moisture it soaks up so only wear it for low impact activities like yoga. It also doesn’t hold it’s shape, which is why I don’t waste my money on cotton— I prefer synthetics.
- Clothing with breathable materials and moisture-wick technology absorbs and dries quickly (eg. polyester, nylon and spandex). Wear for high impact activities where you may sweat a lot.
- A good sports bra is essential. No one wants to see your nipples, please… or you don’t want anyone to get distracted and drop 100lb weights on their head.
- Tube tops are NOT your friend at the gym.
- If you have nice shoulders, v-necks makes them look even better!
- Flared pants are NOT a good idea for biking; they might get caught in your bike. I don’t like running in them either because the fabric slaps against your legs which annoys the hell out of me.
- If you have a long torso and hips, pants in a single color will only make it look longer unless you’re wearing a long enough tank top to split it up. Look for pants with a different colored waist bands.
- Pants with a thick waistband that’s in a different color makes your hip look smaller. Pants with a thin waistband seems to make it look wider.
- Flat-[Asian]-Ass-Syndrome? Pants with stripes on the bum can make your flat ass look less flat.
- Lifting gloves will protect your hands from cuts, calluses and blisters. Trust me, you’ll want a pair if you are going to lift weights.
Great places to shop: Lululemon, PH8, Fit Couture, Athletica, Victoria’s Secret,
KATY:
jen (1)
Kathy (1)
I needed this post! Just started going to the gym but have been wearing less than flattering clothes haha..I need to get myself a pair of those pants! This is a good excuse to shop some more too!
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hahaha “flat asian ass syndrome”
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thanks for this article!! with hot yoga, I wear nothing (just tight lyrca shorts or tanktops or sports bras) but my friends and I wanna do boxing and we need clothes that cover our body!
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Argh. I hate looking for clothes for the gym! I always end up just wearing baggy t-shirts and shorts! I guess looking good could be a good thing and definitely worth investing, but man, I am soooooo broke after the olympics!
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i love your workout tips post so much !
you seem to be in the gym quite alot .. hahaha
no wonder u have a great body !
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LOL “flat asian ass syndrome”! & I totally agree with you on this post!
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nice blog HONEY!
I LIKE IT!!!
Follow my blog and I follow your blog:O)
i`m happy if you follow me toooo with bloglovin
KISS ;*)
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I was impressed with Sasa.com shipping. I had the free shipping option too. I think it took about 1 and 1/2 weeks. I’ve ready stories of over 3 weeks. Maybe a lot of people said something them and they changed their ways for the better
I hope you’re having a great weekend
-Steph
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i’m the worst when it comes to dressing for the gym. I just feel so lazy and unmotivated especially early in the morning so i always end up wearing baggy clothes! haha! Well that was about 1.5 yrs ago when i WAS going to the gym. Now i just run at home on the treadmill so thats even less motivation to look nice. haha!
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU~!
This is just what I needed! Now I have no more excuses not to go to the gym. I would hate going in something baggy but then didn’t want to go in something too tight~ (There are nasty men at the gym, sometimes so tight is just a no-no….(EW~) >___<;;)
XOXO
Miss. P
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hey! thanks for stopping by
this is a great post – i’m terrible when it comes to dressing for the gym.
ps. follow me?
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fun post! i really need to start hitting the gym, but so lazy and my pear shape is turning into a deformed pear with flabs popping out in random places haha and i also need some cute gym gear too! ^ ^
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I dont own any sports bras!! not even ONE! I tend to just wear normal bras to workout because if I wore a sports bra, my already tiny ta-tas would make me look like a BOY!
hahah
But yeah, I tend to wear baggy clothes to the gym. I should invest in some proper sports attire.
xx.
Jess Mai
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Great tips!! I get my yoga pants from VS because they make my butt & legs look amazing (which is motivating to keep them that way!). I get a lot of my work out tops at Marshalls or TJ Maxx because you can get designer names for cheap!
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you always have great workout tips.. whether its actually about healthy eating, to working out, or dressing the part i love how detailed your posts get
i want to start working out, so i need to buy clothes that are comfortable for me to just move around in, and i’m probably going to invest in the proper shoe too for jogging 
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Katy
March 12th, 2010 |
Yay that’s the first step. =P
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Ooh great tips! I have no idea what shape I am… maybe banana (sounds so wrong xD Sorry… immature moment there). I definitely have flat-asian-ass-syndrome. That much I know!
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Great post Katy! Maybe getting some nice workout clothes will inspire me to workout finally
Oh and the MAC essential oil is limited edition – which came out in the Warm & Cozy collection. I’m not really up to date with makeup sometimes either and the oils sold out so fast that I’m not surprised if a lot of people didn’t know about the oils either.
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Great post Katy! I checked out Lululemon once, and it was wayyy more than I spend on workout gear, but then I realized that I drop $50-60 on Nike pants and it’s about the same. I agree though, I used to buy gear at cheapy stores and buy cotton but it wears out so fast, especially since it gets sweaty and rubbing, it thins out quickly. I buy quality workout gear now. I figure it’s a good investment considering the amount of time we spend working out at the gym, right?
Thanks for the other tips though! I def need to pick up VS yoga pants with the wide waist band trim for my hips. =P
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Katy
March 12th, 2010 |
I love Lululemon’s pants because of their fit and they’re really long which is usually a problem for me because I’m tall. But then for pants, I’ll wear anything although when it comes to tops, I like to buy tops with moisture-wick technology so I can buy them in any color since you won’t get any sweat stains… so I don’t have to wear black all the time!
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i am banana shaped! lol* thx for sharing the suggestions, i esp like the nike pink running shorts. those are super cute. i want to get new workout clothes for spring. i love that refreshing feeling. and like you said in your previous workout related post, it helps motivate.
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Katy
March 12th, 2010 |
I love the Nike shorts too. I never work out in shorts but I’m going to pick up a pair today. So excited [to go shopping]!
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btw babe, is there a way i can have a profile pic when i comment? i feel sad to see a default pic by my name =*(
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Katy
March 12th, 2010 |
http://gravatar.com
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The fact that both you and Jen (injen) have gym related posts makes me feel like the gods are trying to tell me something… I should really, really start working out again!
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Yay I love your posts about health and working out. I have flat ass syndrome.. not born with a natural wide hip like some others.. do you know any workouts I can do that is effective?
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Katy
March 12th, 2010 |
I was pretty petrified when my ass started getting flatter after I lost some weight; I’d rather have a big ass than no ass! Lol. If you eat enough, lift weights and do lots of squats, lunges (you can add weights to make it more challenging), etc., then you’d have a nice ass. Basically you want to have muscle and look toned which will make it look rounder… but in order to build muscle, you should be at maintenance or even a little over, depending on how intense your workouts are. I was working out a lot before and eating about 500cals under maintenance and not seeing any results. Now I eat A LOT more (yay for me… I love food!!) but my weight isn’t going up and I think I’m looking more toned than before! Oops sorry, kinda got off topic!
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I love this post and the other one about workout tips! Do you take protein and stuff?
I dont have the flat ass syndrome; I was cursed with Boobyless syndrome!
HAHAA!
But yeah, and the different body shapes was on point!
<3 G
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Katy
March 16th, 2010 |
I rarely take protein shakes.. only if I really need it. I haven’t found a flavor that I can stand yet.
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yay! thx babe
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I prefer wearing the banana style!
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[...] excuse to own a huge collection of cute workout gear (that I actually wear to the gym and not to the mall [...]
OH! great tips! I like this a lot. I wish that there were tips for Gay Men out there for cute and efficient work out clothing. Working out is one of my New Years resolutions!
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LOL this is awesome, totally cracked me up and had a lot of really great points! Thanks Katy!
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[...] It’s okay to be vain! Making the effort to look good boosts self-confidence. [...]
Im trying to look for a good sports bra with padding for jogging! Nike ones don’t fit properly
I just hate trying on sports bras because they’re so fitted!
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