Lifting Big & Gym Wear

FITNESS

Go Big

When you first decide to get fit, trying to get the right kind information from the internet can like drinking from an open fire hydrant. You’ll get more than you bargained for and instead of wetting your mouth, you’ve wet your entire outfit and are none the wiser. One such wildcard is single jointed versus multijointed exercises and a new paper in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research has the answer. They found novices made no additional improvements from single jointed exercises when they were added to their multi-jointed resistance training program. That means it’s worth sticking to the big lifts such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses because acing these moves it what will truly move the needle of progress, not doing hundreds of reps on pithy machines like leg extensions.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Research Rating 4/6

WEIGHT LOSS

Keep It Comfy

Fitness and fashion have always been a Hollywood dream couple, whether it was the leotards or leggings, you’ve been led to be believe that to perform well you need to look the part. Not so, says a paper at the University of Toronto, who found tight and revealing fitness gear can actually suck the life out of your sports performance. They looked at 80 women and got them to do the same task wearing either tight tank tops or loose comfortable clothing. Those in the loose-fitting clothing performed better because the researchers believe they weren’t worried about how their physique looked whereas those in the tight tops had a greater awareness of their body which interfered with their motor performance. It all boils down to confidence, so make sure you wear what gives it to you, rather than blindly believing what the likes of Nike tells you because you might perform better in sweatpants than hot pants. There is no right or wrong answer, only how powerful your kit makes you feel.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Research Rating 4/6