I wear long-sleeve Vapor Apparel UV shirts (or something very similar) every day, year around, for pretty much everything and anything. When one of these shirts shows signs of wear or discoloration, I’ll wear it when doing “dirty” work (working on cars, cutting grass, etc.) I find them to be very comfortable, even on the hottest days. YMMV, of course.
Come to think of it, the only time I don’t wear them is at work (where I wear a collared dress shirt), and the rare formal gathering, such as a funeral.
Ronnie Coleman, champion bodybuilder, never did squats in front of a mirror, either. There’s a pretty famous video of him squatting 800 pounds, and the squat rack is in the middle of the room, instead of up against a mirrored wall.
When I squat (in a few hours, actually), I don’t look at myself, either. My line of sight has me looking at a spot on the mirror above my head.
And, when I think about how I perform things like barbel rows, I tend to close my eyes on heavy sets (that whole mind/muscle connection).
Moreover, there’s another young up and coming bodybuilder named Sam Sulek. He just turned pro, but before that he was internet famous. He always works out in baggy clothes (saving the reveal for a post workout pose down). He has actually argued that he doesn’t want to see the muscles during the workout, since it might discourage him if he’s not happy with how they look in the moment.
Other than very short trips I tend to wear bike shorts while bicycling, and in warmer weather a bicycle jersey. The chamois provides some cushioning* and more importantly help reduce chafing and groin moisture. The back pockets on bike jerseys are also handy. I’ll wear either bike gloves or real gloves if it is cold. I do have clip in shoes, but will only wear them on long or hilly rides (my peddles are flat on one side and clip in (SPD) on the other)
For hikes I may wear pants that I am ok with sitting on rocks/ground. Other than wool socks and appropriate footwear** nothing too special.
I do have a kayak wetsuit and would wear it if conditions indicated, but I tend not to paddle when hypothermia will be an issue.
Brian
* I have a Brooks leather saddle and while it has molded to my bottom after years of use bike shorts still do help.
** Long distance hikers seem to prefer trail runners over hiking boots, but they also tend to be weight weenies. I wear boots less often than I used to, but will still choose them for certain hikes
There are roughly four situations I typically find myself in when I’m exercising:
Working out indoors in my home
Working out outdoors around my home
Going to a ninja gym
Going to a climbing gym
Indoors at home, I wear a sports bra and shorts. That’s the optimum comfort level, but I wear a shirt whenever I go out of the house. I guess you could argue that that’s dressing up since it’s not what’s most comfortable, but I just think of it as being decent.
Outdoors at home, if it’s warm enough then all I do is throw on a tank top or t-shirt with the sleeves cut off (I hate sleeves). If it’s cooler out, then maybe a long sleeved t-shirt or sweatpants.
At the ninja gym: tank top and shorts, and some degree of “dressing up” – I have a mixture of neutral colored and bright colored tank tops and shorts. I feel weird showing up dressed all in black, and also in showing up in some lime green top with bright pink shorts, so I typically wear one neutral and one brighter color.
At the climbing gym: I wear close-fitting sweatpants to protect my legs from scraping on the holds. I have two pairs, one black and one bright colored, but if I’m wearing the brightly colored pants I like to wear a neutral on top. And whatever I wear has to be sleeveless, though if the gym is cold I will wear a hoodie when I’m belaying someone else.
My workout T-shirts all come from races that I run. I don’t expect to run out of these shirts anytime soon. When I run outside in the cold, I also have a few cold-weather shirts from races, along with a couple thermal shirts that I purchased. I don’t do any sort of color coordination. Sometimes when I run in the winter, I have all sorts of different colors: my hat, gloves, shirt, shoes, tights, and shorts are all different colors.
Ok, I’m going to stand out from the scruffy crowd here and say - I dress well for exercise. Because I really really like nice exercise clothes. I would wear then more often if I could. I like the fabrics, I like that they keep everything tucked in and make me feel slim, healthy and attractive. And if that’s an extra incentive to get my arse into my (home) gym where no one else can see me, then that’s what I will do.
But then, I don’t like scruffy clothes generally anyway. I would never slouch around the house in torn shorts or pyjamas. I wouldn’t dream of home working without getting showered and properly dressed. So why would I dress like a bum to work out? I equate scruffy clothes with being ill, tired or lethargic. Not feelings I enjoy.
I’'ve done a few half-marathons (best time 2:00 - woohoo!)
The thing I noticed down the lower end of the amateur scale, where I am, is the number of ladies who wear make-up to run.
Like, I can barely crawl out of bed, into my running shoes and get to the start of the race in time.
But these ladies look like they could go out on a date, aside from the sporty clothes. I mean, I know this is a personal choice for them, but fuckit, if I was a woman I’d be doing the race as I do now, bed-head and un-made-up.
When I used to go to gyms, I periodically wondered about women wearing make-up there.
I guess when exercising I’ve always pretty much placed all my attention on WHAT I’m doing. With pretty much ZERO concern over how I looked to anyone else.
Today, a lot of the exercise wear seems reasonably stylish. So I might only have my one pair of lined gore-tex pants that I wear in cold weather. (And they have a big rip in the knee that my wife sewed up - slipped on ice running THE FIRST DAMN WEEK I owned them - some 20 years ago!) But if you saw them, you’d just think they were fungible black athletic pants.
My overall natural tendency would be to dress more scruffily than my wife prefers. I would WEAR OUT clothes - until they were little more than rags falling off my body. Since she has to look at me a lot more than I have to look at myself, and since she does the laundry - and doesn’t mind shopping, I’m happy to wear pretty much what she wishes. Which is pretty much what I would wear anyways - just better fitting and in better repair.
Next up - what do you wear to garden? Or to do dirty home repairs? For the longest time, I always had one CRAPPIEST outfit. Maybe my oldest jeans, which I didn’t mind if I was kneeling in the dirt all day long such that they would never get clean.
I mean, off topic and all, but I just wear what I am wearing, occasionally removing my shirt if it is hot.
I wear the same clothes to work, to hike the mountain, to the shops… the only thing I might change for is to go for a run, because lightweight shorts are more comfortable than my normal cargo shorts.
As a younger man, I used to LIVE shirtless as much of the time as I could get away with.
I can still recall some time in my later 40s-early 40s that my wife said, “No one wants to see THAT!” And I had to agree with her!
I remember when in my 40s, I ran every day at lunch from my downtown Chicago office. I was quite fit - my running partner and I ran marathons. The first and last half mile of our runs were along somewhat crowded lunchtime Chicago streets. I believe I posted a thread asking folk if they thought it appropriate for a guy of my age/fitness to run shirtless in 90+F weather. My personal conclusion was that the lightest available tank tops are fine, and everyone would probably be happier if I kept one on.
My wife and I are still at the point that she will rip my clothes off me! Unfortunately because they are so ratty that she wants to make sure I will never attempt to wear them again …
Zero of the women under about age 70 will exercise in our gym unless dressed to gym-kill and properly made up & hair done up. We gotta lotta hardbody 50-somethings and a decent number of hardbody 60-somethings. They know what their assets are and they’re not gonna waste them being seen in ratty tatty clothes.
The younger ladies are even worse. Or better depending on your POV. The gym is for showing off your looks & your performance, no matter how much you’re actually there to work actually hard. Which most of them are.
The men are about 90% the same up to about age 55. Then they mostly don’t give a shit. Except for the few hardbody old guys who dress like they mean it too.
Is your wife my wife’s hidden undocumented sibling? Or are the habits of a cheap, middle aged slob like myself so very common as to create patterns where none should otherwise exist?
Wait… I’m not sure I want the answers to these questions!
I coach kids (up to 15yo) in athletics. Many of them (at least the ones over 12yo) have been in State or Rep teams of some sort. It’s interesting that the boys will turn up to training in their oldest, worn-out and torn t-shirts and shorts, while the girls will wear the almost the full State gear with matching socks.
The boys are doing the classic ‘humblebrag’ since everyone knows they could wear the bright, shiny rep gear, but - ‘Oh, I forgot I had that’.
I do wear out clothes, but generally give up on them when they have a visible hole or rip beyond my ability to mend. My husband sometimes does wear rags. Not his outerwear, but his underpants and undershirts are sometimes barely holding together.
These days, my routine is going down the stairs to the stationary bike or treadmill in the basement. If it’s chilly down there, I’ll be wearing a cardigan that I can pull off easily as I get sweaty. If it’s too warm, I’ve got a tower fan aimed in my general direction. I think the only clothing decision I make is to avoid sweatpants because they are too hot too fast.
Some years back when I went to a gym, I wore things that were comfy and clean. I’ve been thinking of joining some classes at the Senior Center, and that will be my guide - comfy and clean. I’m pretty sure at my age, no one is paying attention anyway.
Last time I skiied - at Deer Valley - there was one guy considerably older than me. I’d say early 70s. Guy was quite short, but AMAZINGLY fit. Which was pretty impressive. But what killed me was that EVERY time I saw him in the lodge - at breakfast or apres ski - the guy was wearing skin tight shorts and muscle shirts.
Now - sure, maybe he just figured that was what was most comfortable to him, and he just saw no reason to toss a loose tee or pair of sweats over. But I gotta say he impressed me as a little strutting bantam cock. Kept thinking - “Sure, you are in amazing shape FOR YOUR AGE! But you are still a little old man! Put some clothes on!”
Having frequented a number of gyms over the years, it seems that some people workout to at least partially be seen by others. I’ve watched many such people while on a treadmill on a balcony, or running on a track, etc. They look great, dress great, and often, but not always, do far more grunting than others. This behavior seems to span the continuum. I’ve seen equal numbers of men and women acting like this, though the men tend to grunt more on average.
While working out, I don’t care what I look like. Sometimes I’m in nothing more than shorts working out at home. When I used to go to gyms, I wore t-shirts and shorts, often ones that I didn’t care became drenched and smelly with sweat. If anyone noticed me at all, they probably said “ew!”
To me the gym is a place of pure function, like the restroom. I’m going there for a singular purpose and have little to no regard for any ancillaries. I go to stink, to sweat, and to usually look awful. So, given this approach, I have never even thought about what I’m wearing (with the exception of clothing ripped or worn to the point of being revealing, which no one wants to see). I only wear what I need and I go home a sweaty mess.
And I had to agree with her!
