Sports Bras - Support For When You Play

When it comes to women's fashion, there is a bra for just about every outfit and look. Ah, but what if fashion isn't the issue. What if you are simply going out to run a few miles to burn off some calories? The sports bra is the piece de-resistance!

The breasts are obviously a natural element of the female body. This means that they are designed for the daily rigors of life including exercise. The only problem is this biological design allows for serious stretching. One need only watch a documentary on an African tribe to realize that the idea of having a bust line that starts around your hips is a possibility.

The breasts can take a beating during exercise. Any standing exercise involves a jarring up and down motion. Your breasts have no natural means for dealing with this. The answer to preventing stretching is to give them artificial help. The sports bra is that help.

The first thing to understand about sports bras is they are designed to deal with functionality, not fashion. Frankly, they are not attractive, sexy or any other alluring word. I always thought it was funny when the media made a big deal out of Brandi Chastain pulling off her jersey after the winning goal in the Women's World Cup of soccer. She was wearing a sports bra which provided more coverage than even the most conservative women's bikini top! Not exactly sexy!

A good sports bra is all about support. The idea is to minimize the impact on the breasts during the jarring movement of exercise. As a result, you want something that is going to hold the breasts to the chest wall. The cup should be all encompassing and there should be no movement for the breasts. You want the cups to be a bit snug as well.

As with any bra, the bottom of the bra should be providing the most support. This is done via the band circling the torso. With a sports bra, the movement that must be dealt with is far more than with a bra for normal activities. As a result, you should use a sports bra with a wide bra at the bottom.. This is going to create more surface area to establish a tight fit on your torso and will prevent slippage.

Once you've found the perfect sports bra for your body, you can take a look in the mirror. It should look like something your grandmother probably wears. That's okay. Unless you score the winning goal in the World Cup, nobody is going to see it and your breasts will thank you at the end of a long run.