Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Looking Good while Working to Look Better -- Reebok

This year has been the year of the closet clean-out. I've been accused of holding on to clothes well past their expiration date. No where in my closet is this more true than with my gym clothes. Until about 2 months ago, I had tank tops and shorts from high school. Yes, HIGH SCHOOL. As in, *cough cough choke cough cough* years ago. I also had workout pants from college, and sports bras from law school. In a word? My shithangs were OLD.

Shopping is a great motivator, and so for the winter months, my carrot for going to the gym was shopping for new clothes. But since I didn't want to buy clothes which wouldn't fit in just a couple weeks (assuming I stick to diet and exercise plans), my only real option was to purchase workout clothes. Fine by me, because workout clothes have a tendency to be full of bright happy colors, and often comfy materials. Given that I haven't really bought any new clothes in eons* I wasn't sure which brands to start with. By now, everyone has some form of dri-fit** fabric, so I could leave the confines of Nike. And then, there is the often-imitated, often-hated brand Lululemon. Known the world over for their butt-enhancing pants. What's a girl to do?

I'll tell you what this girl did. I headed straight to TJMaxx and Macy's (during a "one-day"/"lowest-prices-of-the-season" sale). And then I went to Lululemon to see what all the fuss was about. And then I posted on Facebook to get feedback from my friends. This? Is my attempt at product review.***

The first pair I tried was Reebok. Now, if I had to guess, I would say they were the Reebok Yoga Capri. But given that this was a TJMaxx purchase, the specific style wasn't readily apparent. Pros? They are purple. I get so tired of wearing black and grey every darn day. Second? They have a wide waistband which is part of what gives Lululemon pants the illusion of bestowing booty-less women everywhere with bubble butts (more on that in a different post). Last, they stay put around the calf.

However, the Reeboks get an overall fail from the kid. I wore them through both a low-impact cardio workout and a weightlifting workout. Through both, the waistband rolled down and refused to stay put. Kinda like Spanx, only less likely to cut off your air supply. And, despite being a pain in the neck to put on because they are so tight, they failed to hug my pear-shaped curves for the duration of the workout. I'm pretty sure that at least 10% of the calories I burned were from continuously trying to avoid indecent exposure.

Now, if you're not pear shaped, or just doing an arm day, then these pants may work for you. For the price, they're workable -- but definitely not the hardest working pants out there.

The verdict? Pretty, but dumb.




*To be fair, I did get an awesome-sauce birthday present from the Youngblood which included all kinds of tops and bottoms for the gym. I wasn't a total failure

**Dri-fit is Nike; Climacool is Adidas; PlayDry is Reebok, and some just call it like it is: "moisture wicking".

***Notice I didn't say it was a triumphant return to blogging. Because I need my life to get a LOT more interesting before any return can be deemed triumphant.