Bad Sports Bras Feel Like Running With a Rucksack

How can you best describe bad sports bras to those who don't experience it?

For me, whenever I've tried to best translate this issue to get people to better understand is I normally compare it to running with a rucksack, but on your front.

Everyone's done this at some point during their lives, mainly when running around in the school playground, with that rucksack which, to be fair, was never designed to be run with in the first place. It bounces around and moves entirely out of tune with your running rhythm and can even cause chaffing.

... Sound familiar anyone?

You'll notice the pack will swing in the opposite direction to your stride and it has a delayed shock on foot impact compared to the rest of your body. So, you end up trying to change your running style to compensate. And, of course, the heavier the rucksack or longer the straps, the more uncomfortable it feels and the more exaggerated this movement feels.

The added bonus we women get with experiencing similar behaviour in our breasts is the lovely pain that comes with it. Great.

What do we do with rucksacks to counteract this?

We tighten the shoulder straps, make them softer, add waist or torso straps to keep it close to the body. You can even reduce or re-distribute the contents inside it. If it really annoys you, you can choose to leave it at home. If you're really determined to run with it you can strap it up to no end (or even get vest versions these days) so that you can reduce the motion as much as possible. Unfortunately, that theory doesn't entirely apply to breasts.

Although we can compress the breasts into our body to help, we can easily feel small pressure points and any other uncomfortable features that are added to the garment. Furthermore, anything too constricting can cause breathing issues during the exercise. This means there is often a bigger trade-off between comfort and performance. Therefore, eliminating motion completely is a very difficult thing to achieve. Especially if we want to wear a garment that doesn't make us over-heat or (God forbid) looks good too.

Revolutionising the Sport Bra!

It's great that many sports bras greatly improve the motion experienced in the downwards direction to reduce the pain we experience. Nonetheless, I've always felt strongly about reducing all-round motion from a comfort, self-conscientious and performance aspect. I don't feel like the current solutions out there do as good or a well-rounded job as I'd like. Which is why I started MAAREE.

Over the last year I've made sure to consider all-round breast motion when designing and testing my new bras. I've felt upward motion is often neglected or overlooked, which is why I designed the Overband^®.

I've ensured a high-level of comfort, whilst also keeping an attractive and breathable construction. My collection is available now, with the Overband^® featuring in both our Solidarity and Empower bras. Please check out my very first collection (woop!) here and let's make bad sports bras a thing of the past. 

We can get people to the moon, so let's finally create sports bra solutions which makes exercising a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all women.

Mari.

Do you have your own amusing analogy about sports bras? We'd love to hear yours! Please post them below.