No matter what her size, every woman who exercises regularly has to come to terms with her bosom. Yes, our breasts can often be a distinct drawback during those vigorous workout sessions. Learning how to choose the best sports bra for your size and shape can save many a woman from the effects of lack of support.
First, let’s think about how our breasts are made. They’re mostly fatty tissue containing milk glands and connective tissue in addition to Cooper’s ligament, which is what keeps breasts from sagging. What’s missing? Muscles. That’s right; the Cooper’s ligament is really the only means of support for a woman’s breasts, because the chest muscles don’t do the job. These facts of anatomy are why all women need good sports bras for physical exercise.
How To Choose The Best Athletic Bras For Your Size And Shape
Small-breasted women may think they don’t need athletic bras but this is a mistake. All women need to wear a sports bra to restrict vertical movement that can cause sagging and sometimes pain too. Women who wear A or B cups often do well with an athletic bra having molded cups or the familiar compression-style bra, about which we’ll say more in a moment.
Most of the guidelines for choosing the best sports bra are the same for selecting a well-fitting bra for everyday wear. Unfortunately, between 70 and 80 percent of women do not wear the correct size bra, according to lingerie experts. Take the time to visit the women’s lingerie section of a quality department story to get a bra fitting. If modesty is a problem, then have a good friend take the measurements for you. You can measure yourself if you must but try to follow up with a proper fitting by a lingerie expert.
Here’s how to measure properly for a sports bra:
1. Use a sewing tape to measure across the fullest part of your breasts while wearing a regular bra. This is your bust measurement.
2. Then measure under the bust around your ribcage and add 3 inches, which is the band measurement. If you get an odd measurement in either case, round up to the next inch.
3. Now subtract the difference between your bust and band measurements to get your cup size. A 1-inch difference equals an A cup, 2 inches a B cup, 3 inches a C cup and 4 inches a D cup.
Prepared with accurate bra measurements, the next step to choosing the best sports bra is to consider two things: cup size and type of activity. Women who wear bras up to a C cup often get the best support from a compression bra, the type that presses snugly against the breasts to hold them in place. Women who wear D cups and larger should look for encapsulation bras or, as one wit puts it, the “divide and conquer” approach. Encapsulation bras enclose and compress each breast separately to reduce vertical movement.
With either model there are many different styles of sports bras, so try on several designs from different bra makers. This can be difficult for large-breasted women who often have to order their sports bras from online vendors, so check to see if the distributor has a generous return policy before ordering.
The best sports bra for any women is one that fits snugly without cutting into shoulders or ribs and that limits the vertical movement of her breasts during exercise.
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