Britons prefer athleisure wear to purpose-built gym gear, but it seems that almost half are choosing to wear the wrong size, whether they consider it to be practical, gained weight and haven’t bought the next size up or are doing so for motivation.
Why people are wearing the wrong sized gym clothes
The team behind www.MoneySavingHeroes.co.uk conducted the research as part of an ongoing study into Britons’ fitness goals.
Whilst purpose-built gym clothing is popular with one in five British gym-goers, almost a quarter prefer to wear athleisure.
Asked why this was a popular choice, Britons felt the ‘selection to choose from was higher’ and that they like ‘being able to wear it inside and outside the gym’.
Interestingly, almost half admitted that they weren’t wearing the correct size clothing to the gym, with 53% of those wearing clothing that was too large and 47% wearing clothing that was too small.
Asked why they were wearing clothing that was the wrong size, the top reasons for wearing larger clothing were found to be:
- For flexibility and movement - 34%
- To hide my body shape/size - 30%
- To appear smaller - 18%
Likewise, the top reasons for wearing clothing that was too small were found to be:
- I gained weight and didn’t want to buy bigger clothes - 31%
- The sizing was incorrect but I didn’t return them - 26%
- I bought smaller to incentivise me to lose weight and train harder - 12%
George Charles, spokesperson for www.MoneySavingHeroes.co.uk commented:
“Gym gear can often be an expensive business, but it’s always good to remain practical over stylish when it comes to exercise. If your clothing doesn’t fit you could run the risk of hurting yourself or even embarrassing yourself. You don’t have to spend a lot to have quality gym wear; supermarkets and budget brands do some really fantastic gym wear. Although if you do have the budget, there are some really great fitness and athleisure wear brands available. Feel free to shop around, try before you buy and see what discounts are available – it’s better than revealing more than you’d like to in the gym.”