Exercise and Clothes

Exercise and clothes 
Don't wear jeans when you exercise! 

For most of you that's not the first time you've been told that and it may seem common sensical. However, you technically can do some exercise in jeans and it's fine. I mean you can go for a walk up the road in jeans right ? 

Dressing appropriately for the type of exercise you are doing is very important . It is important so, that your body has the freedom to preform the exercises correctly . It is important for your safety . It is important for your enjoyment.

Jeans- In doing most exercise, jeans inhibit your body's freedom of movement . They also , pose a threat to your skin's health . If jeans are rubbing on your skin while you are moving in ways that create a friction between the jeans and your pants you can damage your skin . It is also not the ideal fabric to sweat in . When you add liquid ( sweat ) between jeans and skin it increases the skin irritation . Safety issues arise from the inhibited freedom of movement and it is probable for accidents to occur .

Dresses- Yes, you can do some exercise safely in dresses . Belly Dancers frequently wear long skirts as do many female dancers . But, for the most part this is a no no when it comes to exercise . The excess fabric inhibits you and makes accidents probable. With a lot of exercise you also don't want your legs to be bound that way either and you should have separate leg holes .

Shoes - Inappropriate shoes are never good! True , appropriate shoes vary widely between different forms of exercise . There are the ballet shoes, the running shoes, the walking shoes, the tap shoes and many many more as well as no shoes !

( IMPORTANT NOTE * Always research and educate yourself properly before preforming barefoot exercise . There may be much you need to be aware of and learn in order to do it safely. This is true for kickboxing as an example. , Ankle injuries and other injuries are common for the unprepared who try to do it barefoot . And it is best to do it with a skilled professional guiding you ! )

That's right sometimes no shoes are fine . You don't necessarily need any foot wear to swim safely or practice yoga and, there is a whole realm of barefoot exercisers , from barefoot runners who generally wear special foot gear that resemble water shoes somewhat , to barefoot climbers, and barefoot martial art practitioners . I do tai chi barefoot myself.
There are also skill levels that make no shoes safe and unsafe . For example, if you never walk barefoot you should not start barefoot running before you learn to walk barefoot . If you never do tai chi qi Gong, or a similar practice barefoot , you should not start kickboxing barefoot , you should start your kick boxing with appropriate shoes and learn tai chi , qi gong, or a similar practice barefoot first and then evaluate it appropriately before proceeding .

But, again a few types of exercises are not recommended to do with footwear and become more dangerous with it such as yoga .

Tight clothes - You of course never really want to wear anything so , tight as to be a health hazard . But, sometimes exercising in tight or more appropriately termed " clingy "clothes is fine and even the appropriate method ; bathing suits, leotards , bike shorts , snug tank tops over baggy shirts with yoga and some other exercise is wise . Other times loose clothing is what's appropriate for exercise .

So, find out what is recommended and appropriate to wear ( don't forget fabric-wise also ! ) while doing the specific type of exercising you will be doing and what is not and , find out why and then dress the part !

Happy , safe , comfortable exercising !
Be Well !