Fitness Wear & Gadgets for the Everyday Woman

Dissonance Eclectic Jumpsuit by Thriving Style; Sneakers by Salomon; FitBit Charge HR

Seems like everyone is interested in something dealing with sports these days, especially now that the year is coming to an end.  New Years Resolutions to be made, gift buying for their special someone and we are no longer in the age where you have to look frumpy while dying for dear life in your favorite fitness endeavor.  

Before getting so heavily engulfed into running, I struggled finding athletic wear that was friendly to my plus size frame.  Either all of the cute stuff was overly priced, pretentious or not in my size.  If it was cheap, then the materials might rip or some of this stuff looked so blah.  

I'll do my best not to exclude smaller framed women from this post but I chose a few fitness wear and accessory questions that I received, along with a few of my favorite picks.

Pink Running Hoodie by Torrid, Yellow Top from Old Navy, Running Tights by Material Girl, available at Macy's & Sneakers by Fila

1.  Question:  What is your favorite plus size brands to shop for fitness wear?

I absolutely adore Old Navy athletic wear section, particularly when I can go inside of the store to see and touch it.  Their leggings are exceptionally comfortable.  I utilize their bottoms mostly for the gym during strength training day and sometimes for running.  I find that there's times where they do not have pocket inserts in their tights, which can be a hit or miss for me.

Other companies like Torrid offer really funky designed running and yoga attire.  I recently picked up this pink running friendly hoodie from their site in a size 0 (equivalent to a 12) and it's like my best friend.  I'm one of those nuts that buy it in every color.  For larger sizes, Lane Bryant offers a kick ass selection by Livi, that is not only durable and tummy friendly but exceptionally vibrant if you're not afraid of colors.  I wear a lot of their products in my Instagram fitness videos.

Bra by Victoria's Secret, Compression Leggings by Hylete, Watch by Fitbit & Sneakers by Reebok

2.  Bra Suggestions?  

This is a tricky one.  In this picture, I am wearing the Victoria's Secret active bra, in which I wore for the NYC Marathon and surprisingly got me through injury free.  Please bare in mind that I am 38D to 38DD, depending on my hormones.  If you are bustier, you might want to consider elsewhere.

Generally, I like bras from Nike or if I'm not being a brand whore, just something that has seamless lining to prevent chafing and burning during my run, a bit of compression and something that protects my nipples.  If you are a sprinter or an endurance runner, a little bit of Vasoline, A&D or diaper rash on the happy girls prior to your run is an excellent thing.  I heard great things about Asics & Under Armor but I don't want to swear by something that I haven't tested out for myself.

3.  Splurge Items?  Accessories, Clothing & Equipment

Do yourself a favor and invest in a great fitness watch.  I currently sport a FitBit Charge HR that I got as a birthday gift from my husband last year.  It's been my most reliable buddy for a while now.  I might be a traitor later on and get myself a Garmin when I learn how to swim.  

In the meantime, my Fitbit Charge HR does everything that I need it to do.  To be honest, I am a goddamn cheapskate but one of the biggest things on my wish list is a pole to practice pole dancing.  I would certainly pay for a good pair of headphones and yoga mats made by Lulemon.  Yes baby.  Reading this back makes me sound like a cross fit girl, even though I'm not trying to be.  Salomon shoes are life by the way.  They are a bit pricey but so well worth it.  Considering that I have clown size feet and I'm always working these poor fat nubs, I am very serious about my footwear.

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4.  Any advice for the broke runner who needs sneakers?

If you don't know, Amazon is life.  Amazon Prime memberships is like 100.00 a year but I frequently "borrow" my husband's membership to go bananas in purchasing my running equipment and gear.  This helps tremendously if you have that one tech nut buddy that will allow you purchase a thing or seven and ship it to your house.  Free 2 day shipping?  Baby!  

Sneakers are one of the most important gear items you will need as a runner (or even in training).  The last set of sneakers that I purchased were under 50.00 each.  Every sneaker that are in these images were beneficial towards something in the last two months, particularly my obstacle course racing events and marathons.  Generally, you don't use sneakers after 250 - 300 miles in.  In turn, I go through sneakers horrifically every 2 to 4 months, depending on how many times I need to rotate or what I'm training for.  

Fila sneakers are EXCELLENT for me.  Although I am a woman, I have wide, caveman feet that can battle a Brooklyn sidewalk.  In turn, I found that I spend somewhere around 30 - 50.00 when I'm shopping local at Modell's for them.  Here in the US, other companies like Nike, Reebok and Asics are king but Fila is loyal as hell to me.  I find that they have a good variety of male OCR sneakers, which is what I tend to sport.  The blue/green ones in my picture are certainly one pair of running shoes that I purchased on Amazon.  

If you go higher up the food chain, try Saucony & Asics are GREAT mid range prices.  Try catching them on sale or buy an older released pair that has excellent reviews.  Please bare in mind that you should visit a place like JackSports to measure your foot for FREE, where they can tell you what sneakers are best for you.  

Overall, you don't want to go according to the brand per se, but more like how does it feel for YOU.  What feels excellent on one doesn't necessarily feel great on another person.  Find your sneaker personality.

5.  Any new items you been sporting or styles that we should look out for?

So glad you asked!  I did a kick ass photo shoot with W. Eric Snell of E. Snell Design for this specific blog.  For two months, people picked my brain about things that I like and kept saying that I would.  
Luckily, I was thankful to stumble upon a few companies who are conscious about their consumers' needs while making us look incredible.  I didn't want to rush this particular blog until I could be as genuine about product recommendations.  Nobody likes a bullshit artist.  In turn, here's some of the newest things that came my direction:

1. ​Thriving Style:  The blue jumpsuit that I am sporting in this blog is the Dissonance Eclectic Jumpsuit comes in three colors.  I'm sporting the turquoise/ink blue jumpsuit, which I may say is incredibly comfortable.  While it is great to run in, especially since there's a built in bra, I found it especially great to do my yoga, flexibility work and strength training in.  I actually did a 45 minute session at the gym on Friday night in this and holy crap, feels like a dream.  The material is 82%/18% spandex, which is exceptionally helpful for a person like me who tend to stray away from cotton material when working out.  Personally, I thought that their fitness wear struck out as beautiful to me because it's not limited to wearing just in the gym.  Jazz it up in some heels and a cute jacket, throw in some accessories and baby, you're in action. 
2. Hylete:  I never heard of them until I won an Instagram contest online from a group of kick ass Spartans.  I chose a pair of Hylete shorts on their site and fell in love ever since.  They sell to men and women and you will NOT find their performance gear in store.  It's actually not a bad thing.  If you check out their core motto, they elaborate a bit further in how selling to stores may add a markup price and with their cool incentives of throwing discounts here and there in email if you sign up, makes it all worth it.  I wore their shorts for NYC Marathon, Chicago Marathon and 3 out of 6 Spartan races this year.  I love that their shorts do not ride up on my thunder thighs and may I add that their pockets can fit my Samsung 6 Galaxy.  Not many companies can say that.  Honestly, I never wore their tops but I hope that I can certainly do so soon.
3. While not a brand, I highly recommend investing in strength training and stretching equipment, especially if you are a runner or obstacle course runner.  Recently, I bought an ab wheel, which is hard as hell to use but I'm improving by the day.  Other items such as foam roller are great to take out the kinks and knots from that glorious lactic acid buildup.  If you cannot afford a foam roller, I swear by tennis balls or a cheap hand ball that you can purchase at your local corner store (ahem, BO-DEG-A).  Resistance bands and a yoga mat is great to add into your at home/workout traveling endeavor collection.  Resistance bands, twice a week, five workouts that you can google on the internet for a month.  It'll change your life!  Although I love yoga, I know that there's folks who are against it.  You can use this for your stretching or if yoga is too slow for you, try pilates or tai chi.  Not a bad move.

I sincerely hope that these questions helped the gals that read my blog.  In the future, I'll try to keep you abreast of new technology to look into, maybe a few product reviews and some insight for the male fitness enthusiast.