Men: wear tights while you work out, ditch the shorts, and live free!
By Sam Downing|
![](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/bTcbyhbdkbjbkByC5WXAJqV1Uws=/600x338/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2F_%2Fmedia%2FNetwork%2FImages%2F160429coachtights.jpg)
"Women shouldn't wear tight clothes when they exercise. It's gross having to see every part of their bodies hanging out, and showing off like that is kinda slutty. Why don't they cover up?"
If you heard someone say something like that about women, you'd probably condemn them as a sexist jerk, or a righteous prude — and rightly so. So why do we put up with similar arguments about men?
As we've covered on Coach before, men's activewear is slowly getting smaller and tighter. This has led to a boom in what's called either lower-body compression wear, or running or training pants, or (most accurately) good old tights.
But as more fellas show up to the gym in their figure-hugging clothes, an even louder chorus seems to be urging them to throw a pair of shorts on top to hide their shame.
RELATED: Gym trend: The rise and rise of men's activewear
Well, nuts to that (pun intended)! Guys, if you want to wear your tights when you work out, wear your tights when you work out, and don't let anyone make you feel bad about it.
Paul Zack, founder of men's activewear brand BCNU and seller of many a legging, told Coach earlier this year that the shorts-over-tights trend is unlikely to last — because it's just not functional.
"More and more men are finding the additional layers of 'compression and shorts' restrictive, uncomfortable and unnecessary," he said. "Wearing compression under shorts when you want freedom of movement is restrictive and unnecessary, so go solo."
The same way no serious lap swimmer bothers wearing boardies over his skintight swimwear, no one should bother slipping shorts over their tights if they're going to get in the way.
If you're not comfortable revealing all in a pair of tights, that's fine too — Zack said many men tend to feel a little self-conscious in them.
"The truth of the matter is that guys are more modest than women when it comes to compression wear, as they are more sensitive about overexposure of the goods, and prefer to layer up," he told Coach.
But ladies have been proudly donning tights in the gym — and in the supermarket, and at home, and anywhere they feel like it — for years. Men, you should enjoy the same freedom.
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Sure, it's true not every man's body looks like he just stepped off the cover of a fitness magazine. And yes, seeing a MAMIL cycling past your local cafe or a beach yeti squeezed into a non-existent Speedo can be, uh, a little confronting. (Lads, if you're going to go tight, you have a duty to keep yourself, uh, neatly packaged.)
But if being reminded that men aren't smooth-crotched Ken dolls is offensive or repulsive to you ("He has genitals? Gasp!"), that's probably something you need to work out on your own time.
As for the argument that men who strut around in tights are just showing off... well, der. #WhenYouGotItFlauntIt
But this still isn't okay to wear in the gym... or anywhere else (AFP)