So as you may well have gathered from the look of me I am not the sportiest of girls! My work is at the lower to middle end of being physically demanding, I enjoy the odd boogie when I go out in my sensible heels and every few months I vow to start some new exercise regime – usually running or the wiifit. I do own a sports bra as I mentioned in this post and previous to that I owned a very ill fitting 38FF Shock Absorber. I did like the Shock Absorber, despite its incorrect size and so I was quite pleased to have been sent two 36H bras recently as a way of saying thank you for attending the Playtex Focus Group – this white bra and this black bra.
Let me talk about the white one first.
I have found that the mark of a good sports bra is one that you really really struggle to do up! A lot of women seem to hate wearing tighter bands when it comes to regular bras due to back fat which is not ideal, but I have always firmly believed that when it comes to exercise you should aim to work out hard and not care about how you look. Therefore a tight band and a bit of back fat shouldn’t deter you, in fact it will help keep the puppies in place and relieve the strain from your shoulders. Even the least strenuous forms of exercise require proper support and uplift and you should not jeopardise your health for the sake of appearance.
This bra was so tight I had to loosen the shoulder straps completely to fasten the bra and then tighten them fully. The shoulder straps are only half adjustable which may be a problem for those with smaller shoulders than I. It is a three hook and eyes fastening which I love and always feel much more secure in. The straps themselves are cushioned which is amazing and a feature I have never had in a sports bra or indeed any bra – and I wish every bra had this feature, it is soooo comfortable! The straps are set slightly closer to the neck as well which is perfect as I used to find when I was running that no matter how tight I adjusted the straps they would always slip off my shoulders. I found that I had some slight side boob when putting the bra on, but this is something I get even with bras that are too big for me and it is probably due to me being lardy and wearing bras that were too small for many years, causing my breasts to migrate slightly. The shape is gave me was pretty darn good for a non underwired non padded bra.
Please excuse my appearance in today’s post, as I said working out should not be a fashion parade or about trying to look good…though I did try a little bit for the camera!
I put both bras through their paces by doing various things on the wiifit, including hula hooping, boxing, step aerobics, balance exercises, yoga, jogging, cycling and much more. I found this bra to give me excellent support, comfort and allowed me to be flexible and not cause any irritation or discomfort. The band is tight but I never felt like it was too tight, I just very very secure and would highly recommend it.
This bra was so tight and complicated that I did it up at the front and turned it round – something I do not normally do, however the snug fit felt spot on. It has two and then two hooks and eyes at the back which I will show you in a bit. I did not have to adjust the shoulder straps on this one but I did find it to be very small over my bust. Maybe a 36HH/36J could work for me a little better. I loved the straps and the fact that they were set almost next to my neck which would mean there would be no danger of them slipping off at all. The shape it gave me was not so favourable, but that could be due to the smallness of the cup.
Here is me in action on the Wii, try not to laugh!
I of course found the white bra to be the most effective and I loved how high it was as I really felt secure. However, the black bra was surprisingly good for something that didn’t fit well and so I would say that one in my correct size would definitely give the white one a run for it’s money! All in all I would say well done to Shock Absorber, there bras were pretty damn comfortable, firm and excellent at keeping my large assets nearer my head than my knees!
Check out Cheryl from Invest In Your Chest’s review