Faced with the choice between tights and compression garments, many people have questions. What is the effect of wearing tights? What’s so good about compression clothes? What is the difference between these two? …
There are many such problems. Today we will talk about the origin and evolution of tights and compression garments and the differences between the two.
The Origin and Evolution of Tights and Compression Garments
In 1886, the term Léotard was first given to a close-fitting garment that covered the upper body (including the crotch) but did not include the legs and arms. The costumes worn in ballet performances are the most typical representatives.
The term Léotard (Léotard) is to commemorate a French acrobat Jules Léotard, who was the pioneer of the trapeze performance. On November 12, 1859, Léotard made his debut and designed a suit for himself that is easy to move around and can show his muscles. This is the prototype of the tights.
In the following decades, tights showed their figure and were easy to move, making them quickly become standard costumes in circuses and acrobatics, and even some professional dancers such as Broadway showgirls began to try it. The meaning of tights at the time was more as a performance costume, for better viewing.
During this time, the ornamental function of tights as performance costumes has gradually been recognized and understood by everyone.
And this situation changed until after the emergence and application of elastic fabrics such as spandex (Lycra is now well-known to most people, Lycra is also a type of spandex, only the spandex produced by DuPont in the United States is called Lycra), tights Since then, it no longer exists only for viewing, but is more functional.
The tights made of new fabrics can make it fit the human body more closely, and its effect is to reduce muscle vibration, reduce wind resistance, reduce the chance of injury, and can absorb moisture and perspiration, keeping the wearer’s skin comfortable.
The above effects also determined that compression clothing was first used in racing events. In the 1990s, the track and field competition caused a sensation due to the first appearance of players wearing tights, and then tights appeared in various sports. Appear.
The addition of equipment to sports is obvious to all. For example, in 2000, the “shark skin” swimsuit (an application of tights) turned out, and the following 10 years abruptly raised the world record to a notch. Because it was too powerful, it was banned by the FINA in 2010.
In such an environment of continuous improvement, of course, people are not only satisfied with tights, and then the birth of compression garments is a matter of course. Its inspiration first came from compression garments in the medical field, most commonly seen in compression socks or leg covers.
Compression stockings are specially designed to relieve and prevent venous diseases (such as edema, phlebitis, prevention of thrombosis, economy class syndrome, etc.). The principle is simply to reduce the diameter of the expanded blood vessels and increase the venous blood flow velocity.
Because of its good application in the field of medical rehabilitation, many people have begun to expect its application in the field of sports-since it can alleviate some problems in the legs, can it also help the body to exercise better?
With the continuous upgrading of fabrics and knitting technology, compression garments with stronger compression performance, stronger athletic performance and faster recovery performance than tights have emerged.
The Difference Between Tights and Compression Garments
Let me talk about the common features of ordinary tights and compression garments:
To reduce the jitter of muscles during exercise, the consumption during exercise will be reduced accordingly; air permeability and perspiration performance are better than ordinary sportswear.
The compression suit is more like an “upgraded version of tights”-to enhance stronger sports performance, provide better protection and support to the muscles, wear after exercise can be faster recovery.
A simple method of distinguishing tight-fitting and compression equipment can check the content of spandex. Compression equipment will use a large amount of spandex material, so its content is generally much more than that of tights.
The intuitive feeling brought by the increase in spandex content is “tighter and more elastic”. After the upper body, it will feel more close to the body than ordinary tights. Breathability and sweat wicking are much better. The tight elastic material supports the abdomen, back and arm muscles better.
Another difference between tights and compression garments is the weaving and cutting techniques. Through different weaving or cutting, the fabric exerts different pressure on different parts of the body to achieve the effect of gradient compression.
Gradient compression means that the farther away from the heart, the stronger the compression force, and then gradually decrease.
These fabrics are based on the temperature control properties of the material, the weaving method and the embedding of different fabric elements-there are a total of 32 deformations! Different sports items, the choice of fabrics also changes.
Among them, we should mention PWX fabric in particular, which is a patented fabric of 2XU, which is mostly used in compression garments. PWX is an abbreviation of three words, namely: P=power, W=weight, X=flex.
The most obvious difference is that the arms of tights are easier to be pulled apart than compression garments, and they tend to lose their elasticity and become loose over time. Compression tops have more pressure on the arms, making them harder to pull, and keeping tightness longer.
The advantage of gradient compression is that it accelerates blood circulation through different compression strengths of the limbs, thereby accelerating the speed of oxygen delivery to the sports muscles, stimulating the vitality of the muscles, accelerating the dissolution of lactic acid, reducing the accumulation of lactic acid, and accelerating the recovery of the body.
But for many ordinary people, its recovery effect may be more obvious than the performance improvement effect (especially after high-intensity exercise).
Conclusion
In summary, the main differences between compression clothing and tights are 3 points:
Compression clothing has higher spandex content, “tighter and more elastic”. After the upper body, it will feel more fit than ordinary tights. The breathability and perspiration are much better. The tight elastic material supports the abdomen, back and arm muscles better.
Compression clothing will add different fabrics and use special weaving and cutting techniques to achieve the effect of gradient compression and reduce fatigue during exercise. Wearing after exercise can accelerate muscle recovery after exercise and reduce soreness.
While ensuring elasticity and stretchability, it wraps the muscles better. Wearing during exercise reduces the risk of injury while improving athletic performance.