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Clothes

© Matt Danielson

Clothes is an interesting chapter when it comes to gym training. I mean, in what other sport do you see people dress in colorful clown-clothing while working out?

This might sound a bit on the harsh side, but c'mon... Look around! The majority of people are sane, but you always have those "chosen few" that grab the opportunity to show off their bad taste in public. And it's always those few that stand out from the crowd, making non-trainers shake their heads in misbelief and avoid gyms even more. Interestingly enough, often, not always, those people who just NEED to stand out like a flashing emergency beacon, are those insecure people who help create the image of the brainless, egocentric bodybuilder that is more interested in how the biceps look in the mirror than how it's trained. But like I said, this is not all of them - some are just born with bad taste.

The great Arnold even included this detail in an elsewise unprovoked attack on the former Mr.Olympia, Dorian Yates. Personally, I don't think an "Armani Gymclothing DeLuxe" series is going to yield any major success anytime soon, but there's always a decent middle way... And in this case, the "middle way" covers about 80% of the total! I mean, there's quite a lot of wiggle room between working out wearing a tie to dressing in XXXXL shirts with psychedelic colors, totally mismatching the XXL baggy-pants, then topping it off with a neon-colored tanktop, puce/emerald/pink headrag and hideously expensive (and pointless!) army boots.

Now don't get me the wrong way - I work out in baggy-pants, too, when I train legs or do deadlifts, simply because it doesn't limit my range of motion at any point. Difference is, I make sure to have a 2-3 color maximum. And I avoid neon like the plague. I'm aware that there's a whole fashion industry out there, and as I don't see that much neon-stuff in the gymstores anymore I guess it's out of style. But beware - they could be coming back!

Seriously though, I find the whole concept of "gym fashion" kind of ridiculous. Wouldn't it be easier, not to mention cheaper, to just get a basic gym wardrobe of clothes that are:
1.Functional
2.Comfortable
3.Decent looking

Whoa! What a revolutionary concept! Sometimes I impress myself to tears! *Sob*

And here's the bonus round: Not only do you look good, stay functional and comfy, you'll never have to worry about going out of style, either. It's like a pair of wellmade, black Italian shoes. They looked good 50 years ago, they look good today, and they will look good 50 years into the future. Obviously not the same pair of course, but I think you get the point.

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