High-Tech Workout Clothing Question

taddy said:

I've been pretty good about working out regularly for the last year. I
thought I would treat myself to some of the latest in high-tech
workout clothing. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this stuff --
they're generally made from polyester and have a special design that
wicks moisture away from the body to keep you dry and comfortable.
I've always used cotton workout gear and I'm about ready to toss all
my old, ratty stuff in favor of the latest and greatest.

I'd been checking out products from Under Armour and Nike, and on a
whim picked up some shorts and a shirt from Russell Athletic (their
DriPower line). I gave it a try last night, lifting weights and then
spending a rigorous 30 minutes on the StairMaster. I was surprised to
find that at the end of this session I was drenched in sweat, just
like with my cotton clothing. Somehow I expected the sweat to
magically disappear, I guess. I'm wondering now if maybe my
expectations are too high. The other possibility is that the Russell
stuff may be inferior to the higher-end products.

One positive thing I did notice was that the Russell clothing dried
quickly when I hung it up at home. My cotton shirts will stay damp for
days afterwards, until they are laundered. So that is some small
advantage.

I'm thinking about picking up some Under Armour items this weekend.
I'd be interested in any experience/insights you might have. Should I
expect this stuff to stay bone-dry through a hard workout? Or will it
just be better than cotton but not as good as I had imagined? Thanks
for any thoughts.

I don't use it for workouts, because I don't work out.

I use it for bicycling and bicycle camping hauling 50 to 60 pounds of
camping gear and a trailer around.

With the wind of nature blowing on me, and the wind of my own bicycling
velocity added (or subtracted), I almost never break a sweat of the
sopping wet kind.

The wind is helping to evaporate the sweat, as is the hotter outdoor
summer temperature.

I can imagine a humid indoor exercise area somewhat cool. With the
higher indoor humidity and the cooler air, not much of the sensible
perspiration is really going to evaporate.

After the new fabric wicks the sweat away from your body - it has to do
something with it to make it go away or evaporate.

If the exercise room isn't conducive to readily drying damp clothing,
then wicking ain't gonna do you very much good because the sweat has no
place to go.

So, maybe the fancy wicking clothing will just help evaporate your cash
at a higher rate.

I've used Russell "performance" clothing this last summer, and found it
cool bicycling hard in the summer outdoor heat.

Walmart has had some pretty good wicking Tshirts in the past, but some
of them which blend polyester with Modal (a special rayon) performed
more poorly than their all polyester types.

I like the light wicking polyester fabrics better than the thicker
wicking polyester fabrics for the summer. The thin fabric places the
evaporative cooling closer to your skin than does the thicker wicking
fabric. So, it cools you a little better than thick fabric.

You can do a mental experiment. Imagine a really speedy wicking fabric
an inch thick. The sweat shoots out to the outside of the fabric and it
evaporates there. That means that heat gets sucked up locally at the
fabric/air interface so that it can evaporate the water (sweat). Because
the fabric is an inch thick, that coolness of evaporation can't easily
get back to your skin. The thick highly wickable fabric still acts like
thick insulation. And that also means that your body heat only flows
slowly to the outside surface where it could be used to generate that
cooling of evaporation.

For coolness, you want high wicking and thinness.

For winter warmth, you would like the performance wicking underwear to
be thicker. And the thickest wicking underwears are designed for the
coldest uses of underwear.

Ten or more years ago, the technology was new and the latest and best
was always more expensive.

There are many many dozens of patents on wicking fabrics today. The
technology has improved greatly. There is now good stuff which can be
gotten fairly cheaply.

I have never felt the need to try the expensive Underall stuff. I did
buy one pair of compression shorts that I will try this summer for hiking.

When it comes to sweat --- if it can't evaporate from the surface, maybe
wicking it rapicly to the surface ain't gonna be a big inprovement.

A breeze in the execise room would help evaporate the sweat greatly.
Low humidity in the exercise room (getting rid of all of those sweaty
bodies, maybe) would also help. A higher temperature (and lower
humidity) would help the sweat evaporate too because clothes dry faster
when it is warmer with less humidity.

Maybe your expectations are those given to you by marketers and
advertisement.

Save your money. When you find somewhere where wicking clothes actually
help greatly, then you can do your comparison test.

I have gotten rid of almost all of my wonderfully soft cotton Tshirts.
There are a few that are just too dear, but for summer, give me wicking
materials and sunshine and a breeze.

taddy said:

I'd been checking out products from Under Armour and Nike, and on a
whim picked up some shorts and a shirt from Russell Athletic (their
DriPower line). I gave it a try last night, lifting weights and then
spending a rigorous 30 minutes on the StairMaster. I was surprised to
find that at the end of this session I was drenched in sweat, just
like with my cotton clothing. Somehow I expected the sweat to
magically disappear, I guess. I'm wondering now if maybe my
expectations are too high. The other possibility is that the Russell
stuff may be inferior to the higher-end products.

These wicking clothes trap body heat by close application to the skin
and dissipate the sweat/water but mostly the water content. It's a
tradeoff, you trap heat then the fluid is better wicked to where it can
be evaporated.

I like them, much better than cotton which loads fluids and they work
very well in colder temps which I found out in Iraq.

jim buch said:

taddy said:

I've been pretty good about working out regularly for the last year. I
thought I would treat myself to some of the latest in high-tech
workout clothing. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this stuff --
they're generally made from polyester and have a special design that
wicks moisture away from the body to keep you dry and comfortable.
I've always used cotton workout gear and I'm about ready to toss all
my old, ratty stuff in favor of the latest and greatest.
I'd been checking out products from Under Armour and Nike, and on a
whim picked up some shorts and a shirt from Russell Athletic (their
DriPower line). I gave it a try last night, lifting weights and then
spending a rigorous 30 minutes on the StairMaster. I was surprised to
find that at the end of this session I was drenched in sweat, just
like with my cotton clothing. Somehow I expected the sweat to
magically disappear, I guess. I'm wondering now if maybe my
expectations are too high. The other possibility is that the Russell
stuff may be inferior to the higher-end products.
One positive thing I did notice was that the Russell clothing dried
quickly when I hung it up at home. My cotton shirts will stay damp for
days afterwards, until they are laundered. So that is some small
advantage.
I'm thinking about picking up some Under Armour items this weekend.
I'd be interested in any experience/insights you might have. Should I
expect this stuff to stay bone-dry through a hard workout? Or will it
just be better than cotton but not as good as I had imagined? Thanks
for any thoughts.

I don't use it for workouts, because I don't work out.

I use it for bicycling and bicycle camping hauling 50 to 60 pounds of
camping gear and a trailer around.

With the wind of nature blowing on me, and the wind of my own bicycling
velocity added (or subtracted), I almost never break a sweat of the
sopping wet kind.

The wind is helping to evaporate the sweat, as is the hotter outdoor
summer temperature.

I can imagine a humid indoor exercise area somewhat cool. With the
higher indoor humidity and the cooler air, not much of the sensible
perspiration is really going to evaporate.

After the new fabric wicks the sweat away from your body - it has to do
something with it to make it go away or evaporate.

If the exercise room isn't conducive to readily drying damp clothing,
then wicking ain't gonna do you very much good because the sweat has no
place to go.

So, maybe the fancy wicking clothing will just help evaporate your cash
at a higher rate.

I've used Russell "performance" clothing this last summer, and found it
cool bicycling hard in the summer outdoor heat.

Walmart has had some pretty good wicking Tshirts in the past, but some
of them which blend polyester with Modal (a special rayon) performed
more poorly than their all polyester types.

I like the light wicking polyester fabrics better than the thicker
wicking polyester fabrics for the summer. The thin fabric places the
evaporative cooling closer to your skin than does the thicker wicking
fabric. So, it cools you a little better than thick fabric.

You can do a mental experiment. Imagine a really speedy wicking fabric
an inch thick. The sweat shoots out to the outside of the fabric and it
evaporates there. That means that heat gets sucked up locally at the
fabric/air interface so that it can evaporate the water (sweat). Because
the fabric is an inch thick, that coolness of evaporation can't easily
get back to your skin. The thick highly wickable fabric still acts like
thick insulation. And that also means that your body heat only flows
slowly to the outside surface where it could be used to generate that
cooling of evaporation.

For coolness, you want high wicking and thinness.

For winter warmth, you would like the performance wicking underwear to
be thicker. And the thickest wicking underwears are designed for the
coldest uses of underwear.

Ten or more years ago, the technology was new and the latest and best
was always more expensive.

There are many many dozens of patents on wicking fabrics today. The
technology has improved greatly. There is now good stuff which can be
gotten fairly cheaply.

I have never felt the need to try the expensive Underall stuff. I did
buy one pair of compression shorts that I will try this summer for
hiking.

When it comes to sweat --- if it can't evaporate from the surface, maybe
wicking it rapicly to the surface ain't gonna be a big inprovement.

A breeze in the execise room would help evaporate the sweat greatly.
Low humidity in the exercise room (getting rid of all of those sweaty
bodies, maybe) would also help. A higher temperature (and lower
humidity) would help the sweat evaporate too because clothes dry faster
when it is warmer with less humidity.

Maybe your expectations are those given to you by marketers and
advertisement.

Save your money. When you find somewhere where wicking clothes actually
help greatly, then you can do your comparison test.

I have gotten rid of almost all of my wonderfully soft cotton Tshirts.
There are a few that are just too dear, but for summer, give me wicking
materials and sunshine and a breeze.

For biking, the high tech stuff really does work. But, as Jim said, you
need some type of breeze/wind in order to evaporate sweat. If you're in
90 percent humidity, jogging, with no wind, you're going to be in trouble.

--
Bob in CT

Bob in CT said:

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:51:38 -0400, jim buch <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

For coolness, you want high wicking and thinness.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When it comes to sweat --- if it can't evaporate from the surface,
maybe wicking it rapicly to the surface ain't gonna be a big
inprovement.

A breeze in the execise room would help evaporate the sweat greatly.
Low humidity in the exercise room (getting rid of all of those sweaty
bodies, maybe) would also help. A higher temperature (and lower
humidity) would help the sweat evaporate too because clothes dry
faster when it is warmer with less humidity.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Save your money. When you find somewhere where wicking clothes
actually help greatly, then you can do your comparison test.

I have gotten rid of almost all of my wonderfully soft cotton
Tshirts. There are a few that are just too dear, but for summer, give
me wicking materials and sunshine and a breeze.

For biking, the high tech stuff really does work. But, as Jim said,
you need some type of breeze/wind in order to evaporate sweat. If
you're in 90 percent humidity, jogging, with no wind, you're going to
be in trouble.

Put this another way.

If the conditions aren't right for fast evaporation of the sweat from
the surface of the garmet, all the wicking is going to do is to help
spread out the sweat more uniformly around your body. So the area of
really intense armpit sweating gets spread out to a larger area from
which it won't evaporate readily.

If the evaporation conditions are favorable, then the spreading out of
the sweat because of wicking within the fabric further increases the
rate of evaporation (from the larger wet area) and increases the cooling
effect.

jim buch said:

Bob in CT said:

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:51:38 -0400, jim buch <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

For coolness, you want high wicking and thinness.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When it comes to sweat --- if it can't evaporate from the surface,
maybe wicking it rapicly to the surface ain't gonna be a big
inprovement.

A breeze in the execise room would help evaporate the sweat greatly.
Low humidity in the exercise room (getting rid of all of those sweaty
bodies, maybe) would also help. A higher temperature (and lower
humidity) would help the sweat evaporate too because clothes dry
faster when it is warmer with less humidity.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Save your money. When you find somewhere where wicking clothes
actually help greatly, then you can do your comparison test.

I have gotten rid of almost all of my wonderfully soft cotton
Tshirts. There are a few that are just too dear, but for summer, give
me wicking materials and sunshine and a breeze.

For biking, the high tech stuff really does work. But, as Jim said,
you need some type of breeze/wind in order to evaporate sweat. If
you're in 90 percent humidity, jogging, with no wind, you're going to
be in trouble.

Put this another way.

If the conditions aren't right for fast evaporation of the sweat from
the surface of the garmet, all the wicking is going to do is to help
spread out the sweat more uniformly around your body. So the area of
really intense armpit sweating gets spread out to a larger area from
which it won't evaporate readily.

If the evaporation conditions are favorable, then the spreading out of
the sweat because of wicking within the fabric further increases the
rate of evaporation (from the larger wet area) and increases the cooling
effect.

I definitely find this to be true. For instance, I wear "head sweats"
which are pieces of material that fit under my helmet. When it's not too
hot outside, they're great, as they transfer the sweat across my entire
head, and allow the sweat to evaporate. When it gets too hot, though, I
simply have to take them off. Even though they're thin, they do
contribute some amount of heat build up, and this amount of heat build up
can negate their beneficial effects.

--
Bob in CT

taddy said:

I've been pretty good about working out regularly for the last year. I
thought I would treat myself to some of the latest in high-tech
workout clothing. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this stuff --
they're generally made from polyester and have a special design that
wicks moisture away from the body to keep you dry and comfortable.
I've always used cotton workout gear and I'm about ready to toss all
my old, ratty stuff in favor of the latest and greatest.

I'd been checking out products from Under Armour and Nike, and on a
whim picked up some shorts and a shirt from Russell Athletic (their
DriPower line). I gave it a try last night, lifting weights and then
spending a rigorous 30 minutes on the StairMaster. I was surprised to
find that at the end of this session I was drenched in sweat, just
like with my cotton clothing. Somehow I expected the sweat to
magically disappear, I guess. I'm wondering now if maybe my
expectations are too high. The other possibility is that the Russell
stuff may be inferior to the higher-end products.

One positive thing I did notice was that the Russell clothing dried
quickly when I hung it up at home. My cotton shirts will stay damp for
days afterwards, until they are laundered. So that is some small
advantage.

I'm thinking about picking up some Under Armour items this weekend.
I'd be interested in any experience/insights you might have. Should I
expect this stuff to stay bone-dry through a hard workout? Or will it
just be better than cotton but not as good as I had imagined? Thanks
for any thoughts.

I have a champion compression shirt that wicks. I wear it to lift. I
used to wear it to do my intervals on the bike, but my goal in wearing
it, as my understanding has increased, doesn't mesh with the
Intervals.

The goal for me to wear it is to maintain core temperature when I
lift. By wicking the moisture & compressing everything else, it does
this. I get soggy. I don't care, b/c the shirt dries very quickly.

I wear a cotton shirt over it, this gets soggy. But again, not a
problem. I have a baggy for soggy clothing.

On the bike, I was getting too hot. Don't have a problem keeping the
core warm doing Hi-Intensity Intervals.

Advice: Examine your reason for getting it and make sure you are clear
on what it will and won't do.

taddy wrote:
:: I've been pretty good about working out regularly for the last year.
:: I thought I would treat myself to some of the latest in high-tech
:: workout clothing. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this stuff --
:: they're generally made from polyester and have a special design that
:: wicks moisture away from the body to keep you dry and comfortable.
:: I've always used cotton workout gear and I'm about ready to toss all
:: my old, ratty stuff in favor of the latest and greatest.
::
:: I'd been checking out products from Under Armour and Nike, and on a
:: whim picked up some shorts and a shirt from Russell Athletic (their
:: DriPower line). I gave it a try last night, lifting weights and then
:: spending a rigorous 30 minutes on the StairMaster. I was surprised to
:: find that at the end of this session I was drenched in sweat, just
:: like with my cotton clothing. Somehow I expected the sweat to
:: magically disappear, I guess. I'm wondering now if maybe my
:: expectations are too high. The other possibility is that the Russell
:: stuff may be inferior to the higher-end products.
::
:: One positive thing I did notice was that the Russell clothing dried
:: quickly when I hung it up at home. My cotton shirts will stay damp
:: for days afterwards, until they are laundered. So that is some small
:: advantage.
::
:: I'm thinking about picking up some Under Armour items this weekend.
:: I'd be interested in any experience/insights you might have. Should I
:: expect this stuff to stay bone-dry through a hard workout? Or will it
:: just be better than cotton but not as good as I had imagined? Thanks
:: for any thoughts.

No, it's not going to stay bone dry, but it will move the moisture away from
your body quicker and better than cotton. Your sweating had a lot to do
with the temps in the building you were working in and your effort. If you
had a fan blowing on you, then a lot of the moisture would be carried off
and you'd not notice so much sweat (a similar thing happens when riding a
bike - the sweating is not as noticeable until you stop). But if not, then
the sweat is still going ot exist and you're still going to be damp.

Try it again wearing cotton and see which you prefer.

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. This clears up things for
me.

I first discovered wicking fabrics last summer, my first season of
regular cycling. By chance late in the "dog days" I tried a
Performance jersey made from this type of fabric. I immediately
realized what everyone liked about these. Instead of being drenched
on a long ride, I was bone dry and very comfortable. But I understand
now why this isn't going to work as well indoors on an aerobic
machine.

The cycling season is about to begin again, so my needs are going to
change. The gym will be reserved for weight training, and I'll get my
aerobic work in on my bike. So I'll get some lightweight pieces for
the gym and find out what works for me, and also expand my cycling
wardrobe and toss out the old cotton t-shirts. Hopefully it will be
at least next November before I'll be doing any heavy time on aerobic
machines again. I can't say I'll miss them.

First up will be some spring-weather compatible stuff, probably a
lightweight longsleeve jersey with wicking properties, topped by a
wind-resistant vest. Also I may get one of those compression caps
that fit under a helmet. I do find that the wind really whips through
the helmet on chilly days and can be pretty uncomfortable.