I used to be convinced compression tights were made for footballers to wear under their uber short shorts, oh and extreme athletes like marathon runners. But then I began to notice that more people were wearing them. The lady ordering her latte and buffin (healthy version of a muffin!), the man doing his daily 10 laps of soft sand and a few gym junkie looking individuals sipping protein shakes.

So what are Compression Tights exactly?

Compression tights are skin tight, featuring built-in panels with strategic surface pressure that aims to improve blood flow during exercise. Put simply, it’s super tight active-wear that helps improve your performance and recovery.

There are two main types of compression used in sports apparel. The first is known as ‘graduated compression’, which is tighter in your extremities to help increase the blood flow back to your core as you exercise. The other type is ‘compartmental compression’, which is tighter in particular areas – not necessarily the extremities – and usually better suited for specific sports.

The basic principle behind compression tights is simple. By applying pressure to particular areas of the body you provide more force to help propel blood back to your heart. This increases blood flow without having to use up more energy.

During exercise your heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to all the muscles you’re using. Once the blood reaches the muscles and offloads the oxygen to them, it becomes harder to get the blood back to the heart at a fast pace. This is where compression comes in. They increase blood flow within the muscle and prevent lactic acid build-up, meaning you can train harder and for longer without that burning or dead legs feeling.

By increasing how fast blood returns to your heart, you increase how quickly you can deliver oxygen to the muscles that are working desperately to keep you going. The more oxygen you have reaching the muscles, the more energy they can produce and the better they can function. Blood also transports nutrients, so by getting more blood to your muscles, you’re essentially ‘feeding’ them faster.

Injury prevention is another benefit. Every time you move so do your muscles, and every time your muscles move tiny tears can appear within the muscle tissue. Think of it like jelly, shaking long after you stop moving the plate. But if the jelly is in a bowl and surrounded on almost every side, the jelly wobbles less. The same thing applies to our muscles. By compressing them and adding extra support, the muscles are said to move less. This reduces the amount of micro damage to the muscles that can occur when they shake on impact and reduces muscle pain both during and after exercise. And of course, it means all our wobbly bits jiggle less and our bodies look firm and tight!

Not only that, but by providing extra support to muscles and joints, compression tights may also help to prevent injuries in much the same way as strapping does. By stabilising joints, the compression tights may help prevent or alleviate injuries associated with sudden, uncontrolled movements.

What about Recovery?

Anybody that’s done endurance exercise knows the words ‘lactic acid’. We all know that lactic acid is that burning feeling that makes us struggle to sit on the toilet or walk up stairs the morning after a big workout, but what if there was a magic solution to help reduce it?

Compression tights can help reduce the amount of lactic acid that builds up in our muscles during exercise. Lactic acid causes pain, fatigue and cramping after exercising  and compression speeds up waste removal, therefore flushing out lactic acid before too much can build up in the body, leaving you pain-free and able to climb all the stairs you like.

Want to Keep Cool as the Temperature Rises?

One of the best pieces of clothing to own in the warmer weather is, believe it or not compression tights! Made from a blend of spandex and nylon, compression fabrics are woven into breathable, easy-dry patterns that wick sweat and moisture away from the body quickly. This helps to draw out sweat from the body, unlike popular cotton-based sportswear that retains moisture and can become heavy during exercise.

We all know the benefits of keeping your muscles cooler. But the fibres in compression tights not only allow your body to withstand high temperatures to a greater extent, but the moisture-wicking technology also prevents fabric mildew and heat exhaustion. Not only that, many compression garments have a higher SPF factor than conventional sportswear. Bonus!

With such a huge amount of benefits from RECOVERY to training HARDER (and longer!) to keeping COOL in Summer, it’s little wonder why compression tights are making its way into the workout wardrobe of the everyday women.

Because Bondi Vixen wants to get the BEST out of you, we are going to give you the BEST!

By joining Bondi Vixen you will receive a FREE pair of 2XU Compression tights (value $140!) when you sign up to ANY of our 12 week memberships. You commit to us and we’ll commit to you!

Its time to Earn your STRIPES, Train HARD, Recover BETTER and take your RESULTS to the next level!

COMMIT to yourself and your body with memberships ranging from $44 to $66 per week.

For 12 week membership options click HERE or CONTACT US for a FREE personal consult on the best option for you!