Compression gear seems to be all the rage today in almost every sport. Everyone from triathletes to ultra runners to football players seem to be wearing some sort of compression clothing before, during, and after their event or practice and for good reason. Compression clothing has been shown to warm up muscles before practice, prevent injuries during, and then aid in recovery after. For something that was developed for diabetic and geriatric patients to aid in circulation, it has great applications to athletes, but does compression really work or is all n=1 hype?
Recently I was contacted by the SKINS company to review their skin compression tights. SKINS has done its research on compression and put a lot of energy into creating their tights. They have created a full line of compression clothing
with specific lines for particular sports including triathlon.
I jumped on this opportunity. I personally am a fan of compression tights. While I do not use compression clothing before or during my training or racing, I practically live in my compression tights the rest of the day after a hard morning workout and I have to spend my the rest of my day on my feet or when I am traveling. I have tried multiple brands including 2XU, SLS3, CEP, and 110%, but never have tried SKINS.
Like all reviews, I wanted to put these tights through multiple situations to compare it to the
other brands and see what made them unique. I evaluate compression on several levels:
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Breathability: do they breath during exercise, if I wear them while sleeping, and underneath clothing?
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Comfort: are they comfortable all the while providing compression?
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Functionality: do they work in multiple situations both during and after workouts?
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Fit: do they provide enough compression
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Looks: as always this is important to me.
To test these out I conducted several “tests” and wore them during:
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The travel test (a 6 hour car ride)
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The exercise test (one 90 minute interval bike session, one track workout, and one long run)
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The post workout test (after several swim sessions and workouts including weight lifting)
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The work test (during a 9 hour workday where I was on my feet and moving around for the majority of the day)
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The sleep test (slept in them for several nights)
Here are my findings:
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Breathability: This category SKINS definitely outshone other models. I barely realized that I was wearing the tights when sleeping and I did not overheat like I have when using other tights. During workouts, they moved with my body and did not cause chafing. These are extremely flexible.
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Comfort: The tights are very comfortable, but not more so than the other brands I have tried. However, they are much thinner which helped during exercise and when wearing them underneath work slacks or cycling bibs.
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Fit: I did find the fit a little on the loose side even though I fall on the high end of their sizing chart. I maybe used to the tight feel
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of other tights but the SKINS felt like they were not providing enough compression.
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Functionality: Even with the loose fit, the tights did help significantly with recovery especially at night and after a long day on my feet at work. It is hard to judge whether the SKINS performed better than other tights in terms of recovery but nevertheless they performed, which i
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s what counts. My legs did not have the swollen feeling that workouts sometimes cause. However, when worn during workouts, I did not notice a tremendous difference in performance or post workout soreness.
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Looks: I rarely wore these tights on their own because I did not want to seem like Danger Barch from Million Dollar Baby. During workouts though they appeared like I was wearing regular running tights or cycling bibs.
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Other notes One great feature though about SKINS that is different from any other tight tested is that they have a slit for when “nature calls.” Furthermore, they did not cause me to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. This could be due to the gradient pressure design that applies pressure and compression to specific muscle and areas while letting other areas (like the bladder region) pressure-free.
Overall, SKINS tights exceeded my expectations when it came to long trips, during sleep, and while working because of its light, breathable, material and comfortable feel. However, if you like to wear compression during workouts then you may want a tighter fitter tight or one of their different models specific to workouts.
