Today, many athletes wear compression garments during their performances. Find out whether to buy such specific clothes for training or not. When you watch competitions in various sports, you probably noticed that athletes often wear tight-fitting clothing. It is called compression and it may be that you already have such a kit or you are just thinking about the need to purchase it. The main reason for the emergence of compression garments is the desire of manufacturers to convince athletes that it will allow them to improve their performance.
When advertising their products, marketing specialists from manufacturing companies come up with various catchy slogans that sound very encouraging. But is there any real benefit to compression garments in CrossFit. This is what we will find out now.
What are the benefits of crossfit compression garments?
Nylon or spandex is most often used as a material for the production of compression sportswear. It is designed so that it has the ability to stretch as much as possible, but at the same time it must maintain its structure. The basis for the creation of this clothing was based on the results of the practical application of similar clothing in traditional medicine.
For example, when using compression leggings or socks, blood vessels in the legs are compressed, which leads to an increase in blood pressure in the upper body. Such clothes are often used by people suffering from varicose veins. The creators of sportswear could not pass by such results and introduced compression clothing into sports. The goal of this step was to speed up recovery and improve the performance of the athletes. Based on the successful use of this type of garment in medicine, the companies were primarily counting on the runners. However, compression clothing quickly came to other sports disciplines.
The essence of the use of compression clothing in sports is to provide working muscles with a large amount of nutrients. At the same time, increased blood flow in muscle tissues, which are under stress, allows faster elimination of various metabolites, say, lactic acid. In theory, this should have improved the performance of the athletes.
Also, for runners and athletes who have constant contact with the ground, there is another problem - a high shock load on the muscles. While running, the leg strikes the ground, and the resulting vibration negatively affects the leg muscles. Scientists believe that this fact negatively affects the muscles, causing them serious microdamage. This is the reason why sports compression clothing is very tight. Again, in theory, this should support the muscles by protecting them from vibration. Add to that the benefits we've already talked about and it seems like the benefits of compression garments in CrossFit are pretty obvious. But you must understand that a lot of money was spent on the creation and subsequent advertising of this type of sports equipment. Now we need to find out how justified the loud statements of manufacturing companies. Compression garments have been used by athletes for a long time, and scientists have done several studies trying to establish how effective they are. However, they have not yet come up with exact answers. It is safe to say that blood flow has improved markedly, but this did not affect the increase in endurance in any way.
The results of more than 30 experiments were published several years ago. Scientists have not been able to find evidence of the effectiveness of compression garments. But in fairness, it must be said that the body's recovery has accelerated and this has been scientifically proven. Athletes themselves often say that when using compression garments, pain is much weaker. Although this may be the result of self-hypnosis.
A group of scientists from New Zealand thought about the same and decided to conduct an experiment. Fourteen test athletes took part in a 40 km bike ride. Then they rested for a day and repeated the race. During the rest period, some of the athletes received suits that were not compression suits, while others received real compression clothing. Of course, everyone was informed that these are quality compression suits.
After 7 days, the races were repeated and the subjects changed the marks upon receiving the costumes. Simply put, those who previously used dummies now received compression garments and vice versa. As a result, it was found that when using compression garments, athletes' performance improved by 1.2 percent. Be that as it may, but compression garments have firmly entered the sport, and athletes will continue to use them.
Learn more about compression garments in this video:
