Looking Hot at the Gym

You deserve to show off your body if you?re working hard on it at the gym. But why wait until your workout is over? It?s easy to look sexy and stylish when you?re getting sweaty at the gym.

What to arrive and leave in

Work out in fashion

Tracksuit pants make you look ratty if worn as an everyday item of clothing. But at the gym, they are the appropriate kind of pants to arrive in, even if you?re going to change into shorts before hitting the treadmill.

Get yourself into a sporty state of mind by arriving in a pair of loose tracksuit pants and a tighter tank top, with a duffel bag in hand.

You should have a spare outfit for after your workout so you aren?t wearing stinky, damp clothes for the rest of the day – anything that you?ve dripped sweat onto should be swapped. That especially includes socks.

Branded sports gear

Well-known brands tend to be well-known for a reason: they tend to make quality garments which will last. Sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma are favourites among gym-goers, but your body is not an advertisement for your favourite sportswear brand. While it?s good to have a few branded pieces, you don?t want to be wearing visible logos from head-to-toe. If you?re wearing distinctively branded shorts, stick to a plain top and vice versa.

T-shirt or tank top?

Showing off your guns is most efficiently done in a tank top. The other advantage of tank tops is you won?t get visibly sweaty patches under your arms, because there?s no material there. But T-shirts make perfectly good gym attire too, especially if you need to hit the weights for a few more sessions before you?re confident to show off your arms.

The best tops to wear to the gym are fitted without being too tight, so you have room to move without any annoying excess material.

Don?t be an eyesore

Some athletic clothing has far too much detailing- especially runners. The myriad of fluoro lines and weird plastic attachments on your cheap trainers won?t improve your performance. It?s hard to believe something so ugly isn?t even functional.

Choose simple designs where possible, with small logos and few colors. This way, all your gym clothing will match and your outfit won?t hurt people?s eyes.

It?s okay to wear bright colors if that?s your thing. It?s even preferable if you don?t want to blend in with every other gym-goer. Stick to one or two statement colors per outfit though, or you will look scary rather than stylish.

Look (and smell) clean

If you?re doing it right, working out will keep you quite sweaty. So nobody at the gym will judge you for looking a little damp. But they will judge you for old sweat stains on your clothing. On white clothes particularly, sweat can stain the garment yellow. For this reason you should steer clear of white gym attire. Particularly heavy sweaters should stick to dark colors.

Sweat has quite an offensive smell, but that?s nothing that deodorant and being well-washed can?t fix. There are no excuses for not washing your gym clothes in between each wear.

In short, the golden rules of the gym: look like you?ve had a shower recently.