There is a saying that the earliest origin of tights can be traced back to the custom of women's waist-binding in European history. At the beginning of the 20th century, tights began to be worn by circuses and acrobatic performances, and now they have evolved into more fashionable shapes. It can be said that the original intention of tights is for formal beauty, and it does not emphasize functionality. Nowadays, the function of sports tights is to reduce the muscle jitter of the body during exercise, provide muscle and joint support, and keep warm and sweat. There is a certain sense of urgency and oppression after wearing tights, which helps to reduce the burden brought by loose clothes and pursue a better sports experience.
Tight pants, compressed underwear and tight pants are the same concept in category. Because the tight fabric itself has a compression effect (referring to the compression of muscles). Even the brands of compression suits will use the words "tight-fitting" in the product introduction. Pressure suit is also called pressure suit. Early pressure underwear was made of special materials and different knitting techniques, and it was an auxiliary means in medical treatment. The use of compressed underwear in sports was initially limited to running and swimming, but it soon expanded to other events, including baseball, basketball, cycling, football, golf, gymnastics, rugby, skiing, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. Compressed underwear makes one part of the body feel different from other parts of the body by changing the elasticity of the fabric (mostly fine count yarn blended with polyester and spandex or nylon and spandex). For example, the gradual compression fabric used in calf leather. The elasticity of this fabric is from bottom to top, and the more it goes up, the looser it becomes. This will accelerate the rapid return of blood to the heart and make lactic acid decompose quickly. Everything related to accelerating blood return to the heart has become the advertised benefits of compression suits, such as improving the oxygen supply rate of blood to muscles, accelerating the decomposition of lactic acid, reducing swelling and accelerating recovery.
How to tell the difference between tights and compression suits? The first is the difference with fabrics. Compression underwear is nylon (below 80%)+spandex (above 20%), and tights are polyester (above 80%)+spandex (below 20%). The composition of polyurethane fiber is higher, and the super fatigue resistance of nylon determines that the service life of compression clothing is longer. It is possible that the general tights start to loosen after wearing for several times, and the elasticity becomes weak, while the compression clothes have good elasticity and can last for a long time. The other is the pressure difference on the muscles. After wearing compressed clothes, compared with tight clothes, fabrics can obviously feel stronger pressure on muscles and feel tighter. The following two points will help you distinguish the difference between the two and make it clearer when you buy.
Price: Due to the differences in cost and manufacturing process, compression suits will be much more expensive than tights. The average price of compressed pants ranges from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, from 500 yuan to 1500 yuan, which is obviously much more expensive than tight pants. Stress: Compressed clothes will be more stressful than tight clothes. Because the compression pants are designed with gradient pressure, the pressure on the calf will be greater. As shown in the above picture, the fabric in the calf position of tights is easy to open, while the compression pants need a lot of strength to open. Are compression pants really that easy to use? Functionally, compressed underwear is indeed more comprehensive than ordinary tights and sportswear. These compression suits have the characteristics of antibacterial, antistatic, breathable, wear-resistant, humidity management, easy decontamination, constant temperature, ultraviolet protection and sun protection. Compressed underwear can make you run without burden because of its better fit, and its sweat conductivity and breathability are also excellent, so as to avoid making you uncomfortable because of sweating; Finally, especially in autumn and winter, compressed pants can resist the direct impact of cold air on the skin surface, and the cold-proof effect is also good. In fact, although many professional marathoners usually focus on shorts in competitions, they don't deliberately choose compression suits, but in long-distance cross-country such as UTMB, almost everyone will wear them (with exceptions, of course). Athletes like to wear compression suits after exercise or between exercises to speed up physical recovery and relieve fatigue. As for the promotion performance promoted by merchants, although there are evidences and cases to support this statement, the evidence supporting these statements is not credible, and many scientists are also skeptical. For ordinary sports enthusiasts, what is most needed is comfort and safety. Compression clothing is not one of the necessary equipment, so it is not necessary to start with expensive and impractical compression clothing because of the equipment. However, if you think it is really necessary to compress clothes, when choosing compressed clothes for running, you need to confirm the pressure (mmHg) level, pressure distribution, Denny number and other information of the purchased products. If there is no product marked with these relevant data, it seems that it is better to confirm it first.