Yoga is an ancient Indian practice of mental, physical, and spiritual relaxation and controlled movement, aimed at stretching muscles, reducing pain, and improving concentration. Practitioners typically see many health benefits through regular yoga sessions, from lowered blood pressure to improved healing of injuries. With a multitude of different forms and styles you can do, yoga is easily one of the most popular physical activities in the world.
As with any physical activity, though, you’ll need the right clothes for the job. When it comes to picking yoga clothes, not just any outfit will do. There’s several different criteria that go into selecting the perfect outfit to work out in.
Among the many factors you should consider when picking yoga clothes are looseness, fabric, gusset availability, waistband type, fit, tags, and color. While there are other things to think about, these are some of the most important. Ensuring any clothes you’d wear during yoga fit most or all of these to your liking is crucial for getting the most out of your fitness routine.
We’ll be taking a look at each of these categories one by one and explaining why they’re important to yoga practitioners. By the end, you should know what you’ll need to wear to do yoga at your full potential.
1. Looseness
Like with most physical activities, the clothes you wear during yoga should be sufficiently loose enough to move around it. When bending and stretching, the last thing you want is for your clothes to start strangling you.
On the other hand, you also don’t want to be swimming in your outfit. Having clothes that are too lose will actually hurt you more than help, since baggy clothes get in the way of moving around and can cause you to fall over yourself.
The key is to find a happy medium between the two. Look for clothes similar to what you would take on a run, or just slightly looser than that. The extra room will benefit your range of motion substantially while not being too big to move around in.
2. Lightweight Fabric
Just as important as the fit of your clothes is what they’re made of. Lightweight fabric is a must for yoga, as it helps you conserve energy, stay cool, and move more freely. Heavier fabrics will just slow you down, turning what’s meant to be a fun and light exercise into an irritating experience.
While heavier fabrics might last longer and be more durable, this isn’t an especially high concern with yoga clothes. Unlike various active sports, there isn’t much wear and tear going on with your outfit as yoga involves staying in one place and moving slowly from one position to the next. Without much concern for ripping or wearing out the fabric in your outfit, you won’t need to worry about durability that might be gained from heavier clothing.
3. Gussets
Something many people don’t account for in their clothing is the necessity of gussets during physical activity. While not as high on your list of concerns during something like yoga, a gusset in areas like under the arms or between the legs can give you some much needed extra space to stretch and hold positions.
An extra piece of fabric might not seem like it would make much difference, but at higher levels of intensity, it can really help out. The biggest concern is freedom of movement no matter what you wear, and a strategically placed gusset can grant that better than just about anything else you can put on your body.
4. Waistband
In the realm of pants, few measurements are more important than the waistband. Properly sized waistbands ensure your pants don’t go falling down in the middle of exercise, and also help you look your best for any occasion. Pants that are both too big or too small in the waist not only look bad, but they impede your ability to do yoga, too.
The material your waistband is made from is also important. While drawstrings might work well enough, when doing yoga, elastic material is the best option. Just like with your pants themselves, you’ll want to have as much freedom of movement in the waist area as you possibly can. For this reason, having a band made from a flexible material can be beneficial to your overall ability.
5. Form-Fitting
As mentioned previously, the fit of your clothes can do a lot to affect your performance. Just like you don’t want your clothes too tight, you also don’t want them too loose. For this, clothes that are more form-fitting have a distinct advantage over those that are more baggy.
While loose clothes are still important, clothing that contours more closely to your body can also be beneficial. This is especially true for pants, where extra room could just end up a hassle depending on the moves you’re planning to do. Essentially, what you want is, as discussed before, clothes that aren’t too tight as to constrict you but not too loose at to drown you. Look for something that’s breathable yet will still stay close to your body, helping you increase your freedom of movement without getting in your way.
6. Tagless
One thing most people overlook when selecting comfortable clothing for exercise is the tags. If it’s too irritating to wear around in daily life, why would you ever want to wear it while you do yoga? Having an itchy tag scratching at your back all day long is just going to break your concentration, ensuring you don’t get anything out of your time.
If your clothes aren’t tagless by design, make sure to cut them off before you wear them to yoga for the first time. Even those that aren’t very obtrusive to start with can grow to be a real annoyance as you hold different positions for long stretches of time. It’s best to take care of the problem before it becomes a problem.
7. Color
While the color of your clothing likely won’t affect your own performance during yoga, it can affect those around you. If you plan to do yoga in your own home, this isn’t much of an issue, but in a group setting, you always want to be conscious of the kind of things you wear.
Bright, obtrusive colors can throw off people’s concentration, so be mindful of your wardrobe choices when heading to a class. The same goes for any kind of graphics or words on your clothing, too. Overall, just be mindful of others.