A Thousand Miles
They say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It’s a really old saying and so cheesy and cliché but it still rings 100% true.
In 2018, I hit a low. I’ve wrote about this several times before. And here I am today, reinforcing that a fitness journey does not happen overnight. You do NOT gain weight overnight. So you will NOT lose it overnight. There are also a lot of things you learn over time, and not just in a week, a month or even a year. Some things you will take several years to learn, and depending on your fitness goals, you will learn they also take years for your results to come through. But that’s why they also say another cliché, cheesy saying: It’s a marathon, not a sprint. No matter what your fitness goal is, you will learn through multiple trial and error that the true process takes time. Commitment. Dedication. Perseverance. Patience. There are no shortcuts.
You will also learn there is no one solution for everything. What works for one person may not work for you. This rings true when it comes to nutrition and diet, as well as the type of exercises you try out. But that’s why it’s important to try things. To see what works and doesn’t work. To try something else out. To switch things up if you see yourself plateauing.
Speaking of marathons though, I finally bit the bullet and decided to sign up for my first FULL marathon scheduled for September 19. It’s not a Disney race so I’m a little disheartened but I really want to complete this goal and with Disney races in limbo, I really felt like I was falling behind on my training as I’ve been having no motivation to keep up with it. I’m scared because with this date set, I only have 15-16 weeks to train for it, but I think this is also what I need to kick my ass back into gear with my motivation problem. I do really well when I have structured schedules, deadlines and goals set. So I’m hoping this will push me to rise up to the challenge, as I have a strict training schedule to add on mileage in time for the fall. I ran a half marathon on Friday to see if I still had it in me and although it was definitely still challenging, I made it close to my usual PR so hopefully I can add on one mile a week and get to 26.2 in the next 16 weeks. It’s going to be truly a new journey of a thousand miles for the next 4 months. Fingers crossed! I really want to see this goal through but I'm terrified of the work that I'm going to have to put in over the grueling summer. I know it's going to be hard. But if I can see this through, I’ll be so happy. No one can take that away from me after I make it across the finish line. Well, if I make it.😅
And speaking of journeys, I’m 3 years into this fitness journey I started and I’m still learning. My first year I learned I enjoyed weight lifting. My second year I learned to enjoy long distance running. And this year in an effort to still stay active, but give my legs and knees a rest while races are put on hold and not add too much unnecessary mileage to them, I started getting into pilates home workouts. I’m still getting the hang of them as I do find them challenging but I enjoy that they’re a nice change to my routine that I’ve been getting bored with recently. I enjoy seeing the progress week to week, with my form, my stamina and how long I can last with holding one particular pose that I had trouble with the last time. Every time I try a new workout, I gain a new appreciation in that area of exercise. Just because someone else makes something look graceful and easy, does not mean it is. I’m hoping next year when things are safer and more stuff opens up, that I can find a local dance studio and possibly learn ballet or pole. I’m actually really bad at coordinated stuff like that but I would like to get into it and give it a good effort and see what I can do, as well learn something new.
But today I’m not here to blog about nutrition or the type of workout that helps improve your fitness journey. I’m here to talk about a detail that we don’t often think about that does make a big difference. This single small step on your journey that I want to talk about today is about the work out clothes that inspire you!
In the past 3 years, I’ve acquired a decent amount of activewear in my closet. I used to have just 2-3 outfits I rotated out at the gym and had to do laundry more often. I also only had one pair of sneakers in the beginning. I didn’t care as much cause I was just there to do the work and go home. But as time went on, I dedicated more time to my workouts and learned that a cute outfit really does go a long way and it’s part of the “joy” I’ve found in fitness, staying true to my fashion loving roots. I love a good outfit for my regular day to day life, so why not a good outfit for the gym too since that’s become even more routine day to day. And for me, COLOR is a big part of that. I love a great bright colored outfit. It’s why you rarely see me in black.
In my experience, trying to shop for cute gym clothes, obviously quality will differ from company to company. But staying true to my Asian nature, I refuse to overpay for spandex. I know that some activewear is definitely worth the higher cost for the quality, longevity and how they perform, but I also know that it’s not always worth the price they’re charging, no matter how high. Yes I would like my clothes to last a little longer, but being the impulsive shopper I am sometimes, I do like to get a new outfit every now and then because I like new things, lol. I’m the type of person whose day can easily get cheered up with a new outfit I want to wear right away. So with that said, I prefer the price points to be lower so I can have variety.
Full disclosure, I have never bought or tried Lululemon. It’s been recommended but I’ve yet to find cute colors or styles that suit me, and I just can’t justify their prices for something I’m not totally in love with. Maybe one day, but so far I’ve been pretty happy with the brands I’ve tried out, which I’m going to talk about below and review each brand and my experience.
One of the earliest brands I wore for the gym before I even started buying gym clothes simply because their leggings are comfortable and good quality. I find their prints to be pretty decent when it comes to being squat proof. They do make an active wear line but I’ve been just wearing their regular printed leggings for the gym and they hold up just fine over the years. They wash without fading too! They look the same today as I got them years ago. Their compressibility varies from legging to legging due to different fabric and such (my muscle leggings are much tighter than my sprinkle leggings, not a bad thing, as the muscle leggings hold everything in nicer and makes my waist look nicer, as opposed to my sprinkle leggings which are more comfortable when I’m running so I don’t feel suffocated.). It all depends on what you like and what you’re going for but overall, I like the brand and their quality.
I’ve been wanting to try this brand out for a while but could never justify the price point, and because they hype up their launches to sell out, it’s hard to shop there to get the sizes you want unless you’re a loyal shopper that stalks their launches. I finally bit the bullet and was able to get some things in my sizes but honestly, I would say I’m not entirely sold. I got the Rosa bra, the Revolution bra, the Alpha bra and the Executive pocket short. The Alpha bra is probably my favorite because the back design is really pretty. The Rosa bra is nice and supportive for a simple sports bra and still really flattering and cute on, but the Revolution bra I found disappointing. The back design is just not as cute and I ended up liking the square neck bra from Elite Eleven much more. EE's back design was much simple and overall more flattering from the front and back when worn. The Executive pocket short was too short and kept riding up every time I wore it to work out, or even when I wore them for a simple walk around the neighborhood. This may have been because the sizing was too small as I found their shorts way more compressive than I would have liked but that’s another issue on it’s own. I followed the size chart and the shorts fit but they’re definitely very tight and way more compressive than I would have liked. This would have helped had they included this in their description of the product to let you know to size up. The one unique thing though that I really liked about this company is the removable cups that came with each bra - they matched the color of the bra! They weren’t just white or nude like standard cups and padding that come with sports bras, but matched the color of the fabric. It’s a small detail but I appreciated this as it helps to keep them together when you launder your bras. I will also say the quality does hold up well as they wash just fine, the color stays and everything.
I took a chance on this brand last year when I was relentlessly searching for a cute candy pink gym outfit and they had the perfect shade I was looking for and were on sale. I bought the bra, shorts and leggings. The bra was nice and supportive and I liked this outfit a lot at first but the color did fade a little within the first few washes. It’s still pink, but it seems to be a duller pink than when I first got it so that’s a little disappointing.
I found this brand while looking for pastel workout clothes and oh man, this ended up being my current favorite top brand! The fit is perfect and the square neck bra is so so so flattering! I love that it can be worn as a regular crop top outside of working out because it fits like a sports bra but looks like regular clothes as well. It’s got great support, making sure the girls are tucked in but it doesn’t flatten you at all, making everything look super flattering. I can’t say enough about their bras, for real. And they’re at great price points for their quality and versatility, to be honest, especially compared to other brands. I got the matching biker shorts to each bra and I love that their bottoms come in a regular design as well as the scrunch butt ones. I’m not a fan of the scrunch so I’m glad they gave a non-scrunch option. I also found their customer service to be excellent. The first time I ordered, they sent me the wrong size and upon emailing them, they took care of it right away and sent me the right one without having to return the original one! I appreciated that because they are Australia based so return shipping would have been tricky to figure out. I ended up giving the wrong size bra they sent me to my sister and she loved it. Their shipping I also found to be faster than Buff Bunny. I ordered both at the same time and I received my Elite Eleven within a week from Australia while Buff Bunny took 2 weeks, which I found funny since they’re supposed to be US based. When shipping was delayed, I googled the Buff Bunny company and actually found a few bad customer service reviews so that’s a big yikes for me. While I did receive my Buff Bunny order and there were no issues, the reviews I read were enough to make me wary from a future order, as opposed to Elite Eleven, where I’ve ordered from twice now and everything worked out; even when they shipped out the replacement item, I received it rather quickly after they emailed me and took care of everything, no hassles!
For Forever 21’s price point, I actually do like their work out clothes. There are definitely some hit or miss items but if you’re on a budget, they are pretty decent and every so often they have great colors and prints and they offer a lot of basic nice styles for sports bras and matching sets. I still have a lot of items I bought from a few years ago and they’re actually holding up well. Some of their sports bra tops also double well as regular crop tops for everyday wear which I love about a great sports bra.
Okay so last winter, I discovered Hollister started their own active wear line through their Gilly Hicks line and omg, I took a chance during their sale and let me tell you I LOVE EVERYTHING. The quality, the softness, the cuteness, the colors, everything. I bought it all up. This season’s colors I’m not so crazy about but last winter was perfection with the brights. I love their styles and quality so I’m hoping next season they come out with more colors I like. They also have sales often so it’s a very affordable line with decent quality for activewear. Color me impressed.
Living Dead Clothing & Poprageous
I’m grouping these two brands together because they’re no longer available. The companies are gone, sadly. And they were actually one of my favorite when it came to activewear because of how unique their prints were. They specialized in cosplay-like designs with their printed activewear. Living Dead Clothing did an Attack on Titan set which is my absolute fave from them along with my old Lollipop Chainsaw, and Poprageous made all the super hero sets that everyone loves at the gym so much - my Deadpool, Spiderman and Captain America were by them. Their quality was amazing because they are still good as new to this very day after multiple washes and wears. The colors are only slightly faded but not by much and everything is squat proof and panty lines proof. I wish both companies were still here today.
I found this brand last year when quarantine started and took a chance during a sale for their super cute donut crop top, leggings, shorts and cropped tee. Everything is pretty good quality and still hold up so far a year later. The leggings have great compression and are very flattering with their high waist. The shorts I do have an issue with as they do ride up when I run. I think this can be easily fixed if they offered this in a biker short length. The only other issue I found with this brand for me personally was that the pieces I bought were basically the meat of the company. Everything else was not as cute and more on the basic side. So while I recommend the pieces I bought, there isn’t much re-shopability due to limited offerings on designs and releases. They should do more prints and bright fun colors. Their fun donut print leggings are what drew me into them and they should really work more towards that end, especially since that’s their namesake.
I really only bought their activewear the first year I was shopping for race attire for the Princess Half Marathon because I saw they had a hot pink outfit in the store when I was searching for running sneakers. Their clothing line is really expensive, but I do have to note that they do stand by their product and provide good customer service, which is probably why their products are so expensive. They’ll replace anything or give you your money back if there are any issues. I found the leggings and sports top I bought to be really compressive though, much tighter than I would have preferred so I honestly don’t find myself reaching for my Nike set often when it comes to picking out workout clothes for the day, but that’s just my personal preference. They’re so tight, it flattens me out instead of showing off the glutes I worked hard to sculpt, and my boobs feel like someone wrapped them as tightly as possible to hide they exist. But if you’re someone who needs extra support for the honeys, you might prefer this as they do not stretch out. The quality is definitely there.
I took a chance on some cheap sports bras to go along with some of my printed leggings and honestly their stuff is hit or miss. Sometimes the bras are terribly made and sometimes they are actually fire. I found their one shoulder bra to be amazing, but their other bras to be just eh. Luckily, they have a good free returns policy.
Victoria’s Secret
I used to buy their sports bras back in college. They’re still decent but I would highly recommend finding a Victoria’s Secret outlet near you if you can. The one near me sells all their sports bras for $19.99 and under, making their ok quality not so bad. I do like that some of their bras are made with a front zip because some days you’re just too sore to lift the damn thing over your head. Not a lot of brands offer this option.
I took a chance on this brand last year because I simply wanted a sunshine yellow gym outfit. Don’t @ me with the color issue I have when looking for gym clothes, lol. I always look for style and colors first over everything because the fashion bimbo in me cares about looking cute first over comfort, quality and everything else. I did like the color but I don’t believe it is the same brightness today as when I first received it. Their material is a little jersey-like than spandex so that may be why it doesn’t last as long. It definitely isn’t sweat proof because of this detail as well. I loved the set when I received it because of the color but I was disappointed it didn’t have any padding/removable cups so I always have to be wary when working out in public if the gym is cranking up their AC. While I appreciate that it is a women owned brand with ethical production standards, at the high price points their pieces are sold at, their quality just wasn’t cutting it for me. Looking back on this order, I can’t believe I paid $55 for the bra and $72 for the shorts. I did have a coupon for $30 off so it offset the high cost somewhat, but still, the quality is definitely not worth it. I should have continued looking for a yellow set elsewhere, honestly. It’s safe to say, I’m not too crazy about being a return shopper.
In conclusion, I would have to say my current fave brands are Elite Eleven and Hollister when it comes to comfort, price point, versatility and style. Those two are currently hitting all those targets and I would recommend them highly to anyone with my similar body type and concerns when it comes to shopping for cute, affordable gym clothes. I said it once, but I’ll say it again, a really cute outfit really goes a long way. It sounds stupid but it’s really motivational when you look and feel on point. Think about it, when you have a cute outfit planned, you always really look forward to that day, right? It’s the same with working out because then you really want to wear that outfit! Seriously something as little as that will change your whole mood.
What about you? Do you have a favorite tried and trusted brand that you always go back to?