What You Wear Affects Your Workout

Source: media.fashiongroup.com

Do you feel more productive on the days where you dress up nicer for school? If so, you are likely to experience a similar occurrence when you wear workout clothes during the day, but the result of wearing the workout clothes is an increased likelihood that you will workout. Author Jamie Wiebe wrote the article Psychology of Lululemon: How Fashion Affects Fitness in 2013 for The Atlantic, a well-known magazine covering a variety of topics. The author’s main argument is that what you wear affects how you think and what you do, so wearing (Lululemon) workout clothes will improve the chances that you work out on a day where you wear workout clothes all day.

Researchers use “Enclothed Cognition” to describe the mental changes people undergo when they wear a certain type of clothing. The author believes that “ the symbolic meaning that you associate with a particular item of clothing” will drive your behavior. It is almost a mind game. If you wear workout clothes during the day, then you will think more about working out, ultimately improving the chances that you will work out that day. I agree with the author that “your clothes represent your inner motivation and feelings” because when I wear a dress to school, I feel more awake and attentive. And when I wear leggings and an athletic shirt to school, I workout after school, so what I wear to school gives my classmates a pretty good idea of the intentions I have for that day.

It is quite evident that more people are starting to wear workout clothes for everyday activities. Workout clothes are not only worn for working out, but for everyday wear! In fact, “the activewear market grew 7 percent over the past year. In the same time, the general apparel market grew only 1 percent.” Now that workout clothes are becoming a fashion statement, more people are buying workout clothes because they are popular, not for the sole purpose of working out. But people have been buying new workout clothes as an incentive to work out. For example, Lululemon markets their athletic wear as either everyday clothing or active wear to reach a larger target market. Lululemon promotes working out by offering “clothing that bridges the divide between activewear and streetwear means you’ll wear it more often—and by doing so, you might feel like going to the gym a little bit more often.” People buying these clothes, mostly women, feel more motivated to workout since they wear fashionable workout clothes throughout the day. 

Although workout clothes are great to buy because they are very versatile nowadays, for “people who get a totally new wardrobe—that’s never a really good sign. Too much, too fast to accommodate your routine and lifestyle.” The effect does not work the same way that it does for people who buy a lot of workout clothes hoping that those new clothes will give them the inspiration they need to workout. Having the workout clothes in your closet will not automatically make you a regular at a gym. But buying new workout clothes after you meet certain fitness goals is a great incentive to keep you on track with your motivation to continue working out. If you already have a steady workout plan, then wearing the workout clothes throughout the day, will help put you in the mindset to workout, as supported by the Enclothed Cognition theory. So, the next time you are deciding on what to wear for the day, think about your intentions for the day and how your outfit can visually express your motives.

Future Research:

• Is it better to workout alone or in a group of people?