This mainly for the ladies, but will salutation all answers.
Im a straight guy and have only just started doing cycling/RPM classes at the gym. I did my research on the class, what to expect, how to ride with comfort, stretches etc, but when it came to clothing, I had a lot of mixed results. My research took a turn towards cycling garments, what, when and where to wear spandex if you must wear any at all to the gym or any other location. In girls it’s painstaking perfectly normal attire. But on guys its a taboo subject which gets a lot of “con’s” more than “pro’s”. Now I’m not talking about the typical Lycra tights/bike shorts you see people use for everyday wear, Im talking about proper padded spandex wear that cyclists use and general compression tights used for recovery purposes. I really went for the first time to my spin class wearing my lycra padded cycling shorts and a t-shirt ‘just’ long enough to cover my crotch and half my butt. I got this T-shirt a small larger for that reason alone,
The reason why I bought the shorts was for the padding and comfort alone I would receive and the reading/research I have been doing here, not for any sick self gratification or reason to freak out other gym members. I have heard from experienced cyclist members here that for comfort, reduction in heat, reduction of chaffing and other hygienic reasons, quality padded cycling shorts are recommended but not the be all and end all and there are other alternatives. I looked at the alternatives. There were mountain bike shorts with similar internal linings that did pretty much the same thing as the spandex pair. I seriously painstaking buying these but found the high price for them was very off putting. Now out of these reasons above I thought ‘well why shouldn’t I be comfortable’ and bought my first excellent quality pair of lycra shorts.
I headed straight for the back of the room where I was least noticed as it was a new experience for me. I was the only dude in the class wearing padded lycra shorts other than the male instructor. There were a couple of other girls wearing regular capri stile tights, but that was it. All the other guys were wearing regular shorts and during the class they looked a bit uncomfortable after half and hour of up and down hard peddling. No one gave me weird looks of disapproval or any sly comments I could hear which was excellent, but it made me reflect, am I building others feel ‘uncomfortable’? Is it incorrect to want to feel comfortable even even if I may look like a small weird or be painstaking ‘weird’? Frankly I didnt care what anyone thought of me even if I didnt want to ‘parade’ around, hence me bee lining it towards the back of the room. I didnt know anyone there and they didnt know me. I felt excellent after the session was over. I just did my thing and got changed and went home.
Now to the point of this thread. I guess Im asking for personal opinions/experiences based on what you have read/seen above as well as the answers to the questions that follow:
Do you you mind or care if a guy wore spandex/lycra bike shorts to a cycle/spinning class at the gym?
Is there an etiquette to wearing spandex for both guys and girls?
Must spandex on guys be restricted to cycling only, or only in competition?
If you can be constructive in your comments, Id really appreciate it. I hope I can change my thinking if Im off track somewhere.
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