In late 2011-early 2012 I was working on opening a gym and also training at CrossFit North Atlanta, now CrossFit Atlanta. It was the only time that I trained for competitive CrossFit for more than 3 months, and the combination of a) a male coach new to program design, writing programming for a group of women, b) me partying 3 to 5 nights a week like I was in the Prince 1999 video, and c) regular high volume high intensity training – ASHOCKER – DID NOT WORK for me.
What DID work for me was the AMAZING team of athletes I got to train with regularly. The only thing that matched our training intensity was the outrageous jokes and stories we told before/after/during. One athlete’s husband borrowed the Mr. T phrase “jibba jabba” for all the chatter he heard during our training sessions.
One day, one of our teammates – the skrongest teammate, who was a Division 1 track & field alumna – complained that she needed to find new leggings appropriate for CrossFit training like heavy lifting and conditioning intervals. Several of us recommended that she try out a popular brand many of us liked.
The problem with her problem, and with the brand we referred her to in 2012, is that most women’s apparel brands are either designed by men or not designed for heavy lifting. Ahem, yoga and running is either more popular AND/OR a body-type easier to make clothes for.
Oh wait, what’s that?
You say it’s easier to make clothes for bodies without curves?
BUT WHO HAS THAT BODY!?
So when our teammate… let’s call her Jill … came back to training the following week, she had visited the store we recommended and had a HORROR STORY to tell about it.
Jill was a STRONG, CURVY chick and the employees at the store she went to were all thin and not curvy. They attempted to help her find leggings, but failed. She came back to the gym and told us about some shrill-voiced women asking her:
“OH, YOU DO CROSSFIT! WHAT BOX!?!”
This quote quickly became a sing-song chant as we laughed with Jill and tried to comfort her over a bummer of a shopping experience. But the problem lived on – very few brands make leggings for women who all have curves in different places. And we all want those leggings to STAY UP, and not either fall down or show through (YALL LOOK AT MY PANTIES!) during training. Oh yeah also, these leggings should be comfortable, not give you swampy or sweaty crotch and not hold you in so tight you can’t breathe.
So when an active friend who weighs around 150 pounds asked me where I buy my leggings, I realized I don’t even know who to recommend anymore. I told her:
“Most of my leggings are old lululemon. I also own some from Onnit and Fabletics and don’t recommend them. I hear good things about Grrrl but have no personal experience with the leggings.”
She asked if she could do a research project, buy some leggings to try (on her own dime), and write about it here on the Smash blog.
We shall call it:
UM. What should we call it?
THE GREAT LEGGINGS DEBATE
POWERLIFTING LEGGINGS
THICK THIGHS PROJECT
WHO MAKES CLOTHES FOR ACTUAL WOMEN?
Anyway, we’ll make a decision and I’ll publish part 1 of her series tomorrow. Come back then!
And in the meantime, if you have leggings you love please share which brand here in the comments. And follow us on Instagram.
xoxo,
