Hello, guest blogger Kerstyn here!

Welcome to the inaugural review for the Thick Thighs Project: Senita Athletics. For more background on the project, read this.

Some quick biometric data about myself I’ll put in every review to help you take what you need and leave the rest: my natural waist (above my belly button) is about 29″ and my usual “pants height waist” fluctuates from 30-33″ depending on bloat, lunar position, and food. My hip measurement is 39″ but I typically try to order 40-41″ to allow for movement and thigh size. I can wear 28-30″ inseams depending on how the pants are cut. In street clothes I wear anything from 8-14 in women’s sizing (LOL) or a 32/33 by 30 in men’s sized pants.

Also, a reminder that this post is not sponsored, I spent my own money, any links are not affiliates and this review is entirely my own honest opinion. 

Senita Athletics is a brand I’ve seen ads for and discussion about online, but so far I haven’t seen or heard anyone talking about in real life. Their landing page focuses on functional design (pocketsssss) and states they keep their prices low (by not selling through retail stores).

What I Ordered + Size Selection 

I got the Fierce pants in black. I also ordered a sports bra I thought was cute and won’t get into it here but I liked it for low impact activities but not for running.

Based on their size chart I fall between a Medium and Large. Since I tend to have more issues with things being too small and black in particular can run small due to the dye, I went with a Large. On this model that put me in the next-to-largest size, although they do seem to have up to 2X-3X in their new collections.

I signed up for their mailing list and got a 10% off coupon. That made the pants around $35 with a list price of $38. 

Initial Impressions

I felt my order processed and shipped really quickly, and everything arrived intact. The fabric felt sturdy and thick and the seams seemed (ha) pretty sturdy so no complaints there. I washed them as I do all my workout gear – on cool water/low heat with sports fabric wash and no fabric softeners. Obviously I think they’re cute since I picked them but that’s a personal choice you can make from browsing the site. 

Stretching

When I first put them on, the top seam of the waist was weirdly tight and gave me a heck of a muffin top while the rest of the pants seemed normal. This eased up after sitting then moving around a little while and I’m willing to write it off as a fluke. Sometimes if fabric isn’t stretched, or is stretched, or thread tension is weird this can lead to some odd results. After that faded, the rest of my session went fine and I felt the pants moved with me, were not too constricting/compressing, and I didn’t find myself fiddling with them.

Running

I washed the pants after the stretching test day. This time when I put them on I was on the lookout for the weird tightness but it didn’t seem to be an issue, so I suspect the stitching was just too tight at first. I took a short run and felt that all of my jiggly parts were kept in properly (sometimes that gets uncomfortable in looser pants). I normally run with my phone in a belt but put it in the pants pockets for this test and felt it was about as stable as could probably be expected from a pants pocket while I’m running. They didn’t seem to cause any major wedgies or need pulling up – I couldn’t find anything to complain about. 

Lifting

I did the lifting test the same day as and after my run, so I’d worked up a decent sweat. I didn’t feel like there was any chafing, and there were no signs of transparency or other issues with the fabric. I did feel at first like the pants were riding down or gapping when I squatted, but when I checked there wasn’t actually any gap at the small of my back. I think the bottom seam of the waistband might actually just be catching at my underwear and that weird sensation makes me feel like things are falling down or out. I did some Turkish get-ups, having decided that might be the weirdest movement to possibly test these on, and didn’t feel encumbered in any way in my movements. 

Overall Thoughts + Grade

I really struggled to find any issues with these. If I weren’t doing this blog series, I’d honestly probably stop here and have Senita Athletics as the supplement to my Old Navy standby (for when Old Navy is low on stock or styles that I like). I really appreciate that they seem to “just work” and I didn’t have to dig around for styles that were full length, had pockets, in a basic color or anything else that I feel should be a standard tenet of a pair of pants. I gave the brand half points for size range since it seems they’re attempting to expand their offerings, plus extra points for pockets and gusset. I took a couple off for the seam issues but have a hard time even doing that – on the flip-side of my problem with how the seams are sewn and sit on my particular body, that means the seams are thick and therefore likely to be sturdy. 

Senita Athletics is kicking off our blog series with a solid A-. 

-Sandbag K

Kerstyn is a remote member of the Smash fam, residing in sunny vegetarian friendly California. When not pumping iron she works in computer security and also enjoys martial arts and trying new sports. She met Lis Smash in 2018 at the CrossFit South Cobb powerlifting camp that Lis coached. And then she moved across the country like a jerk.  Follow her on Insta at @thescullyeffect.