There is no magic bullet for athletic success. If you want to reach your maximum performance, you have to put in the time and effort. Then again, if you are reaching for the stars, the process will be grueling and you will unavoidably discover the limits of your capabilities.
However, there is such a thing as pointless suffering in the world of muscle-building and certain quality of life changes can smooth out a few bumps on the road. Among such tweaks and tricks, compression garments, such as compression calf sleeves, hold a well-deserved place in the echelon of helpful equipment.
Naturally, the status of such clothing articles could not have survived the tumultuous history of fitness without a few fantastical attributes and downsides pegged to it for good measure. If you want to distinguish between facts and fiction of compression gear, you have to put in the time for comprehensible research, learn about myths, discover true benefits and everything that lies in between.
Broad benefits and superlative qualities
All things considered, compression gear is the closest thing to a ‘magic bullet’ you could possibly find on the market for avid athletes. And the market is as eclectic and diverse as you could possibly imagine! You can spend hours on end sifting through countless articles of clothing that can be defined as compression gear, and you will learn that the industry which produces this equipment has grown to become quite sophisticated.
Flexible and light material will help your skin breathe while still retaining your body’s heat, should the outdoor conditions get uncomfortably chilly. Above all else, compression garments such as compression calf sleeves will protect your muscles, stabilize your joints and improve your endurance. You can safely push yourself a bit further without the fear of injury or over-burn. This will turn you into a stronger, more agile athlete that can run the extra mile or lift an extra pound.
The wider application
But let’s dial it back for a bit. In order to understand this type of clothing and distinguish between facts and fiction, you need to look at the even broader context and wider application of compression gear. These tight garments found their practical application in a multitude of fields: including medicine, maternity and, yes, even erotic clothing (the mixture of comfort and the way these clothes follow the contours of the body made it an inescapable part of the ‘love’ industry).
Out of all the fields mentioned, the most ‘traditional’ use of compression gear is in the realm of medicine. It is undeniably useful when the underlying tissue needs to be supported for long-term recovery – which is the number-one buzzword of athleticism and medicine.
The eclectic selection of items
When discussing compression garments, you should be well aware of the fact that this is an umbrella term for a staggering number of articles. These include tights, shirts, socks, sleeves, shirts, and underwear. Typically, they are fashioned from material that is akin to spandex (with a dash of nylon). They can provide ample support to individuals that suffer from poor circulation, which means that limbs, in particular, can reap wonderful benefits.
Tights, socks, and sleeves are the name of the game in this regard. In practice, one of the best long-term investments you could possibly make is to purchase the finest calf compression sleeves you could find. The price tag does not even begin to compare to the ‘mileage’ you will get out of this wonderful accessory. So many avid athletes around the world with chronic vein problems and shin splints use these to ameliorate their respective conditions and improve their sportsmanship prospects.
Let’s be honest: even individuals in their prime typically ‘drag’ some sort of issue with their legs and joints throughout their career. By utilizing such accessories, you can take those calves for the run of their lives well after you’ve reached 40s. All it takes is discipline and consistency when it comes to wearing these helpful articles of clothing.
Compression garments between myth and fact
Inconclusive results
So, if everything seems to be so fine and dandy, what’s all the fuss with ‘issue’ of fictitious features? What appears to be the matter with myths and false information? Well, the long-term studies focused on the performance of athletes that use compression clothing remain inconclusive at best. The first rough estimate was that this gear does not improve athletic results such as sprint-time, but the scientific community reached a consensus that the placebo effect brought beneficial results nonetheless.
What it promotes
Furthermore, it has been discovered that compression gear can promote jump height, a better extension of limbs, and flexion of muscles, which reflects positively on the reduction of hamstring injuries. In addition to the temperature regulation of the body, compression garments definitely help, though not to the ‘fabled’ extent that many laymen gym-goers would claim.
When you come down to it…
If you’d want to boil the issue down to one simple fact, you could say that the blurred lines between myth and fact stems from circumstantial evidence. What does this mean? Well, it is fairly easy these days to perform studies on various supplements, nutrients and chemicals, and end up with conclusive results. Chemistry is a hard and undeniable science. However, when it comes to the investigation of benefits that compression garments bring to the table, things get a bit tricky.
A lot, if not most, of the findings depend on the aggregate of opinions brought to the table by athletes themselves. In other words, the effects of these garments on athletic performance relies on self-reported findings, and subjective impressions – hence the placebo effect theory. Even if certain measurements (heart rate, body heat, etc.) give reliable results, that unreliable human factor always looms over research.
What are the undeniable benefits?
So, let’s focus on benefits that are undeniably true. Either through the sheer power of frequency of effect that overwhelmed statistics, or regular scientific findings, these are some of the upsides that have turned compression gear into a commonplace in the world of fitness and professional sport. What is definitely undeniable is that compression garments aid with pain relief. It doesn’t matter if they are wraps or slip-on, if you wear them during a particularly intense exercise, you will reduce the potential extent of soreness afterward.
Otherwise, the ache may tempt you to reach for over-the-counter medication. While anti-inflammatory medications can be effective in the short-term, you should keep in mind that compounds such as ibuprofen damages your stomach lining and other kinds, such as paracetamol (or acetaminophen) can influence your liver if ingested regularly. In other words, they are not the most prudent choice for an athlete that is trying to achieve the perfect biochemical balance within one’s body.
Apart from that, some athletes will swear that compression gear reduces muscle vibration during exercise. This seems only logical due to its tight grip on your body, right? Well, the point is that there are also latent mechanical advantages to this. Reduced muscle vibration also means slower muscle fatigue. This means, as it has already been implied, that you can push yourself further if you wear compression garments.
Recovery in the forefront
At the end of the day, if you want to latch onto one concrete, substantial evidence backed by science, look no further than recovery. Compression garments represent an important asset in the realm of medicine. It supports tissue, for sure, but the mechanical factor behind this is improved blood flow through countless veins and arteries that imbue our muscles. Better blood flow directly translates to faster muscle recovery after exercise. Studies have reaped confident results in this regard time and time again, both in male and female athletes.
So it should be understandable by now why such blurred lines between facts and myths persist whenever compression gear is brought up. Too much of it depends on the context and the field of use, and these garments are so ubiquitous that it can be a challenge to divulge clear-cut info you desperately need. Still, if you are a cynical type that hardly believes anything, you can always go with the glass-half-full philosophy and apply it as such: if it has no downsides, and there are some possible benefits, it couldn’t hurt to put on some compression articles before a big training.
Conclusion
These features define compression garments, which places them among the greatest quality-of-life improves in the athletic world. While some myths veer into the realm of over-exaggeration, the benefits are still undeniable. Every factor, no matter how minuscule it appears, compiled to create a mountain of difference. The glaring upside of compression gear is that it has no side-effects, offers natural protection and doesn’t involve the ingestion of anything. In other words, wearing this equipment is an unambiguous win-win situation for your athletic effort.
