The Great Sports Bra Robbery

Every woman knows if you're going to exercise you need a good sports bra. Whether you have the lion's share in the chest department or you're pretty much flat chested, it's really important to have a sports bra that supports your delicate breast tissue.

There are so many to choose from, all with their own pros and cons but one big con they all have in common is the price.

Take, for example, the Shock Absorber Run Bra - widely acknowledged as the best support bra for high impact sports like running. At around £37 you'd want it to be! I mean, that's a lot of money for something you can't exercise without.

It's the same whatever brand you go for - Nike, Playtex, Berlei - all tend to come in at £25 - £40. You can save a bit by going for a 'bra top' style, but that doesn't work for my 34Es which need a bit more discipline than a stretchy lycra crop-top can offer. You'll also find that sometimes the price goes up as the cup size does within each style of bra, which seems a little unfair!

There are much more important things to spend £40 on than a sports bra - like school shoes - which has made me feel like buying a new sports bra is simply a luxury I can't afford. It shouldn't feel like a luxury product, it's an essential piece of kit! My only sports bra is 5 years old and pretty much useless now. I've been putting off getting a new one for ages, having to cope with sore boobs and shoulders every time I work out, even resorting to wearing it over a normal bra to try and get more support out of it. [I have bought a new one now, but only because my husband made me]

I'm not suggesting we do away with sports bra's and start strapping ourselves in with gaffer tape (actually, would that work?!) but, with all the pressure on women to get active shouldn't the big sportswear and underwear brands be making changes? I think they should be making it easier for us to get out there and get active, not harder.

How to Achieve Your Goals

If you haven't joined my fitness linky yet, why not?! I'm asking you all to set three fitness goals to achieve between 12th November and Christmas Day. Just writing them down will help, but you do need to think about how you're going to get there too.

Step 1
Turn your goals from wafty, lofty aims into smart objectives. Each one should be

Specific - Don't just say you'll be better at something, pick a distance you want to run, a weight you want to lift, a number of times to attend a class.

Measureable - Make sure you can give yourself a tick at the end by choosing something you can measure. Plan your routes so you know the distance you've covered or activate that GPS. Keep a diary to log everything you do and then, in six weeks time you'll know you've succeeded.
 
Achievable - There's no point saying you want to bench 500 kg or run 2000 miles - that's just silly and not at all possible.

Realistic - Similar to the point above, don't aim to run 100 miles in 6 weeks if you're a beginner. Equally, don't under-estimate yourself - if you're already running 10 miles a week aim a little higher.

Timebound - Luckily for you I've set the timescale on this, so you know how long you have to get where you want to be!


Step 2
Make a plan. How will you achieve all this? Are you going to gradually increase your weekly activity or log as much time as possible straight away? Write what you're going to do over the next 6 weeks on a calendar and you should find it easy to keep on track.


Step 3
Support each other. Encourage friends to join in, make new fit friends on twitter and facebook. When you're feeling un-motivated they'll help you, when you're raring to go inspire others. Support is the key to success in this!

So, good luck everyone, let's get ready to rock the winter fitness.
 

Rrrrrraaaawwwwrrrrr!

Fitness Link-up

Find yourself in a winter phunk? Yeah, me too. Set yourself 3 fitness goals and stick to them. Post a link below to a blog post / tweet / facebook status listing them and we'll work through it together.

My goals - between 12th November - 24th December I will

1. Run 35 miles
2. Cycle 150 miles
3. Bench 30kg