F = MA

What do you think of compression tights? Are they effective for recovery? Are they a waste of money? I've read some about them, and I just watched interview of Skins from Interbike - what are your thoughts?

www.skins.net

scotch

they sound painful.

mayukawa

Sound like marketing non-sense to me...

DaveSANYYZ

Kind of like the CW-X stuff?

Pasqually

Pretty sure I have read that Sean Kelly slept in tight tights all his cycling life. Had to have done something.

THe skins are real popular here in Australia with rugby players and runners for some reason.

EDIT: just looked at the site, I remember early this year when they took the pics of K Bates and the Tmobile team. Unless I am missing something from the site, non of the tights are padded (have chamois) for cycling. They were meant to be an after training aid I thought?

Jacobi

There is an article in the latest Triathlon Magazine about compression tights. Apparently these are the real deal, but I haven't tried them myself. They did have test data to back-up there claims. I wouldn't mind buying a set and giving it a try.

-Barry-

NealH

Sounds like the typical athletic hype to me. In other words, all they have to do is convince someone psychologically that they work and, well, the person will believe it.

P_Raider

I use Canterbury compression leggings and find that my legs feel fresher in the mornings. I did a cycling challenge in the Pyrenees this September and slept in them every night. They do benefit you as they increase blood flow around the muscles - same principle as the tights you were in hospital and on long hal flights so as not to develop blood clots. Aparently you can get compression tights designed especially for you - Barreda of Quickstep is an example.

I recommend Skins or Canterbury of New Zealand - I also wear Canterbury's base layer in winter - similar to Underarmor

cyclezealot

Skins might work to help keep you warm. Other than that they are pretty useless. You need the chamois to keep your arse from getting chaffed and getting big bleeding goose bumps. Guess, skins do sweat the way lycra does, but what good is that if you have a hurtin arse.

Namenda

Compression hose have been around forever. They aid in return circulation of the legs to prevent swelling and possible clot formation. Very popular among the elderly. If you have a healthy cardiovascular system, they shouldn't be necessary.

waterrockets 

There's no way I'd let anything compress my patella like that.

rankin116

How are these any different from UnderArmour and Nike stuff?

CharlieWoo

+1

How could you do a blind study on them? The test subjects would always know they had them vis-a-vis a placebo.

mayukawa

I can understand them helping if a person has a lot of blubber on him/her (in which case it acts like a bra for a girl), but most fit athletes don't actually have blubber flinging around.

ChunkyB

I take offense to that. I have blubber and I'm........oh wait, you said fit athletes. Nevermind then.

DigitalRJH

Other than the fact that they may have some type of differing amounts of lycra in different areas, I'm not sure. My Nike tights that I wear are dri-fit, and offer a bit of compression, just like biking shorts.

Jose Perez

Don't know what it is about the CW-X stuff, but I have a pair of their long sleeved half zip compression tops that I simply love. They keep everything in place and I simply "feel" stronger in them. I keep intending to pick up some of their tights, but I already own three set of tights and don't really need any more.

Terex

Where have you guys been the last 20 years? Micro-vibration induced muscle development is understood as an essential training component in many sports, esp. skiing, swimming & track & field. Vibrations build muscles during training, and reduction of vibration and enhanced compression during performance improves performance.

Not really detail, but https://lycra.ru/pdf/LYCRA-Power-Factsheet.pdf