Running Shorts - any recommendations?

[valve90210]

Since the start of the year I've been working together with a few people at work and been very careful about what I've been eating and have bee slowly losing weight. I've also started doing some exercise which has not been on my radar for years.

It has been suggested by one of the group that we all start doing some running and work towards doing a 5km run in the autumn. Having done a bit of running on Wednesday I'm now thinking I seriously need some anti-chafing wear!!

I've done some looking about and found huge amounts of different options but not really sure what's good to go for.

I think I'm leaning towards the Twin layer short type things but wondered if anyone has experience of different brands and any suggestions about what to go for.

Obviously as a total beginner and fairly unlikely to get hugely hugely into running (no marathons for me thanks!!) I don't want to spend too much but would like something which will be effective.

Any thoughts?

 

[shroomz]

Bog standard sweat shorts for a tenner at sports direct work ok for me. If you need better, I reckon most anything that seems to fit ok wouldn't be too bad, just for the sake of all that is holy, don't join the lycra brigade

 

[D.P.]

Nah, compression shorts are by far the most comfy and help muscle recovery. Saying that, I mostly use relative standard breathable running shorts like Nike dryfit etc.

Chaffing is a general issues and I get it form time to time, worst on the nipples of course. BodyGlide is the go to solution, its like a stick of deo you rub over yourself. I put it on my ball sack when needed! Good quality breather-able lightweight clothing all help. the fabric is important, some fabrics have quite a course material or a mesh and these can be deadly. My nike shorts have underwear kind of built in, so I don't wear anything else underneath. the material is a nice soft fabric and in general it hangs away form your scrotum without any constriction. When it is cooler I wear some compression sports underwear, these work well unless you get super sweaty in which case I end up with ball of fire going into the shower.

the only cure for nipples is sticky plasters or duck tape. Body glide helps but after a time will have rubbed off. sometimes the stick plasters will come off due to excessive sweat and then its time to rip the t-shirt off before it gets blood stained

 

[valve90210]

My main area of concern is my thighs, which is why I was looking at the twin layer shorts. I've read a lot of places saying they're good but there's so many choices...

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'd say it's worth picking up shorts/t-shirts in some sort of breathable and lightweight fabrics as they will help avoid the chafing that you might get from cotton when sweaty but you don't have to spend lots of money on kit.

If you go to running shops they'll quite often have sales on to get rid of last seasons kit so just try on a few and see what fits for you. Sports Direct do Karrimor running kit quite cheaply and it's typically basic but comfortable enough and cheap, you could easily pick up shorts and a running top for less than £20 there. It does depend on how much you like the style vs the price to an extent though.

I'd also maybe suggest some sort of running socks, having cushioning in the right places can make a big difference to how good you feel at the end of a run.