Sciencedaily released information this month regarding a study claiming a less than 2% improvement using compression garments, and the Federation Internationale De Natation (the international swimming body) has banned full body compression suits from being worn in the 2012 Olympics as they don't believe it benefits a swimmer. I don't believe wearing compression clothing will increase my shotput ability, the height I jump or any other physical exercise, but I do believe anything that increases your core body temperature, like any base-layer (including compression clothing), will speed up recovery and prevent injuries. At 5am in the morning I pull of a 45min weight training session without injury, and without (in my opinion) performing a very effective warmup. I do this by simply ensuring that I wear a polar fleece sweater during the entire workout, my body temperature builds up faster, I warm up in half the time and haven't sustained an injury thus far. The problem however comes in after your hot shower, your system is pumped, your body's repairing the muscle you've strained, and now you walk out into the cold morning air, or rain as it were. Two days later you're fighting a cold or just symptoms maybe. This is where a base-layer seems to help, as wearing a polar fleece top to work everyday isn't practical, especially in a suit and tie scenario. I recently tested a summer (cool)baselayer - Canterbury long sleeve top for gym workouts and found it very effective at keeping the heat in during my workout without me breaking into too much of a sweat. I can now remove my polar fleece after a few minutes, making my workout a lot more comfortable. I considered trying the winter baselayer, but I was advised against it by some rugby players, as they advised that if I do wear a winter baselayer, it be the only thing you wear, and you may sweat a lot. This got me onto researching compression clothing, which is made out of similar materials to most base layers, but dependent on make/type, controls heat, sweat/wicking, and comfort to some degree. I've decided I'm going to give the Rocket long sleeve top a try, as I need a skin-tight layer that I can wear under a shirt and tie and something that provides enough heat for recovery (the Canterbury is a bit too cool on the skin at times), but enough breath-ability so that I don't break out into a sweat during work hours. The only way I'll know if it works is if I try it, so I'll pickup one during the week. On the plus side however, the pricing of the Rocket clothing does seem better than most of what is out there, especially for a locally made (proudly South African?) item, which I'm more eager to support. I might be labeled something or other here, but I feel a little irritated when I see clothing that states: 'made in China'. The Canterbury long sleeve top kept me warm during a quick 30km cycle last weekend and I never noticeably felt any sweat the entire time, which makes me think the 'summer' type material is better for cycling and long distance running, also due to the fact that the weather can change quickly during a run/cycle (in Cape Town anyways) so it's dual purpose use makes it very adequate. Of course, this is purely my own experience, and my body fat %, heat generation, etc differs from the next person, so you'll have to make your own call on what type (summer/winter/compression) of base-layer you're going to need, but you will be needing it if you're going to be pushing any limits anytime soon.
