As big as compression clothing has grown in recent years, many individuals still have yet to try on or even know what the benefits of compression clothing can do for athletes such as runners. Now, you'll most likely associate compression clothing with leggings, cycling shorts or compression socks, or even Under Armour clothing. But with more and more runners wearing compression clothing, you'll notice that there's compression shirts, long sleeves, tanks, elbow sleeves, knee sleeves, calf sleeves and so on. And of all sports, runners have actually been one of the early adopters of compression clothing to help with any aches and pains they may feel after those long and grueling runs. If you don't know what the benefits of compression clothing can do for runners, it's simple, they help to improve your performance and recovery when doing physical activities such as running. 

Benefits of Compression Clothing for Running Performance

You're still wondering, how can compression clothing benefit your running performance? It's simple, compression clothing benefits your runners by enhancing your aerobic threshold, increasing your VO2max, and clearing lactate from your muscles efficiently.

Compression clothing has a direct benefit on performance by enhancing aerobic threshold, increasing VO2max, and clearing lactate from the muscles more efficiently. Aerobic threshold is the ability for your body to use oxygen and burn fuel, but is slow at producing energy which is more important for long-distance runners. Increasing V02max is vital because it determines the maximum amount of oxygen you can consume. Clearing lactate from your muscles is important because it's the what causes your body to feel sore after running.

One study conducted on a group of six runners reported that those runners who wore compression socks experienced a reduction of nearly 26 percent in their VO2max slow component (a fairly complicated training term that is basically a measure of your oxygen uptake after you have reached your lactate threshold).

Additionally, a compression for running performance of 21 runners measured the difference in aerobic threshold and anaerobic threshold when wearing compression clothing or not. The data confirmed a 2.1 to 6.2% improvement in an individual’s aerobic and anaerobic threshold.

It may not be a dramatic increase in your performance, but for runners looking to enhance it naturally, compression clothing may benefit your running ability almost instantly.

Benefits of Compression Clothing for Recovery

When it comes to compression clothing for recovery was first used by runners after demonstrating increased blood flow for patients post-surgery or with circulation problem. This thought process came to thought as it helped facilitate blood flow to deliver nutrients to muscles and prevent swelling.

According to a study on compression clothing for running, measuring an athlete's level of post-exercise soreness, they found runners with compression clothing felt an improved recovery of their body with less soreness in their muscles than those who did not wear compression clothing. In another study, runners that wore compression clothing felt even more comfortable training for subsequent rounds.

With a better understanding of how compression clothing benefits runners, let's look further into each article of Enerskin's patented compression clothing:

Benefits of Compression Shorts for Runners

Enerskin's Compression Shorts help keep runners quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and lower back. Many runners find this necessary as their quadricep movements through the running motion is decreased tremendously. Another highly beneficial feature Enerskin Shorts provide is the prevention of chafing between the thighs, which is vital for most runners comfort. 

Benefits of Compression Tank, Shirt & Long Sleeves for Runners

Enerskin Compression Tops( Tank, Shirt, Long Sleeve) keep the runners entire back, lats, traps, shoulders, triceps and biceps all stabilized and support. Each article of upper body shirt will feel as if your back now has a pulley system helping you bend down and come back up.

Benefits of Compression Knee Sleeves for Runners

Runner's knee, also known as patellar femoral pain syndrome(PFPS), is a very common injury for runners because it is essentially the overuse of the surrounding tendons of the knee, with the patellar being the culprit of pain. Using Enerskin's Knee Sleeve, the compression will help keep your legs warm at all times. And with our patented taping system, your knee will feel supported, especially your knee cap and patellar tendon kept secured in place - say goodbye to runner's knee pain. The Enerskin Knee Sleeve runs from the top of your ankle to the top of your thigh, keep your entire leg working in biomechanical unity.

Benefits of Compression Calf Sleeves for Runner

Enerskin's Compression Calf Sleeves may be the most popular choice by and for runners because of the common injuries it helps protect - calf cramps and shin splints. With our patented compression fabric, runners claim that they're able to run much longer distances comfortably because of the reduction and even non-existent calf and shin pain.

Benefits of Compression Elbow Sleeves for Runners

Compression Elbow Sleeves help runners stay warm without a loss of energy due to the running motion. And for some runners, the vibrations felt from your muscles moving around everywhere can be exhaustive to your running stamina.

Summary:

As you can see, compression clothing can greatly benefit you as runner if you're the type of person that wants to take care of your body while also improving your performance. Compression clothing benefits your runners by enhancing your aerobic threshold, increasing your V02max, and clearing lactate from your muscles efficiently. However, almost all the athletes who wore compression gear reported feeling less soreness after running hard and felt more recovered 24 and 48 hours post run, but this wasn’t tightly controlled. And while there isn't any significant improvement like steroids—which is illegal—does to your performance, that tiny increase can be the difference of one or so minutes can be the separation between gold, silver or bronze.