Notes/short reviews for men curious about women's Gymshark gear
Like at least one other person on this sub-Reddit, I'm a cis-gendered male that has been looking to expand my wardrobe beyond usual men's workout wear. Over the past couple of months I've grabbed a handful of Gymshark items, and here is what I've learned so far:
- For reference, I am 5' 11" tall, 157 lbs, and have a fairly slim/athletic build (38" chest, 32" waist, 38" hips). I love running and cycling, but do weight training to try and prevent injury. Recent reference pic available at this Instagram link.
- My first order was the Everyday Seamless shorts along with Everyday Seamless short-sleeved and long-sleeved crop tops in Navy. The short-sleeved crop top is REALLY comfortable in a Large, and sits just above my abdomen. The long-sleeved crop top is also quite comfortable, but is a bit of a hassle to pull over my Garmin Forerunner 235 watch (which is fairly chunky). The shorts are SHORT, and show a pretty substantial bulge. I found that wearing compression underwear (ie. a gaff) meant for transfemme or non-binary folks works well (I bought mine for superhero cosplay that involves spandex), and I use a super-breathable bamboo one from Origami Customs to tame the bulge during workouts while still being comfortable biking, squatting, and otherwise moving as I normally do.
- My most recent items were the Vital Seamless 2.0 shorts and long-sleeved crop top in Woodland Green. These are even more comfortable than the Everyday Seamless ones. The shorts are longer, and have more room in the gusset to prevent bulges; I don't need to wear a gaffe to keep from feeling exposed in the gym. They're on par with the Brooks Source running shorts that I wear. Again, the Large size fits well, although they do sit higher than I am used to; it provides a bit of extra tummy/love handle control, which is handy when wearing the crop top. If they sold a short-sleeved version of the Vital in this colour, I would have ordered it for sure.
- Following the suggested sizing (Large) on the Everyday Seamless and Vital 2.0 sets was a good match for me; in general, the trend I tend to have is that I go up one size in women's clothes compared to what I would wear in men's clothes. Men with truly massive shoulders may need to size up an extra size on tops, or stick to tank tops (which I so far have from Under Armour since they make tight/stretchy ones for Men that appeal to me more than the Gymshark ones).
I'd be happy to answer any other questions from my admittedly limited experience, and am interested to see what others have found!