Workout Clothes To Help Tone Your Body?
BOSTON (CBS) - Is your New Year's resolution to lose weight and get in shape?
There are new lines of workout clothes which now promise to improve your results.
"You can actually feel the fabric exerting some force against your skin," said Fila's Jennifer Estrabrook about their new work out clothes.
These products claim to increase muscle exertion by as much as 50 percent.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports.
"The effect is that, whatever you are doing in the pant, you expend a little bit more in your workout while you're wearing them," said Estabrook.
Reebok's new Easy Tone clothing has built in resistance that targets problem areas.
They also can smooth on an ugly bra bulge.
Andrea Jackson-Williams, a 34-year-old marathoner, credits Fila's pants with helping her finish a recent race. "I feel my thighs and my glutes compressing when I wear them, and I'm held in so I don't feel my thighs moving around. Everything I wear on the top is held in the same spot," she explained.
Physical therapist Sonja Mains says you need resistance to make muscles work, but she's not convinced about the benefits of this type of toning clothing.
"I haven't seen any research that actually makes the muscles work harder when there's just restrictive or tight clothing around it."
Mains admits these clothes might have a psychological impact.
"If you wear something that makes you feel better, you might be more apt to work out a little harder," she explained.
But these clothes can't do anything on their own.
As Estabrook explained, "If you just put them on and sit on the couch, you're not going to get a better workout. If you put on these pants, whatever you're doing, they are going to make it more efficient. They are going to make you work harder."
This type of workout wear can cost more.
For example, the Easy Tone workout pants by Reebok run about $80.
Manufacturers are planning on rolling out a line of swim wear based on this technology later this spring.
