What are the rules of etiquette for the gym? Are certain articles of clothing acceptable, while other clothing is taboo? You wear sneakers, shorts and a shirt that absorbs sweat, and perhaps you wear a hat on your head. Do you work out in the gym and wonder what others are thinking about your choice of clothing? Or do you focus on your workout, setting a personal challenge and work towards reaching it? It’s perfectly normal to think about the clothing you wear, including a hat or a baseball cap, and the question arises about its acceptance.
We can ask, should men wear hats to the gym? You should wear whatever you want to the gym as long as you don’t reveal those body parts we usually keep covered up in decent society. A hat, baseball cap, a headband or whatever else you wear on you head doesn’t violate the rules of good taste, so it’s okay to wear one.
We’ve all seen guys at the gym who are decked out, and we calculate the investment they made in their workout “wardrobe” – nylon shorts, name brand sneakers marketed to vulnerable types who buy into the hype. You’d never see such devotees to 21st century gym style pulling down the bill of a Los Angeles Dodger baseball cap.
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So why do men wear hats at the gym?
Some guys choose to wear hats for personal reasons. Sometime a guy with a bald spot on the crown of his head, or guys who are balding in general, like to wear a hat. Even at the gym, where there are certainly attractive people who we may want to impress, choose to conceal their baldness.
Some men suffer from psoriasis (a skin disorder that can cause scaly rashes and skin flaking), and use the hat to either hide rashes or prevent skin from falling, like dandruff, down from their heads.
Some men have long hair and the hat lets the hair remain in place during a strenuous workout. There still are other men who wear a hat to the gym because they haven’t yet showered for the day, and their hair is unkempt and unwashed.
Hats are a convenience for men who wear them, and men should wear them proudly without fear of being disowned by society. Hats are accepted more and more and have the function of keeping sweat out of the eyes during a workout. Sure, the gym provides towels, but that means a man would need to stop his sets or reps and dry off the sweat, interrupting the momentum he spent so much time and effort gathering together.
What Should You Wear to the Gym?
There is nothing at all wrong with wearing the newest styles of gym clothing. Technology has advanced and there are more choices beyond the usual cotton/poly blend. Now we can choose between nylon, polypropylene, 100% cotton, bamboo, Tencel, spandex and synthetic fibers. These are better able to absorb sweat from a workout than clothes of 20 years ago.
It’s worth the investment to find shorts and a t-shirt that’s light and absorbent, even worth an investment if you’re serious about your workout. But while there are shirts and shorts designed specifically for the gym, there isn’t a hat that is. The area of the body above the neck is the realm of the wearer, and not the manufacturer.
Are there advantages to wearing a hat during a workout?
There are way more advantages than disadvantages to wearing a hat during your workout. Many guys find baseball hats, for example, a better choice that sweatbands. I spend most of my waking hours wearing a Florida fishing hat that’s the same shape as a baseball cap. It feels natural on my head, unlike a sweatband.
Not all sweatbands are the same. Some absorb sweat and hair dyes and other cosmetics we wear at the office during the day. It might work for some people, but not for others. A hat, on the other hand, is a shroud over the top of the head, and everything that runs down from the head is absorbed by the cotton lining. Most important, a baseball cap feels more natural on my head than a sweatband.
Another advantage is that my baseball cap gives me anonymity. With my hat pulled over my head, I can focus on my workout and remove any distractions around me. I can look whenever I want, but my main focus is the workout, and my eyes are obscured by the bill of my hat, granting me the incognito space I want.
I can have the most intense workout I want and never have to take off my hat to wipe my forehead. I do take it off when I’m lifting, after I’ve completed a set of reps.
Best of all, my hat is like a body appendage now, so I’m mentally more confident and comfortable during my workout wearing it. A hat is not exactly a statement, it’s more like Linus’s blanket. Linus, Charlie Brown’s best friend, carries a blanket with him everywhere because it helps him to stay relaxed.
What are the fabrics to wear during a workout?
The most important part of a hat for working out is the headband. Less expensive hat brands have headbands that are both a cotton and polyester blend, or they’re made completely from polyester. This material is notorious for being bad for absorbing sweat. If you’ve ever worn a shirt that’s 100% polyester, you’ve felt perspiration released by your body run down the inside of the shirt instead of being absorbed into the material. It’s an uncomfortable feeling and it’s almost impossible to cool off in a polyester shirt.
For over a thousand years, natural materials are always better than manmade materials. The most absorbent, porous material that will not only absorb lots of sweat but will also help you cool down, is cotton.
But we’re not talking about processed cotton here. What is best either in a hat sweatband or in clothing, is 100% organic cotton. Quality organic cotton is lightweight and is one of the most breathable fabrics you will find. Cotton is referred to as a “water loving fabric,” because cotton not only allows for airflow to and from the body, it also absorbs a great deal of perspiration. It’s a natural fiber that dries out dampness and it absorbs moisture, rather than repelling it like polyester does. We tire more easily when the sweat from the workout is forced to sit on the skin.
What is wicking and can wearing wicking material improve my workout?
There is a trend in modern athletic sportswear that promotes the use of “sweat-wicking clothing,” which is the product of modern technological advancements in moisture-releasing fabrics. According to a recent government study (the NCBI, which is a branch of the National Institute of health), athletes wearing moisture-wicking fabric were able to keep their body temperature at the same level, without it increasing, especially in higher heat conditions. This was possible in large part to better ventilating and evaporating during periods of intense training.
Moisture-wicking clothing works in the same way that tree roots deliver water up to tree branches. This process, called “wicking,” involves capillary action, just like the human body delivers blood to different parts of the body with the assistance of capillaries.
Sweat-wicking clothing material may prove to be better athletic clothing than cotton is today. While cotton absorbs moisture and allows for air to both come through the fabric and be released by the cotton material, sweat-wicking clothing removes moisture from the skin and lets it evaporate into the air. The more moisture is let out through the clothing, the quicker it evaporates. Sweat evaporates in the air, so then the clothes will dry more quickly than fabrics like cotton. Sweat-wicking clothes release moisture and dry during a workout, while cotton absorbs the sweat and keeps it there.