Underwear for Stretching: Problems & Solutions

This is one of those areas that I learned by making some uncomfortable choices. Who knew you need to choose underwear for stretching? Sorry men, I don't know much about men's underwear so I'll stick to ladys' options :D I'll also note that while I'm not going to be graphic by any means, remember this is an underwear topic =D

"Pantyart" (c) 2006 by fekaylius
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

Problem #1: Restricting

I never thought such a small piece of clothing could be so restricting! Especially when I'm wearing a semi-opaque leotard to stretch I tend to err on the side of coverage. I get to stretch with friends but the thought of
baring my bits is a bit more than I can handle. lol. My problem here is that coverage = blah panties that tend to be cotton and less stretchy. Ugh. Lowering into a lunge is not helped by underwear that make me stop, come back up, adjust, and go back down. That's just asking for issues from the natural [anti-]stretch reflex.

Solution: Panties with stretch, like most Victoria's Secret panties (The Lacie is great for this and a lot of the PINK designs work well,  too). Look for underwear with Lycra; styles with more coverage are going to need to be more stretchy. Seamless panties are the best--seams don't do much to add give.


Problem #2: Fabrics That Cut

There is nothing worse than sliding closer to a real split and then being uninterrupted, especially by underwear that does that cutting thing. I am talking about fabric that has those annoying, inflexible seams or the edges on the leg holes are done over with some rigid fabric (maybe that's just me with cheap, laundry-day underwear). I learned the hard way that I have to say no to my cute, hardly-there thongs that are pretty much just one big seam.

Solution: Look for panties made to be "invisible under clothing;" you want something seamless if possible or at least with the seams not along the crotch line (ouch!).


Problem #3: Petri-dish Underwear

Yeah, yuck. Unfortunately, warm ups make everything sweat. And there is nothing microbes love more than dark, warmth, and wet. (Okay, there are the extremophiles and all those fabulous microbes, but hopefully not where we're talking LOL--geek off).

Solution: Stick to moisture-wicking fabrics. Cotton is good too. If it's laundry day and you have nothing clean you are better off going commando if you have moisturing wicking clothing--most athletic wear is designed to wick moisture. My body tends to be problematic keeping the right flora and fauna alive (and not the wrong ones) so I wash my intimates with very diluted bleach--so far, so good. Just a few teaspoons of bleach to a gallon is fine on them--actually washing with bleach has done my underwear less damage than the dryer. Another great option is using liners--I like the Carefree Actifresh ones for absorbency (I don't get that diaper feeling from them) but am thinking of trying fabric liners, look out for a post about those sometime soon! You can also try out menstrual cups to reduce growth of the "bad germs."


Picking panties for stretching isn't too bad in that there are a lot of cute designs out there that work simply because they are a nice style to have anyways. Hopefully this will help others like me (I am clueless about picking any type of active wear; if I could, I would just wear dresses for everything).