Now I have had a love-hate-endure relationship with my bra for many years: I loved my bra as an overly-well-endowed adolescent (a bespectacled, serious girl, I felt embarrassed by my Dolly-Parton-flamboyant chest). My bra, in the multiple models that I tried on in the privacy of the dressing room, allowed me to try to hide myself, like an older Judy Garland trying to play a childish Dorothy in the �Wizard of Oz.� Of course, my dressing room experiences only seemed private: on the other side of the thin green dressing room curtain, I would hear my mother discussing my breasts with the sales clerk, �Oh, you have something called a �minimizer�? That would be ideal for the poor dear. She seems to have inherited my mother�s big floppy bosoms, not mine,� my petite mother would sigh, making me feel like a freak in a circus rather than Dorothy dancing nimbly on the Yellow Brick Road.
I hated my bra in my teens and twenties, because the straps tended to peer out at the world just when I wanted them to stay hidden (like on that infamous New Year's Eve date with Stoner Dave � but that's another story that will never be told. We specialize in those closeted tales in my mother�s family.). And now, well, I endure the straps that, no matter how expensive the bra, always cut into my shoulders. So when a tall, slim, self-assured personal fitness trainer at my local gym informed me that my Bounce-Free-Guaranteed-Sports-Bra was regarded as "an unnecessary restraint" these days, I felt like the bee-bop chicks in "Grease," chanting, "Tell me more, tell me more."
�Absolutely. Bras are just SO unnecessary,� said Skinny Cindy (who was so fat-phobic that she boasted that it took her an hour to shop for one can of bottled salad dressing � either that girl was a slow reader or she had problems with decisions, in which case someone should report her to Dr. Phil). For one day, I took Cindy�s advice and went without a bra. At the gym, my breasts flopped awkwardly as I attempted to work out on the Stairmaster without hunching over. I tried to lie down on one of the leg weight machines and couldn�t figure out how to, ahem, recline without looking as if I were an advertisement for a plastic surgeon�s breast reduction operations. Let�s face it: if you wear a 38C or larger, sports without a bra just doesn�t give you a sporting chance. It�s awkward, it�s painful, and it takes your mind off your goal: getting fit and feeling GOOD about your body!
With that goal in mind, I headed off to an expert for advice on getting the right fit.
Berna Goldstein, serves as Director of Merchandising for Vanity Fair Lingerie. She emphasizes the importance of selecting the correct bra cup size. (If you�re not sure, go to the lingerie department and ask for help in measuring your cup size.) After you put on the bra, check the fit in the dressing room mirror. Does the cup appear puckered? That means �the cup is too big,� explains Brenda. Now turn around and check the back straps. Does the back portion have a pulled appearance? Then the cups are too small. The goal: find a bra that has a flat fit in your back, with no �gaps,� according to Brenda.
What�s so special about a sports bra? They allow you to move freely, but give you �shaping and containment,� this lingerie expert explains. You get support from this type of bra, as well as a bra that has �enough flexibility to move with you.�
Above all, take the time to find a sports bra that �feels good and, more importantly, makes you feel wonderful. Women need a wardrobe of bras just like we have different shoes for different outfits,� Brenda says. After trying on an assortment of bras, my winning selections for those of us who are well-endowed are: