How to Choose the Right Sports Bra For You

How Should a Sports Bra Fit?

Some days, showing up to your workout is already a challenge and there’s nothing worse than starting your workout only to realize that you’re wearing the wrong sports bra. With the wrong sports bra, even the lightest workout ends up uncomfortable, frustrating and even painful.

This discomfort isn’t minor either. With the wrong bra, breasts can bounce up to 18cm during an active workout, as it affects not just your performance but your health more widely. Finding the right sports bra helps you avoid serious side effects like back pain, posture problems, or irreversible damage to your breasts. Even if you’re not about to push it at HIIT class, low-impact days and errand runs still benefit from quality support and the right fit.

The right sports bra for you comes down to your comfort. It should minimize excessive breast movement so you can stay feeling secure during whatever activity you’re doing. But this compression shouldn’t feel smothering or painful. With the right size and impact level, a sports bra should keep your breast in place but doesn’t mark your skin and uncomfortably nip in.

Sports Bra Sizing

The right sports bra size is a combination of your cup size and under-breast measurement as well as your own preferences. At Lorna Jane, our sports bra sizes range from XXS to XXL, with your size taking into consideration your bra size to match you with the perfect sports bra.

Like most sports bras, LJ’s wide range has been categorized into three impact levels depending on your workout type. Each gives you the right degree of support so you can avoid too much or too little compression.

Low-Impact Sports Bras

Wear your low-impact sports bra on light workouts like walking, yoga and strength training. This style is designed to be light weight and relies on narrower straps and bands. Low-impact sports bras tend to come in a pull-on style, and is most ideal for cup sizes A to B.

Medium-Impact Sports Bras

The medium impact sports bras offer a better level of support for a wider range of higher impact workouts. These will tend to come with wider brands and straps and range from pullover to hook styles to help keep you comfortably compressed. We recommend our medium-impact range for activities like spinning, power walking, hiking or elliptical training.

High-Impact Sports Bras

For everything from running to HIIT workouts, high-impact sports bra provides the highest level of support. Their design tends to feature wide brands and shoulder straps which can be fitted to your body. For bigger breasts, we recommend wearing high-impact bras for most movement to keep everything in place.

How to Measure for a Sports Bra

Get started with our Lorna Jane Size Quiz. By understanding your body type and bra size, we can personalize our sports bra range and find the best designs for you.

Measure yourself to find the perfect fitting sports bra by following our video guide.

How Big Should a Sports Bra Be?

The right sports bra is designed to make your workouts easier and comfortable, so we recommend measuring your chest to find the perfect size. If you’re shopping for a high-compression sports bra, your first instinct might be to size down. But often you end up with a sports bra that is ill-fitted rather than more supportive.

Your sports bra size should provide compression as well as comfort. It should be big enough to easily fit your body, but not so oversized that it provides inadequate support.

So how do you find this perfect balance that makes for the right sports bra? When it comes to LJ’s range, we say your sports bra should:

• Keep the under-bust elastic feeling firm but not strained.
• Let you slip two fingers under the shoulder straps, so they stay snug but not digging in.
• Offer enough depth of coverage over your back to avoid awkward rolls or lack of support.

Choose the Right Sports Bra with Lorna Jane

Our collection of sports bras offers quality designs that are both cute and comfortable. With unique fits and features depending on impact level, your next favourite sports bra is waiting to be added to your cart. Browse our collection of quality sports bras online now to start your search today!