Finally, A Sports Bra I Can Run In

I really like to try things on before I buy them. Historically I have bras from three places: Ross, Old Navy, or J.C. Penney.

Ross is hit or miss for good sports bras (like it is with everything, that’s the risk you take loving a place like Ross as much as I do). They do carry a wide variety of brands – Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour are all brands you can snag for a reasonable price at Ross (in more than just sports bras, too), but like I said, hit or miss.

I stopped buying sports bras at Old Navy about two years ago when they changed up their support style. I used to be able to wear their medium impact sports bra for basically everything (mind you I wasn’t an avid runner then) but now even the “high impact” style is only intended to support A-C cups (nope, not me. I’m a solid 36 or 38 D, depending on the bra).

The Xersion line at J.C. Penney is still my go-to sports bra (specifically the keyhole back sports bras). I wear them for non-running cardio (Zumba, elliptical/ARC trainer, etc.) and for lifting (currently free weights). Sidebar: I also love that whole line… great, cute, fashionable clothes for working out (or not). These bras, though, were giving me a TON of boob pain from running. They’re just not supportive enough for my ladies.

I decided to just do as much research as I could about sports bras for running. The best place to do research? Amazon reviews, of course. Remember how I said I really like to try things on before I buy them? Well that didn’t happen before I found this amazing sports bra by Syrokan (Amazon affiliate link, just FYI):

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As you can see it’s a full-coverage sports bra with an actual hook-and-eye clip in the back (I leave it clipped to put it on and unclip it to take it off). The straps are thick and support super well, plus they are adjustable with super-tough Velcro on them. For me that is the best part about this bra – the adjustable straps that don’t move while you’re running. I was having a lot of actual breast pain and shoulder pain until I started wearing this sports bra. I read through pages of reviews and most of them said it runs a bit small, so knowing that I’m sometimes a 36 and sometimes a 38 I ordered the 38 and I’m glad I did – I’m currently wearing it the biggest it can be (3rd row of hooks). I was so glad it fit because even though returning things from Amazon is relatively painless, I’m terrible at following through and actually taking the things to the post office. But the best part about this bra?

It’s $24.99 with free shipping for Prime members.

Some of the bras I was looking at were $80+. For me, that’s just not realistic. I love the Xersion bras because they’re almost always on sale for $15ish. I don’t have a lot of spending money so $24.99 for a sports bra like this is fantastic for me. I’ve already bought a second and literally have a third in my Amazon cart as we speak (that and a PopSocket car vent mount… priorities, amirite?).

Ladies – what are your sports bra preferences? Have you found your perfect sports bra? Would you give something like this (having to trust reviews, not being able to try it on, having to actually go run in it to see if it works like you want it to) a try?