Hit my stride

MANILA, Philippines – I just started exercising. It’s only been two weeks for two (going on three) times a week. Before that, a brisk walk five blocks down the street to read at a café was just about the most action my running shoes ever got, and since the dawn of e-commerce, I can’t even say shopping was my cardio, contrary to the trainers, tights and jackets I wear to my dermatologist’s clinic or the spa. On my Facebook feed, a web news headline said “athleisure” — my leisurely errand-running style — wasn’t going away anytime soon.

But alas, not all athletic gear is created equal. Squeezing into the Nike Zoned Sculpt Tight, my posture noticeably changed. The look was not made for Sunday brunch. Starting with a body that therapists at Japanese massage therapy center Karada diagnosed as imbalanced from a lifetime of slouching and sitting cross-legged, engaging in proper form was hard work on its own; but its higher, tilted waistband was surprisingly able to help me with.

The firm and locked-in look and feel I got at my core made me mull over the possibility of finally flattening my belly without the help of non-invasive slimming treatments. I’ll also be following my dermatologist’s advice, exercising my way to flawlessness by burning pimple-causing unutilized glucose in my insulin-resistant body. Nike Zoned Sculpt Tight was designed for Genie Bouchard, currently ranked 37th best pro tennis player in the world, and she swears by visualization as the key to success. I think the tights made me believe it, too. As I held a side plank, I visualized maybe getting cut as soon as May.

As I pushed, pulled, lunged, squatted, bent and rotated to my Nike Training Club App’s command, the tights didn’t tug or roll up. The strategically knitted Dri-FIT fabric stayed in place as it supported muscles around my core, quadriceps and glutes while venting areas in places behind the knees kept me cool. There was nothing to distract and freak me out about the reality that I was, indeed, exercising. Okay, the realization I could already kind of touch my toes did.

But it’s cardio that really burns. I suppose I could do seven-minute jumping jacks or run on a treadmill, but the Nike Power Speed Tight must be taken outside. Top sprinter English Gardner wears the tights designed with her insight as she trains on the tracks for the Olympics: “Tights help keep you stabilized, (and yet) give you enough free flow of movement to have the power,” she attested.

Tron-like graphic lines aside, a screen-printed design inspired by the flow of a track marking compression zones — the hip, thigh, calf and Achilles tendon — there are functional details for the everyday runner, such as an encased drawcord at the waist to tighten or loosen as you see fit, reflective details for low-light conditions, bonded ankle zips for easy wear and a vapor-lined pocket for your phone at the small of your back.

The slim-cut high-elastane Dri-FIT fabric was so light and thin; like second skin, it stretched and retracted with my every stride. Compression means no chafing as the tights hold the jiggle in, whether on my inaugural 2K or on the day I do go the distance. With the Nike Power Speed Tight, I was able to focus on my path and my breathing.

The meditative cadence of exercise was a pleasant surprise. And so on some days I ran as if the ground was going to disappear beneath my feet. Some days I can’t even hold up a medicine ball across my chest, arms stretched. Once while I was running, I tripped on a crack, and contemplated just relying on slimming lymphatic drainage massages; but two days after, I was back.

Like putting on a sheet mask when you learn you can spare 10 more minutes in your regimen, I learned exercise is just one of those things you do for yourself. If shopping for new gear is what will get you started on the cardio, so be it. I’m not even doing it to get abs. Well, not just to get abs.