Giving up on shirtless running

Visitors to this blog occasionally recount how they came to be shirtless runners, but the truth of course is that the traffic isn't all one-way. Some people start off down the barechested/jogbraed route, then decide they would rather stay more covered-up. Here are five reasons most often given for 'backsliding':

1) Cancer fears: This is the top factor cited. You meet or read of someone who has had the great misfortune of contracting the dread disease, and who expresses regret at having been a sun worshipper/ shirtless runner/ etc. The psychological impact of this should not be sniffed at. It's all well and good to say that slathering on sun block or running at certain sensible hours greatly minimises any risk. It might all just seem not worth it to some.

2) Psychological trauma: Having someone yell, 'Put a shirt on!', or other more crude or derogatory comments can greatly wound one's self-esteem, especially if one is a relatively new convert to the shirtless ranks. If one is already a little insecure about one's body, a couple of nasty encounters can completely destroy any enjoyment that might be derived from going bare.

3) Consideration: This isn't quite the same as (2). One might speak to a friend who expresses great displeasure at 'having to endure these half-naked types', or read blog posts in which the author insists that our social mores strongly militate in favour of staying covered-up. One is then convinced that running shirtless shouldn't be one's personal choice, or decides that on balance it shouldn't be practised.

4) Simple self-doubt: This can easily and insiduously take hold. Perhaps over winter one puts on a few extra pounds: For some, it's just a matter of working them off with healthful exertion, but for others it ups the insecurity level enough to warrant keeping the shirt on. I've personally found that simply not running barechested for long enough can raise the psychological barrier to taking off my shirt (click here for the blog post in which I mention this)

5) Inertia: This is factor is more prevalent than you might think. You might run shirtless one year, but then through a winter of non-running, the relative benefits of stripping to the waist may fade from the mind. When the running shoes can be dusted off again, one just automatically keeps one's shirt on again, and life just goes on.

I would think there are reasons that could be adduced to counter any of the factors cited above - they are salted through the posts of the blog. But I don't think there is a real right or wrong to the matter. But feel free to write in and disagree.

Three obstacles to running shirtless

Here are three problems that may keep otherwise willing converts from embracing shirtless running. Anyone with solutions are welcome to offer them (* Refer to Comments section for these).


1) In a comment on this blog, Anonymous wrote:

I would love to (run shirtless), but I have bad acne on the shoulders and back . I always imagine people staring at me, even if nobody really does. Mostly, I am thinking if somebody would be feeling offended not only seeing me shirtless but my problem. Any psychic trick I may use?

Thoughts: I'm no doctor and speak from complete ignorance, but might some sun on your back actually have a therapeutic effect on the acne? Thought admittedly it might make it worse for all I know. Could you seek medical advice on how to deal with the acne? Perhaps you might reflect that acne on the back might be considered far less of a psychic hindrance than 'heavy man-breasts', 'rather a prominent beer belly' and other oft-heard laments. Alternative 'psychic tricks', anyone?


2) Jiruns, in 'The best place to run in Philadelphia...', from the blog The Training Blog of Jiruns (click here for original), wrote:

The only problem with running shirtless is there is nothing to soak up the sweat from the torso as it cascades down the body to the shorts. By the 35:00 mark today, my shorts were soaked. Luckily, running shorts don’t get much heavier when they are wet. The second half of the run was mostly uphill, with soaked shorts, socks and shoes. Needless to say, not the best conditions to run.

Thoughts: One might suggest carrying a hand towel, but that's rather a pain to clutch all the while. If it's a breezy-enough day, the wind might dry more of the perspiration before it pours downwards. I've heard of products that can impede sweating, but I would avoid these as they might hinder the conducting of heat away from the body. Suggestions?

3) Anohergal wrote in a comment on this blog:

I lived in a more conservative community for high school (many Asians)... and it would have just been weird for people at my school to have seen me running in a sports bra... also awkward if I stumbled upon someone who knew my parents, etc. However, in college, it was a more laid back community and I felt much more comfortable going shirtless there. Coming back for summer vacation was bad though...!

Thoughts: A restrictive social context is, with minor tweaks to the context, a common complaint. It's easy enough to glibly say that, for change to come, someone must be the first to 'cross the line', but guaranteed opprobrium is hard to withstand. Finding 'a really quiet area' to run in is unwise since there may be safety risks. Joining a gym for jogbraed treadmill running might work, though most gyms would frown on males going shirtless. But there's the cash outlay to consider, and you might think the outdoors more inviting anyway. Another tricky one.

From the Internet: Desist, shirtless runners!

On the running scene, certainly in the USA, shirtlessness/jogbra-ness is common enough. There are some veteran members of the running community who are unhappy about this. Paul Staso, in a recent thoughtful blog entry (click here for the link), makes these observations regarding decorum among runners. While I would obviously not agree with the details of what he might consider decorous, his thoughts are at least worth thinking about:

Of course, males running shirtless and females wearing only sport bras has become more common over the past 10 years... but does the mere passing of time make it appropriate?

I often pick up my daughters from volleyball practice at their public high school and see the boys and girls cross country team returning from a training run on the streets of our town. Autumn in western Montana often brings many 80-degree days, and more often than not the boys are shirtless and the girls can be seen wearing nothing more than an athletic bra from the waist up. When I ran on my high school's cross country team back in the early 1980's, all boys were required to wear a shirt (nothing less than a singlet) and girls had to wear at least a bra and T-shirt. Now a days, many girls who opt to wear a shirt purposefully cut their T-shirts down the sides so that there is hardly any material there, clearly showing their sports bras, and many boys don't wear a shirt at all - even though there are high-performance, moisture-wicking fabrics available for today's runners.

Why has this trend developed? Is it being influenced by young coaches, media or advertising? Where is the pride in representing your school on your town's streets - or some other town's streets - by dressing appropriately? Do high school kids take time to think about how they may be influencing younger kids, or how they may be offending older people? By running around without shirts on, or in only sports bras, are they really drawing the kind of attention to themselves that they want?

Unfortunately, it's not just the kids that are dressing in nearly nothing to run around my local community while training for cross country races. Often, I see their male coaches (usually 20-something-year olds) running without shirts or female coaches wearing only sports bras.

So, what do you think? Are males running shirtless through communities and females running in only sport bras inappropriate and/or immodest?

Criticism from the Net: Shirtlessness is wickedness

There is no doubt that there are many who, for reasons perhaps linked to image insecurity, childhood trauma or misplaced adherence to modesty, are bitterly opposed to shirtless running. Here's an excerpt from an article (this is the link to the original, but it has since been removed) viciously attacking those of us who dare to bare:

As students leave their last classes of the day, something inside them changes — they slip off their veils of poise, and they become entirely different people from the dedicated and caring students they were only moments before...

These students do not intimidate prostitutes and murder pedestrians... Rather, they commit a far more egregious act against the humanity on UT’s campus. I am, of course, referring to the practice of shirtless jogging.

If you are eating at this time and are prone to nausea, I advise you put away this article for continuation after full digestion. With this precursor, I will now attempt to describe, to the best of my ability, the horror and torment of male shirtless jogging: Glistening ape hair, plastered by sweat to the flab that undulates precariously up and down, then up and down again. The arms flail wildly to the side, sending spurts of sweat pelleting passers-by in their faces with a resounding “smack!” And should you happen to be downwind from the olfactory producer’s galumphing, you would choke on the stench and collapse to your knees, hands grasping your throat in desperate attempt to survive without severe brain damage. But, of course, I understate.

- from 'Objective Observations with Benjamin Miller' (updated Nov 4 2008) as published in the The Daily Texan Online


It's an amusing read, don't you think?

Six drawbacks to shirtless running (updated)

Since I want to be always fair, it ought to be noted that being a shirtless runner has its occasional negatives.

1) I've received everything from unmistakeably disapproving raised eyebrows to schoolgirls giggling to each other; anything from blaring car horns to catcalls and yells of "Put a shirt on, mate" could be directed your way.

2) If you do without a 'safety shirt', it isn't really convenient to drop by the corner store on the way home for a few supplies or the morning paper.

3) There are still people that I would rather not encounter during my shirtless runs. Certain old friends and the like. Irrational? If you like. But most folks have their 'hope not' lists, I suspect.

4) If you get used to running without a shirt, it's rather constricting to have to plod along in some form of upper-body wear. So when it's too cold to do without any, one is caught in a fitness 'no-man's-land'.

5) Gyms typically require patrons to wear at least a tank-top, so I've mostly given up on them since I don't do weights and prefer the outdoors anyway. But for those who prefer treadmills and the like, the problem looks pretty insuperable.

6) Depending on the length of run and the weather, the shirtless runner really mustn't forget his sunscreen (thanks to respondents on community.active.com for reminders on this point).