It is quite common nowadays to see some volleyball players wearing spandex. While some argue that this is mainly a stylish trend that has pretty much no actual utility …
Reality is spandex has some interesting benefits that could somewhat help your volleyball overall game.
In this article, I breakdown exactly the reasons why some player choose to wear spandex consistently even in practice sessions and how you might too beneficiate from using them.
5 Reasons why volleyball players wear spandex?
It is worth noting that some people confuse spandex and legging…
While spandex are basically shorts suitable for the outdoors, leggings are suitable for the indoors. One covers the upper legs, while the other covers the entire legs.
Spandex is a synthetic material that is used for clothing, but it has also the meaning of shorts that are similar to leggings in function.
Below 5 Interesting reasons:
Compression
Spandex, just like leggings, and other similar clothing are worn out of their ability to compress the muscles. That is they hold them in place firmly…
When muscles are in place they can recover faster during a game.
Strain prevention
Strain prevention is tightly connected to the compression part. By compressing, spandex do not just hold the muscles in place but they also help them preventing strains.
They aid in strain recovery.
Oxygenation
Nearly all things require oxygen to function properly, our muscles are no different. Spandex increase the oxygen levels your muscles receive by increasing pressure and support your muscles receive.
With more oxygen your muscles are prone to recover faster, and that in turn can benefit you on the court and it can benefit your muscles even more after the game
Reduced risk of soreness
Athletes in general are prone to sore muscles after a hard game or an intensive round of practice, so spandex are there to help you by reducing the discomfort and sometimes completely stopping the soaring of muscles.
A good example of this prevention is the prevention of delayed onset of muscle soreness, which in turn can have positive effects on the player in the next game, or during the first few days after a game.
Prevention of deep vein thrombosis
This may be the most important reason on our list. DVT is a medical condition that causes blood to clot in your legs and lower thighs.
The discomfort caused by DVT is that the area of the leg that is affected by DVT is of higher temperature than the rest of the leg.
Spandex just like arm sleeves and leggings help the blood flow of your upper legs thus preventing DVT or other circulatory issues.
Quick Tip: If those reasons sound interesting for you, then you still need to pick quality spandex clothing, because if you pick a bad quality one you might instead have an irritated skin. For example these spandex sport clothing are of a good quality.
You can learn more about leggings used by volleyball players …
Is wearing spandex more common for men or women volleyball?
Wearing spandex is more common for women than men in volleyball, but that does not mean that men do not wear them at all. The reason here is that women in volleyball have a different dress code than men have.
Women now days wear more spandex and tops that do not expose their body too much. However, women pro players point out that they wear that which suits them the most.
Men on the other hand tend to wear spandex beneath their shorts while playing. As we have mentioned earlier spandex can have, just as leggings, positive effects on the body and on the circulation, they can also absorb sweat very good, which is why some men, the majority like wearing spandex beneath their shorts.
Clothes that should be in spandex for volleyball?
Spandex is a stretchable synthetic material that is often mixed with other materials in order to produce various kinds of sports gear, medical gear, underwear etc.
Volleyball gear made out of spandex includes the shorts of the women teams in indoor volleyball and the tops and shorts in beach volleyball women teams.
Spandex is often used in the making of the top jerseys that are used in indoor volleyball.
So clothes that should be in spandex when it comes to volleyball are basically the entire gear set of volleyball teams, but it can find its way in nearly all other objects, from the knee pads, to the balls, to many more.
You can learn more about volleyball proper clothing …
Are there any drawbacks for wearing spandex?
Irritation
The first drawback that we will list here is the drawback of irritation, or allergies. They can irritate the skin sometimes and produce allergies, but that depends on the quality of the materials that are used.
All products have different types of qualities, so do the spandexes. There is a wide arrange of materials used for synthetic leggings and shorts, and all of them vary greatly, so does their quality.
Comfort
Some players might not find spandex comfortable since it is made to be worn tight to follow the body shape and fits it perfectly.
This drawback is the case for only some people. So, you probably should try it out for yourself and check whether you feel it is comfortable enough or not.
Final Thoughts …
If you find the spandex benefits I’ve listed above useful for you, then I highly recommend you first check with a specialist or a doctor just to make sure you don’t actually have an allergy to the used materials…
Indeed, some people might be allergic to it, especially when they start sweating.
You might do this on your own by testing it yourself, yet I still recommend you have a check with a specialist in that regard.