By Ruchika Kher

New Delhi, Mar 19 (IANS): Wear loose cottons while doing yoga. Make well- fitting, comfortable attire for gym workouts. For, what you wear while exercising can accentuate the posture and the feel good factor, say fitness experts.

"Wearing appropriate workout clothes can enhance and optimise your workouts and thereby increase your benefits," Vinita Shetty, a Reebok fitness trainer, told IANS.

"Right clothes give you the comfort and support that is greatly needed in addition to helping you maintain an optimum body temperature during intense workout sessions.

"Well-fitting attire can also help accentuate your form and posture so as to be monitored better. The feel good factor of right clothing cannot be underestimated either. All these factors contribute to getting a better performance out of the participant," Shetty added.

According to Delhi-based yoga expert Yatharth Sehajpal, uncomfortable clothes are a big no-no for a workout session.

"One should avoid stiff and uncomfortable clothing because a session requires performing different and difficult body postures, so one should go in for loose and comfortable clothing that absorbs sweat," he said.

Earlier, people used to wear anything for a workout session and there was less awareness about the right clothes for exercising. However, with changing times more people are getting hooked to the latest fitness outfits available in the market.

"People are becoming conscious about fitness and are adopting a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, the demand for sportswear has increased," said Andreas Gellner, managing director, Adidas India.

Also, a fact that has been noticed is that men use fitness clothing more than women.

"Typically, men indulge more in fitness shopping as they are more involved in sports and related activities. But slowly the trend is changing as more and more women are becoming conscious about their fitness regime and do not mind spending on fitness clothing," added Gellner.

Colours also play an important part while you select your clothes for workout sessions.

"Light colours like white, beige, pink etc are ideal for a yoga session since they are pleasing to the eyes and absorb less heat," said Sehajpal.

Manufacturers of fitness wear also say that colours like black, blue and white are the basic popular colours, but the demand for bright colours is on a high too.

As far as suitable fabric is concerned, the winner is cotton. Trainers and fitness experts swear by it for a workout session.

"It's very important that the clothes you wear while exercising are cotton or semi cotton and not synthetic at all because when you sweat you need to wear something that absorbs the sweat. That is very important," Leena Mogre, fitness expert and director Leena Mogre Fitness, told IANS.

Mogre has trained Bollywood actresses like Katrina Kaif, Kangana Ranaut and Sameera Reddy among others.