Sport bra comparison: Shock Absorber, Panache Sport, and (soft cup) Freya Active!

 This post is a part of Fit & Active September, a post theme started by Fussy Busty! I had a shoulder injury flare up at the end of August, and has been restricted to physical therapy exercises and lower-body-only exercise for most of this month-- which has not encouraged me to post about exercise related topics (it's demoralizing to not be able to exercise). My shoulder has made good progress, though, and I am back in the game! Without further ado, the long-awaited "Sports Bra Comparison" post!

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My review is focused on three models:

• Shock Absorber Active Multi-Sport (red/ salmon/ purple colorway) in 30GG. This bra is a soft cup, and is a compression style bra (i.e. it compresses breast close to the chest to prevent bounce). This runs very tight in the band and small in the cup-- I wore it for probably around a year and never moved to a looser set of hooks despite my ~29 inch band measurement. The cup runs one size small.

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• Freya Active Soft Cup (red/ black colorway) in 30GG. This bra is a soft cup, encapsulation style bra (i.e. each breast is in an individual pocket, with support on all sides to prevent movement and bounce). This runs tight in the band and true to size in the cup. You do not need to order up in the band, but if you are on the larger end of a band size range, you may be more comfortable in a size up.

 

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•  Panache Sport (gray/ lavender colorway) in 30GG. This bra has an underwire (with a lot of padding beneath the wire), and a molded cup, and is an "encapsulation" style bra (i.e. each breast is in an individual pocket, with support on all sides to prevent movement and bounce). This runs tight in the band and about a half-cup size big in the cup. I'd recommend ordering true to band size, and a cup-size down if you are in between sizes.

 I made a table to compare their attributes, based on my personal experiences.

	Shock Absorber	Freya Active	Panache Sport
Underwire	No	No	Yes
Neckline height	Fairly high/ slight v	High/ v	High/ straight across
Material comfort	Low	Moderate	High
Shape when wearing	Uniboob/ flattened	Torpedo	Upward/ Rounded
Price	$45 (sometimes less on ebay)	$60 (sometimes less on ebay)	$45-60 (limited on ebay, but can be found sometimes)
Washing/Drying	Can be machine washed (dry time: fast)	Can be machine washed (dry time: moderate)	Gentle cycle/ hand wash only (dry time: slow)
Straps	Just long enough/ not adjustable/ 2 sets of 2 hooks (hard to fasten)	Just long enough/ not adjustable/ 1 set of 4 hooks	Just short enough/ normal or racerback/ 1 set of 3 hooks

 Having tried all three, I can safely say that if all you care about is preventing uncomfortable breast movement during exercise, any of these three of these bras will work great for you!

Other observations: The shock absorber is hard to put on, due to the tightness of the straps and the two sets of two hooks-- it's really difficult to hook all of them and takes practice. The shock absorber also doesn't separate the boobs at all, which is kind of gross when you are sweating during a work out-- there's no room in-between for airflow. Freya Active is easier to put on, and separates the breasts nicely, but gives a really distinctive (torpedo/ pointy) silhouette that is not my taste. Panache Sport's main disadvantage, IMO, is that due to the molded cup and underwire it should really be hand-washed (but I've tossed it in a lingerie bag and run it through the gentle cycle many times-- it's just probably not ideal for the life of the bra to do so). Both the shock absorber and Freya active have straps that I need to adjust nearly to full length (which is strange, as I'm short and my breasts are fairly high on my ribcage-- I normally need to shorten the straps), while the panache sport needs to be shortened to keep it properly supportive. However, the j-hook/ racerback function that the Panache Sport offers, allows the straps to be functionally much shorter-- I need to adjust the straps almost all the way out to wear the bra as a racerback, so I think even for shorter women the straps are adjustable enough.

That said, I have a definite favorite among these styles, to the point that I essentially never wear the other sports bras I own.

My personal winner? Panache Sport, by a landslide. I feel like the design is far superior to the others.

Why do I prefer it so much, when all three bras work well for their intended purpose?

1. Comfort. The shock absorber cuts into my chest around the arms, and so does the Freya Active. This could be something that varies from woman to woman, anatomically, but for me, the cutting in leaves marks after an hour (quicker if I'm working out and moving my arms) and means that I can't wait to change out of my sports bra as soon as possible. The panache sport's padded underwire, padded straps, and smooth material means it's comfortable to wear as long as I want. The Freya Active is more comfortable in material and design than the Shock Absorber, but both cut in and leave marks on my chest near my arms.
2. Functionality. It's really, really difficult to find a racer-back bra in my size. I almost never wear tank tops outside of the house (except for Urkye) because I don't like having visible bra-straps, and most multi-way bras are very uncomfortable to wear for more than a few hours. Though wearing any racerback bra becomes uncomfortable for me after a few hours (my upper trapezius muscles are uncomfortable with the weight and the positioning of the strap after a while and I'll get a headache), this one is by far the most comfortable I've ever tried and I don't mind wearing it all day. 
3. Shape and appearance. I've mentioned before that I don't care about looking stylish or attractive while I'm working out. That is true. But, at the same time, if a bra makes me look like my breasts are torpedos, or squashed flat and pointing down, I'm not going to wear it anywhere except to the gym (so this also relates back to functionality, as well). The Panache sport looks seamless under clothes, and gives a fabulous rounded, uplifted shape. You won't be wearing it under a v-neck because the neckline is really high-- but it looks fantastic under clothes. See compared to the others?

That said, not all sports bras work equally well for all women-- I've read reviews from other women who don't get adequate support for each of these bras. I'm not sure why that would happen (possibly straps too long? Band not tight enough?) as I found all three of them to be very effective at immobilization (and none have caused chafing) for my purposes-- but I don't do long-distance running, for example. If  you are having problems getting enough support/ immobilization from one of these models, one of the others might better suit you, regardless of my personal preferences.


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(This ended up being a very ambitious post for me to write, I announced that it was on my "to-do" blog list in January. I really want to focus on writing more in-depth posts, because I think they are the most useful for the reader I imagine I'm writing for, but my time is pretty limited so a post that requires taking pictures in three different bras to compare + compiling a table comparing their attributes + wearing the bras in the same situations with the same style of workout to decrease confusing factors was a much bigger time commitment than I had anticipated for a single blog post, hence the delay in getting this all together.

I mention this because I'm wondering if people who actually read the blog would prefer more in-depth posts that take months for me to complete, but that I hope are ultimately worth the delay, or if shorter, single item review posts with less compare/ contrast information, that I can get done every week or three is more preferred by readers. If you have an opinion, and the time to comment, please let me know.)