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Runner's Training Tips: Cooler to run with shirt on or off?

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    • CommentAuthorFree MemberMattydt20
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2009
     
    Mattydt20

    I've been debating the merits of running with or without a shirt for a while. With a cotton shirt, it's captures more heat, but once it becomes saturated with your sweat it keeps you cool for the remainder of your run. This is why you're not supposed to hike in the mountains wearing cotton, especially on over night trips. With a wicking shirt, the shirt wicks the sweat away and keeps relatively dry. Without a shirt, the wind or air can cool your skin more effectively by convection and heat can radiate freely.

     I just wanted to know if there was any evidence out there supporting one method keeping your body cooler than others. 

    • CommentAuthorFree Memberadamculp
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2009 edited
     
    adamculp

    Personally I like to wear a shirt.  Lately I have started wearing moisture wicking shirts while I run, and will never go back to cotton t-shirts. (In Florida it is simply too hot for cotton.)  Most wicking shirts seem to keep the drops of sweat away, while still allowing air to reach your skin and cool.

    There is also protection from the sun.  If you are bare skinned it requires sunblock, which can prevent proper cooling because it prevents sweat from sitting directly on the skin. (I have no proof of this, but am speaking from personal experience.)

    I find that if I have a full sweat on my skin the air really cannot cool because the moisture is simply too high.  However, if I have a thinner layer of moisture (as left behind by the wicking shirts) the air seems to cool better.

    Also, there is the creep factor.  How many times do we all see someone jogging without a shirt and think "Dude, please do us all a favor and put on a shirt."? (Yes, even people with nice bodies still have a slight "creep" factor going on.)

    • CommentAuthorFree Memberaedwards92
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2009
     
    aedwards92

    per request of the community I keep my shirt on.

    I go with the moisture wicking as well. Cotton gets to heavy once wet plus it really rubs my nipples raw (sorry for the visual).

    • CommentAuthorFree MemberJRockND
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2009
     
    JRockND
    Last summer there was an essay in the New Yorker about the marathoner Ryan Hall and history of competitive running in America. In it, I remember that they said that there were experiments done on just this question and the experiments concluded that it is best to wear synthetic wicking materials, worse are cotton shirts, and worst of all is no shirt. Apparently shirts, even cotton shirts, radiate the heat away from your body more efficiently than no shirt. It is, in fact, the same concept used in radiators in your house. Also, I remember reading an article in the New York Times a year or two about about heat and running. The hotter it gets, the harder your body need to work to keep cool and the slower you run. From this one can extrapolate that a shirt that radiates heat well will not just make you more comfortable, but also improve your performance. Plus, there is the "creep" factor that everyone else has mentioned...
    • CommentAuthorFree Memberccgall
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2009
     
    ccgall

    FWIW, I love running in soccer jersey's. If they can run around for 90+ minutes then it's got to work for me!

     But I'm pretty sure it's best to run with something on being that sweat is the body's natural coolant

     

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