Gym apparel - dri fit vs cotton

I've done away with pretty much all my cotton stuff in favor of the wicking fabrics. They are more comfortable, don't get heavy, dry faster after a workout (nice if I'm not able to shower & change right away), and I haven't had any problems with odors.

Well said.

When I trained for a 1/2 Marathon Team and Training Coaches said NO COTTON! I love wicking fabric and can't imagine a world without it!

I like dry fit for the most part, but it lacks friction when going heavy for squats and I tend to slide around the bench doing bench press. Good for cardio, running and heavy conditioning work, though! Also would not wear anything else for obstacle/mud runs

When I first started running, I wore cotton.... my nipples beotched for a week

I guess I'm in the minority here. I like my cotton T's - - the Dri-fit stuff I have seems to chaffe more than cotton. I deal with the sweat smell by washing in hot water (after the first couple of washes, of course).

There seems to be a couple of different kinds of dry-fit. I have a couple of older dri-fit t-shirts that look and feel like regular cotton (maybe just feels lighter than a regular cotton shirt), but the newer shirts I have are all man-made fibres and not as comfy.

Have a look around for the softer type, I think even the golfing polo shirts are labelled as dri-fit so you have lots of choice wrt style and fit.

I just got a couple of under-armour t-shirts and these are similar to the older dri-fit I have, (feel and look more like a lightweight cotton rather than plastic-fest that most athletic tops are). I don't feel quite so nervous in those when I see sparks and naked flames either

I wear quick drying materials when I'm doing cardio. For weight training I usually wear cotton because the synthetics are more slippery on the gym benches.

By the way, 5.11 clothing - this is used by people in highly active professions (police, EMT's, military) - was made from cotton last I knew. My understanding is that it is coated cotton, to make it less likely to chafe.

Overall, though, I still try not to wear anything with more than 50% cotton when hiking (my primary cardio exercise), with the exception of those specially coated cotton cargo pants if it isn't going to be very hot or humid.

Again, I exercise outside so it is a safety issue if my sweat does not get wicked up by the fabric and then released into the environment... cotton holds onto sweat, and that prevents sweat from cooling as well as it should in heat. It also greatly increases the risk of hypothermia when it is cool out. The last thing I need is to be cold, wet from sweat from before I was cold, and the only way to get dry is to take off clothes... that is a situation I want to avoid.

Most labels say no fabric softner and I usually run mine in dryer a few minutes then hang to dry. I also drape mine over the shower rod when I get home to let them dry before I throw in the hamper to reduce the chance of stink.

Dri fit. Always.

And I hang dry all my work out clothes.

I've machine dried them in the past and the colors faded faster and they seemed to lose some of their stretch over time. They never shrank or anything, though.