The emergence of compression gear has been hyped up a lot of late. Seemingly every professional footballer feels the added bonus that compression gear supposedly offers, and it is even beginning to spread to amateur leagues as the equipment market starts to become more and more popular with the ordinary player. Dubbed as some of the most essential pieces of football kit in the game – the Adidas Techfit Powerweb and Skins A400 range have a lot to live up to.
For this comparison, I will be focusing on the comfort and fit, as well as arguing whether compression gear actually DOES have an effect on your game. It is impossible to tell whether there is a noticeable difference in sprinting times or anything of the sort, but one thing that has come to prominence in compression gear of late is the recovery and injury prevention aspects that they supposedly offer, as I will detail below.
Comfort:
The comfort of a base-layer is hugely important. You don’t want to be constantly sorting your base-layer top out while running around, and so a comfortable fit is vitally important. Below, I will detail the positives and negatives of both releases.
First of all. When you wear both base-layers (Skins and adidas), you won’t notice you have them on. This immediately suggests to me that both companies have got the comfort just right. They both caress and protect your muscles at the same time, and at no time will you be hindered by them.
The materials used in both base-layers are very nice. They will not chafe your legs, and the material used means you won’t sweat much either. Sweat in itself often leads to chafing, and this is a blessing in itself. Both releases are designed to keep you cool during the summer months. Do they work? It’s hard to tell whether they do, but I’d say the Skins A400 range just pip the adidas Techfit Powerweb in this regard. Because of the nature of the compression bands and how it fits, sweat tended to collect in certain areas, and not in others. It was definitely an unusual experience.
However (and this is a big however), I experienced soreness in quite an unpleasant place with the adidas Techfit Powerweb garments. Generally, this happened when I did mainly sprinting, which doesn’t make much sense to me. I wore them as directed, and it’s a shame because adidas’ creation is a fantastic piece of innovation, but this is a let down really. I can’t really explain it either, there appears to be no real explanation of why it happened.
Winner: The Skins range, purely because I encountered zero chafing and soreness while wearing them.
Fit:
Before I start comparing the fit of the two brands, what you have to consider with the fit, is that they are designed to compress your muscles. This means that both brands are going to fit very tight. Therefore, these may not be the most appropriate piece of clothing for bulky individuals.
With the adidas Techfit Powerweb garments, you will feel more of a squeeze in certain areas than others. For example, in the undershorts, there is a very specific tightness around the hamstrings, and less around the knee. In comparison, the undertop compresses your shoulders and back, immediately pulling your shoulders back and improving your posture. Personally, I didn’t find the under-top comfortable at all, but the shorts are fantastic.
In comparison, the Skins A400 range is slightly more forgiving. The shorts in particular, triumph the Powerweb shorts purely because they are more forgiving. They have an iPod pouch along the inside seam and it’s this little attention to detail that just makes them seem more of a complete package. The top is however, VERY tight. It truly is a compression top. Yet,fit wise, it’s fantastic. When you get out playing, you don’t notice you have it on. This for me, indicates it is a very top notch piece of football equipment.
Winner: Skins (by some distance)
Does the compression aspect work?
Now this, for me, is the most controversial aspect by far. Both ranges claim that their base-layers will enhance performance.
Skins claim:
“The A400 Skins range features the revolutionary SKINS gradient compression which has been engineered to provide the correct level of surface pressure to specific parts of the body enhancing blood circulation to get more vital oxygen to your active muscles – boosting your power, speed and stamina.
Improved blood circulation also helps to eliminate lactic acid build up and other metabolic wastes during an intense workout. The result? You go harder, for longer and recover faster.”
adidas claim:
“adidas Techfit long tights benefit from trademark adidas Techfit Powerweb technology, giving the shorts a combination of high compression fabric and elastic power bands. The powerband element of the Techfit tights enhances your core strength, improves your body posture, making for greater accuracy and control of movement.”
Is there any substance to these claims? Post-match, most definitely. Lactic acid is prone to develop in your muscles after exercise, as explained in my Post-match recovery guide. And of course, it will also develop in game too. Players will still be able to play for 90 minutes regardless of whether they are wearing compression gear if they are fit enough. So it is hard to see whether it would have a significant enough effect in game without scientific tests, and unfortunately, we are not scientists at SoccerReviews. So basically, wearing compression gear post-match is recommended, but in game, it is most definitely not a necessity.
As adidas claim; “The powerband element of the Techfit tights enhances your core strength, improves your body posture”, I find this is the most agreeable quote from their description. While wearing the adidas Techfit Powerweb garments, you feel like you are better positioned, it helps prevent your body from hunching over when tired, and this most certainly will help with technique. But may I just add, that unless you have the technique in the first place, you won’t become a better player because of these base-layers. In this regard, you could well argue that this will also improve your sprinting, as your technique should theoretically be better. But the difference will be negligible anyway.
However, the least debatable aspect of the compression gear argument, is the prevention of injuries. Your legs feel more secure, more protected, during use. While I do not have any scientific proof that compression base-layers do help reduce muscular injuries, it has been a popular trend with professional physiotherapists of late. I can also testify that writers on SoccerReviews swear by wearing compression gear to support their muscles. So in this regard, both releases get a big thumbs up.
Winner: The Adidas Techfit Powerweb range most certainly provide the securer fit, compared to the Skins’ range. Therefore, there can only be one winner in this section.
In conclusion, both releases are excellent. However, you have to consider two things. Both releases will offer compression benefits, although the adidas range tops the Skins range in this regard. But, the Skins’ range beats the adidas range in terms of comfort and fit. Depending on which one is more beneficial to you, you have to choose accordingly. Both ranges are undoubtedly worth the money, there is no question of that. Both are hugely influential in post-match recovery, and I can assure you that 9 out of 10 professional footballers swear by compression gear.
You can buy both Adidas Techfit Powerweb and Skins A400 base-layers at Soccer.com.
About Jon Nicholson
after reading this article, and especially reading about tightness and the bands on the adidas powerweb, i instantly think of kinesio taping, the idea is really similar to kinesio taping, how it supports muscles and at times joints, and also how it prevents injuries. i’ve recently seen gareth bale have kinesio taping on his hamstrings, the adidas powerweb shorts would probably have the same, if not similar effects as the kinesio taping?
I’ve been swearing by adidas Techfit for over a year now, the stuff is great! I was using Nikepro before and although slightly different, the fit and snug feel of Techfit is just amazing. On a sidenote: To the Soccerreviews team, your images haven t been loading for a few weeks now, any idea when this problem will be sorted??
@Mike,
Thanks for the comment. You say they haven’t been loading; what do you see? Appreciate the help!
I ll send a screen shot. What e-mail address do I send it to?
I use the adidas gear from my club, and they are just outstanding. They really take some getting used to, but once youve worn them once, there’s no going back
I use Nike Hypercool because it’s really cooling and the country i play in is pretty darn hot.
It is important to note that there are BIG differences within one brand of compression wear such as SKINS. For example, you will find nothing else on this planet, at this time, to approach the fit, ie, comfort and compression afforded by the SKINS pro — cycling — tights. How they manage both of the components simultaneously is a marvel to me. Now, I can only speak for the women’s line. But, here’s the thing. First of all, SKINS — running — tights are awful because their waistband is different from their cycling tights – God knows why they blew that so badly – the constriction is insane and certainly not proportional to the rest of the tight – same with ankles – only on the running tights – the waistband and ankles are like these skinny rubberbands that are trying to choke you. Now, before you say to yourself, I must be large or overweight, I will tell you I am a fit competitive athlete and coach and I weigh 114 lbs at 5’6 3/4″. And my waist is small and hips apparently TINY compared to measurements given for my height for ANY line of clothing. I buy size 00 in some clothing. Anyway, the other thing is that if you’re going to use compression, then you should educate yourself on the human body and why it doesn’t make sense to wear compression SHORTS. Seriously, that is where the fad crap comes in. Medically speaking, you don’t need a degree to figure out that constricting your legs just above the knee is NOT a good thing at ANY time in ANY human being! Does this really need to be stated? I sometimes wonder about people’s intelligence. When you’re younger, you won’t feel it as much, but also, just because you can’t feel what you’re doing to the inside of your body, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. You should realize that your heart has a job to do pumping the blood back up from your feet and to make that more difficult is to , over time, compromise the valves in your veins, and compromise the lymph system etc., etc. So, if you are going to wear compression, first of all, it needs to be tights. Lastly, every doctor I’ve spoken to has stated that it’s not even a good idea to get tights without either stirrups of some compression that includes much of the foot, and that makes sense too as you don’t want the blood to pool in your feet, then suddenly be released after hours of constriction, and all the other probs associated with that, such as cell respiration waste being able to leave the leg in an upward fashion. SKINS did their homework on the cycle tights, which is why I use the cycle tights for running, as well. I will try the Powerweb, but in my experience, you get what you pay for. And, I have to tell you, after being told by my doctors I would never run again, SKINS have allowed me to run regularly again with almost no problems, except rare temporary minor issues that resolve in a day. No other compression tight I’ve worn have been able to do that – none come close – and all the other tights are also damned uncomfortable in one way or another. I’m hoping I’ll find an exception in Adidas, then I don’t have to watch for the extreme SKINS sales anymore LOL.
ps – please excuse all the grammar errors in my last post – I can’t type today or apparently write a grammatically correct sentence
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