Why Do Footballers Wear Sports Bras?

Many who watch football regularly will notice that when footballers remove their shirts during celebration or after the final whistle, they reveal a strange item of black clothing resembling a sports bra.

However, it’s primary purpose is not as sports wear - instead, it is used to house an energy monitoring device that tracks a players heart rate, calorie burning and energy output across a game. This gives the clubs medical teams the opportunity to survey key numbers in order to track a players’ performance.

Here, Football Park looks at why these energy vests are used, and how the data gathered by them can help.

Why Do Players Wear GPS Vests?

As stated, these vests are worn by players to help medical staff track their performance throughout a 90 minute football match.

Data points, such as heart rate and calorie burn, are collected rapidly throughout the game, providing immediate feedback to the dugout - this is particularly useful if a coach wants a player to meet a certain energy or movement target. The returned data points help the coach determine whether this goal has been met.

The data gathered by the vest also helps the rehab process - after an intense 90 minutes, players are limited in how much energy they can expend for the rehab process to go smoothly. The in-game numbers gathered help pinpoint the maximum energy one should expend in rehab, and can also be worn during the rehab process to make sure a player isn’t exceeding this number.

This is particularly important for players with a big motor, or players who “don’t know how to slow down”.

These players have a high explosion rate, which significantly affects their rehab process. These players will wear a vest both in game and on the training field, to ensure they are not overexerting themselves, preserving their fitness for the next game.

The players themselves can also benefit from wearing them - the monitor allows them to understand what their strengths and weaknesses are, and which part of their fitness and approach needs improvement.

Why is the GPS housed in a Sports Bra?

First and foremost, players are not allowed to wear jewellery or accessories during games due to the risk of harm to other players, meaning typical means of measuring energy output, such as a smartwatch or fit-bit, are illegal on the field of play.

This means that the monitor needs to be housed in a sports bra, protecting other players by being covered in soft material. The dual benefit of this is that the monitor itself is also protected, with the sports bra absorbing much of the impact from duels contested throughout the game.

Secondly, having the monitor placed in the sports bra affords for higher accuracy. Allegedly, the sports bra health monitor is 10 times more accurate than the regular watch or wristband, operating at 10 hertz.

Standard health monitors operate at one hertz, or one measurement per second. Having a monitor which functions at 10 allows significantly more accurate data recording, and more in depth understanding of exertion and rehab goals.