Glow in the Dark Gym Gear (yes, you read that right!)

It's that time of year again when we try to make an effort to move more and what better incentive than some new gym gear? Would it impress you more if I said it’s 'glow in the dark' gym gear?! 

Yes - that's the same me, same moment, same outfit...one picture without a flash and one with!!

I’ve chosen a few pieces from the new Marks & Spencer active range to show you in this blog post and if you get just a fraction as excited as my kids did about the glow technology, I’ll be happy. Fact is, it’s safe. I do a lot of walking (sadly not running at the moment but never say never) and these dark evenings make walking fairly unsafe unless you’ve got some hi vis gear on. But who really wants to wear bright yellow and look like a construction worker? 

Reflective technology has been around for a few years but it came at a price before now so it's great to see these more affordable pieces in M&S this season with this subtle but effective visibility included.

For the purpose of the review, I chose a half padded hooded jacket with matching leggings and some lightweight black trainers with reflective laces.

Reflective Print Padded Hooded Top - M&S

Reflective Print Leggings - M&S

Trainers - M&S 

(all supplied to review)

Sorry it’s not very exciting colour wise but experience has shown that I only ever wear the black or grey gym stuff so I got rid of my coloured stuff over the summer when my back was playing up and I thought I never go to the gym again. I thought that even keeping 2 pairs of leggings, 2 vests and 2 long-sleeved tops (all black/grey) was far too optimistic.

Well how wrong was I because thanks to some pretty amazing healing (in awe of my body and how it has healed...blog post is STILL being written), I’m now at the stage where I’m at the gym or walking 3-4 times a week and who really wants to have to do a wash & dry mid week. Nothing worse for putting you off exercise.

But thanks to M&S I now have 3 of everything and in fact I was so impressed with the quality of what I was sent that I went into my local store and bought a 4th pair of leggings (the printed leggings on this link). 

Fit wise I’m wearing a 10 in everything and although the leggings are snug to pull over my hips, they fit so beautifully on the waist because they’re not that overly stretchy/clingy material. None of the dreaded overhang...my main bugbear with gym legs. 

The jacket gets all the thumbs up from a fit point of view because it’s longer line and sits at just the right place on my hips. 

But back to the reflective stuff...how freaking amazing is this. Same moment, same pose, no flash on the first picture. Full flash on the second. The best way to demonstrate how this set looks to a driver on a dark night. Even the trainers join in!

Though I do need to tell you about the trainers - it completely lets down the side if you create genuinely good technical running leggings and in the same collection, completely inadequate trainers. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like them and will wear them but not when I’m doing actual exercise. They’re perfectly adequate for a walk or stroll but don’t go running or doing a heavy gym session in these. The sole is quite shiny and slippy and they’re just not supportive enough. It’s a shame as for £15/20 more, I’m sure a more suitable pair could have been designed. But I’ll wear these as fashion trainers - I think they’ll look great with jeans and they're the perfect lightweight option for holidays.

Lace Up Trainers - £25 (also in light grey)

So there you go - no excuses now with gear that lights me up! You can check out the full Sportswear range on this link and in-store. Thanks to M&S for providing these pieces to me for the purpose of the review.

Ax

Disclaimer - items were provided for the review, I was not paid to write this blog, nor was I obliged to. The links are affiliate which means M&S can track them back to me and will pay me a tiny % commission after 90 days if you buy and keep the items. Thank you for supporting my blog by using these links. It's my only source of blog income and comes in kind of handy when I have to explain to my husband why I spend HOURS on here every evening!