How to choose a sports bra, with advice from a netball player, bra fitter and scientist

Recommended Health & Fitness Running How to choose a sports bra, with advice from a netball player, bra fitter and scientist Ensuring the right fit matters. Inadequate support could contribute to breast pain, impact movement and cause stretching of breast tissue Save Comment speech bubble icon Gift this article free Gift article Give full access to this article, free time. You have 15 articles left to gift, this month. Log in or Subscribe Copy link X Icon twitter Facebook Icon facebook WhatsApp Icon whatsapp email Add us as preferred source Share article Log in or Subscribe Copy link X Icon twitter Facebook Icon facebook WhatsApp Icon whatsapp email Jessica O'Donnell Show biography Jessica O’Donnell is a freelance journalist and editor covering health, fitness, beauty, travel and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in publications like The Telegraph, The Times, Runner’s World and Cosmopolitan in the UK, as well as ELLE and Harper’s Bazaar Australia. She combines expert insight, in-depth research and hands-on product testing to help readers make informed decisions. Previously, she was Ecommerce Editor at Women’s Health, where she oversaw the ecommerce strategy across health, fitness, beauty and wellbeing. Published 25 July 2026 12:00pm BST Save Comment speech bubble icon Share article Log in or Subscribe Copy link X Icon twitter Facebook Icon facebook WhatsApp Icon whatsapp email Gift this article free Gift article Give full access to this article, free time. You have 15 articles left to gift, this month. Log in or Subscribe Copy link X Icon twitter Facebook Icon facebook WhatsApp Icon whatsapp email Add us as preferred source England netballer Eleanor Cardwell has become an advocate for the importance of sports bras in making women feel comfortable while exercising Credit: Paul Cooper, for the Telegraph Jessica O'Donnell Show biography Jessica O’Donnell is a freelance journalist and editor covering health, fitness, beauty, travel and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in publications like The Telegraph, The Times, Runner’s World and Cosmopolitan in the UK, as well as ELLE and Harper’s Bazaar Australia. She combines expert insight, in-depth research and hands-on product testing to help readers make informed decisions. Previously, she was Ecommerce Editor at Women’s Health, where she oversaw the ecommerce strategy across health, fitness, beauty and wellbeing. Published 25 July 2026 12:00pm BST Finding a comfortable everyday bra is hard enough; choosing one that can withstand running, jumping and rigorous movement is trickier still. There can be variation in sizes between brands, support labels can’t always be trusted, and the style your friend swears by may not be ideal for you. Despite all this, finding the right fit matters more than you may think. Inadequate support can contribute to breast pain, impact the way you move and can potentially cause stretching of the breast tissue. So how do you choose the right sports bra for you? This guide explains how to measure yourself; assess the fit; choose the right level of support, and recognise when a sports bra needs replacing. How do you measure yourself for a sports bra? Expert bra fitter Suzanne Pentland recommends measuring your ribcage directly under your bust in inches to determine your band size, then measuring around the fullest part of your bust. The difference between the two measurements determines your cup size. For example, if your underband measures 34 inches and your bust measures 40 inches, the six-inch difference corresponds to an E cup, making your bra size 34E. See table below to calculate your cup size. Once you know your size, you’re ready to try on different sports bras. There are a few things to look out for. “The first thing to check is the underband,” says Professor Joanna Wakefield-Scurr, since it is the underband which provides most of a sports bra’s support. “If you can pull it more than five centimetres away from your body, the band is too big.” It should sit level around your ribcage, without riding up when you lift your arms or twist your torso. This is also how netball player Eleanor Cardwell recommends finding your fit – but she adds that a too-tight bra is just as bad as an unsupportive one. Always size up if you’re between sizes, she recommends, never down. Next, stretch the cups and the front of the bra. “If they’re too stretchy, they aren’t going to lift and hold the breasts in place,” Wakefield-Scurr says. “They should fully contain your breasts without any bulging at the top or sides. If the cup is digging into the breast or causing an indentation, it’s too small.” If you’re wearing an encapsulation-style sports bra, the centre panel between the cups should sit flat against your breastbone. Finally, stretch the shoulder straps, which shouldn’t lift more than five centimetres away from your shoulders. If your bra has an underwire, it should follow the natural crease of your breast without sitting on breast tissue. Sports bras are either measured in Alpha sizing (S, M, L etc), or regular bra sizing (30C, 32D, 34G), depending on the brand. Use our calculator to figure out your size. How do you tell if a sports bra is the wrong size?One of the biggest mistakes shoppers make is assuming that if a sports bra feels tight, that’s enough. In reality, support comes from the right fit rather than simply compressing your chest. Cardwell advises thoroughly testing a sports bra by moving in it in the same way as you will during the sport you will be doing. “Your breasts don’t just move up and down,” she says. “They move all around – circles, up, down, left, right. We want to try and restrict that as much as possible, but not to the extreme where you’re not able to breathe.” What is a high impact sports bra?High-impact sports bras are designed for activities where your breasts experience the greatest movement, such as running, HIIT, tennis and netball. Their job is to minimise breast movement in every direction, helping reduce discomfort while allowing you to move more efficiently. To measure how high-impact a sports bra is, Wakefield-Scurr asks women to run in a laboratory, both without a bra and while wearing different sports bras. “For a bra to be classed as high support, it has to reduce breast movement above certain thresholds,” she says. “If your breasts move 10 centimetres without a bra and five centimetres in a sports bra, that bra has reduced breast movement by 50 per cent.” In the lab, Wakefield-Scurr and her team found that “if you run in low support compared with high support, you reduce your stride length by four centimetres. Four centimetres might not sound like a lot, but over the course of a marathon, those four centimetres add up to around a mile.” This proves that wearing a high-support bra doesn’t just keep you comfortable, but it can improve your athletic performance. Cardwell, who wears a double G cup, says high-impact support has improved dramatically in recent years. “There has been a lot more research into high-impact sports bras, especially for larger-chested women.” She also warns against assuming that every sports bra offers the same level of support. “If it’s the same material as a smaller cup size, it’s probably not going to be sufficient for someone like me with double Gs.” How often should you replace your sports bra?There’s no set rule for replacing a sports bra, according to Wakefield-Scurr. This is because its lifespan depends more on how you care for it than how often you wear it. “The lifespan of a sports bra is affected more by how you wash and dry it than by how often you wear it,” she says. In one of her team’s studies, support dropped by around a third after 25 washes. “Always follow the washing instructions,” she advises. “You’d be surprised how many sports bras should be hand washed or washed at a lower temperature.” Looking after your sports bra properly will help it last longer, but no bra lasts forever. Once the underband loses its elasticity or the support noticeably decreases, it’s time to replace it to ensure you have the right level of support. Join the conversation Show comments The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our commenting policy. Copy link X Icon twitter Facebook Icon facebook WhatsApp Icon whatsapp email The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our commenting policy. Related Topics Running License this content You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Find out more here. 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