Wellbeing buy of the week: free sports-bra fitting, plus £5 off bras

What is it?

It's a free professional sports bra fitting service from Sweatshop, the specialist running shop founded by Chris Brasher in 1971. And you can get £5 off the cost of a bra, too - see 'Anything else?', below.

What will it do for me?

As seven out of 10 women wear the wrong bra size when exercising, taking up this offer could improve support for your breasts, ease breast pain and reduce embarrassment and self-consciousness caused by your breasts moving too much when you're working up a sweat.

Wearing the wrong size sports bra can also contribute to exercise-related breast pain and even potential tissue damage. Dr Joanna Scurr, head of the Breast Health unit at the University of Portsmouth, has worked with Sweatshop to train staff to fit sports bras, and says: 'A correctly fitted sports bra offering appropriate support can reduce breast movement by up to 78% and also reduce associated breast pain. As the breast has no supporting muscles it may also reduce the risk of breast sag, which is why it is so important to wear a well-fitting sports bra, whatever your size.'

At my free fitting, I learnt about the three different sports bra types: compression: where breasts are held against the chest wall; encapsulation, where breasts are lifted, separated and supported in place, and combination, with elements of both. I came away with a Freya underwired bra, which looks amazingly like a normal bra, but unlike an everyday bra, offers excellent support while running.

How much and where from?

Fitting and advice is free in the UK's 34 Sweatshop stores.

Anything else?

If you can't make it to the shop, there's a fitting guide and educational video at www.sweatshop.co.uk.

You can save £5 off the cost of a sports bra at Sweatshop with their 'bra amnesty', set up to raise money for The MicroLoan Foundation, a charity that helps impoverished women in sub-Saharan Africa. To get the discount, just drop off an unwanted bra (perhaps one that's the wrong size for you?). All funds raised from recycling the bras will go to The MicroLoan Foundation.

By Adrienne Wyper

See the last wellbeing buy here