Raise your hand if you’ve come home from a winter run cold and sweaty with fingers too numb and body so tired that wrestling a wet sports bra off your clammy skin felt like an insurmountable task. Me too. Death by soggy bra is a good way to kill even the coziest pre-run situation but wriggling out of a damp bra underneath a pile of winter layers is the worst.
Enter the Brooks Fast Forward Zip Sports Bra.
I’m not someone who needs a lot of support from a running bra so I usually just go for whatever pullover racer back has the softest fabric or cutest pattern. I have never owned a sports bra that wasn’t a pullover until last month. I always thought the fancy ones with hooks or zippers weren’t for me.
And I was a little skeptical of the Fast Forward bra. Would the zipper make a weird bump under my shirt or bounce around? Would I hear in clinking as I ran? Would the zipper feel like cold metal when I put it on? Nope, nope and nope. Despite the zipper, this bra has a simple construction with a mesh racer back, sleek front panels and a wide soft elastic band along the bottom. Like most bras it came with pads, although, like always, I removed them right away. The zipper has a cozy panel behind it that protects your skin from ever feeling the zipper and the zipper lies smoothly under your shirt. The zipper pull locks down and doesn’t bounce. The best feature? When your run is done the zipper is smooth and easy to undo freeing you from a soggy bra in seconds. No struggle!
A note about fit and sizing: since I don’t need much for support I tend to buy sports bras a size bigger than my normal shirt size, so I can avoid feeling suffocated. This bra fits true to size, and the medium I tested was probably a little big but it was comfortable and I didn’t think about it while I was wearing it. I often find sports bras feel too short, and that I have to keep tugging them down, and that didn’t happen with this one, if anything the straps felt a tad too long. The elastic band around the ribcage is soft and supportive without feeling restrictive.
Despite having a zipper this bra feels light, breathable and sleek, and I’m sure it will be in heavy rotation all summer. I recommend this bra for anyone looking for an option that doesn’t require a clammy wrestling match to get out of.
