Mod Exercise Gear?

Thanksgiving, Christmas (and/or Hanukkah, etc.), and New Years... a time of heavy meals, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, boxed chocolates, homemade fudge, cookies, and more. Sounds great until you realize you like dressing in tighter-fitting pants, tighter-fitting shirts, and tighter-fitting jackets.

As you can probably guess, all of the above foods have forced me into loose sweaters and larger jackets. Even shirt collars aren't buttoning up like they should be. So, as a result of all that holiday food, I'll be joining everyone else out there, desperately trying to get back into shape.

As you all know by now, I dig Mod clothes. I dig suits. I dig shoes. I dig ties. I dig accessories. Heck, I even dig socks. But there's one aspect of clothing that has ALWAYS been hard for me to grasp: workout clothes. There was a time when I used to come home from work and transform from my daily Moddish wear into a ratty old sweatshirt, sweatpants that were falling apart, and a pair of ugly Reeboks, because A) I didn't know any better, and B) my thinking was that they're just work-out clothes... who cares?

Wrong attitude! I should be caring about what I'm wearing out there even if they're just clothes made for sweatin' in. (Plus, I got tired of my wife referring to my workout outfit as my 'Rockys'.) It was at that point that I decided to spend some effort into looking for nice workout clothes. Sure, they're not going to be super slick because, y'know, sportswear... but at least they can look somewhat presentable.

So, I spent some time going through various websites: Nike, Puma Reebok, and yes, even Lonsdale and Fred Perry. I figured what with all the Britpop 'Mods' walking around in 'trainers' and track suits, there'd be something cool out there made for working out. But I had no luck with the exception of one label.

Over the years, many friends have talked about Adidas wear and Adidas shoes so I decided to give them a shot. The first thing I thought about was a sweater top and, lo and behold, what did I find? An Adidas Vespa workout jacket!

Unfortunately, this Adidas Vespa jacket has since sold out.

Yes, I cheesed out and got this... come on! I'd totally be writing a Mod Gone Wrong post on this, but, heck, at least those aren't targets and it's a step up from the holey sweatshirt I was wearing before! I may use this on morning jogs, but for normal every day use, I'll stick to a standard Adidas jacket and sweatpants set like this:

About as stylish a workout outfit I could find.

Seriously, give Adidas a good look because they did have other pretty nice workout wear.

Of course, if you want to stay true to Mod 'labels,' you can always stick with ol' Fred Perry. I kinda figured they'd have whole collections of exercise wear, so was surprised to find only one type of track jacket and no bottoms on their site:

For when you need that laurel on your chest.

Not bad, but not particularly exciting either, huh? I really was surprised to find a lack of workout choices on their site though. Mod guys do exercise too, right?

Track jackets and sweat pants down... but now I'm stuck on a very important piece of the workout ensemble. As much as I LOVE shoes, I have no idea about good running shoes. Years ago, I used to jog in a pair of bowling-shoe-esque Pumas, until my feet and legs started hurting. That's when I found out that companies make tennis shoes (trainers) for STYLE, not necessarily function! So, those Puma tennis shoes were out for working out. I eventually settled on an ugly pair of white Jerry Seinfeld-esque Reeboks. Ugh. But now, it's time to move on.

Unfortunately, I don't really know where to go, so I'm asking for suggestions. Do I go for somewhat stylish shoes, supposedly made for running, like these:

Or do I play it safe and go for UGLY but probably best on my feet, like these:

Or, do you have any other good running shoe suggestions?

Also, what are you doing to fight off the holiday weight? Special diets or exercise regiments? Any suggestions for good workout wear?

Of course, I'll start the year off by cutting out the things I usually cut out every January: pastas, daily bottles glasses of wine, hamburgers, pizza, and desserts. Let's see how long this lasts this year. And to keep myself motivated, I'll be keeping up with this great health blog written by pretty awesome Mod gal, Victoria:
http://365days2awesome.com/content/the-goal/

Also, to keep myself in check, I'll be posting my weight progress every Friday here on the blog. Oh no, don't expect me to give away my personal weight... trust me, I wish I didn't know it. But I did weigh myself last Friday and found I was coming in at X pounds. So, this Friday, I'll see if I'm X plus # of pounds or X minus # of pounds. My goal: lose 10 pounds at least by mid-year!

If you're lookin' to lose weight, get in shape, and make those Mod threads look good, let's do this together!