Is it just ME?

Or do women who wear sports kit to the shops look ridiculous?

Call me old fashioned, but my workout gear is reserved for when I actually work out

I’M ALL for exercise. I play tennis once a week, go to a yoga class at the weekend and occasionally even nip to the gym with my off-peak membership.

Yet, somehow, I don’t feel the need to look as if I’m ready to drop into the downward dog or hit the treadmill at any time of the day or night.

Call me old-fashioned, but my sporting wardrobe — what’s now called workout or ‘ athleisure’ wear — is reserved for when I actually work out. Not for the coffee shop catch-up, popping into my daughter’s school or wafting around Waitrose.

My life isn’t spent swanning around in suits. I edit a mental health website, so casual is definitely my byword, down to my brightly coloured trainers, worn with skinny jeans and a snuggly sweater.

But a full-on leggings, sports bra and hoody combination when I’m not actually doing any sport?

The problem is that it’s not enough to exercise. You must be seen to have exercised, and — this is important — you must display what it has done for your body. After all, nothing shows off your gymhoned gluteus maximus like skin-tight Lycra.

But it’s total affectation. My suspicion is that these ladies of leisure do serious exercise, but somewhere private, at around dawn, while the rest of us slumber. Then they shower and change — into a fresh set of activewear, ready to pose all day long.

And it is purely posing. From Stella McCartney’s designs for Adidas, to cool sportswear chain Sweaty Betty and Canadian label Lululemon, today’s colourful, eyecatching and sexy sports clothes are a cut above oldschool PE kit. But still, who really wants to look like they’re spending the day in stinky workout wear?

Like many women, I like to get some exercise, because it keeps me healthy and makes me feel happier. But this workout wear epidemic is doing nothing at all for my stress levels.