[This is a sponsored article with Thousand Miles.]
As someone who’s been a couch potato for most of his XL life, the first step of getting out and exercising has always been a pain. I’ve tried to make it a habit, but the wishy-washy Malaysian weather and my general laziness made it difficult.
Thousand Miles, a performance-wear brand that focuses on function, comfort and style, approached us to review their shorts and pants, so my colleagues gave me a challenge—to rise above being a couch potato and truly test the pants as how they should be used.
First Impressions
I was sent the All Day Shorts (Omniflex) in Midnight Blue, the All Day Shorts (Elite) in Ash Grey, and the All Day Chino Pants in Slate Grey.
Right out of the package, the shorts and pants resembled regular chinos, but with a soft and stretchy fabric. Unlike the shorts that I usually own and pretend are for exercise, they definitely look more presentable and would suit different occasions.
Interestingly, the shorts are packable into its own back pocket. As in, you can fold it neatly, invert it into the back pocket, and zip it up.
While packing the shorts took longer compared to just throwing them into my bag, I can see its advantage for travellers, and office people who want to pack a change of after-work clothes.
First Challenge: Jogging / Speed-Walking
While I may be living a sedentary lifestyle, I do go for a jog once in a blue moon. So I donned the All Day Shorts (Elite) in Ash Grey, put on a trusty podcast and jogged around my apartment.
Surprisingly, even on a sunny day, the pants were breathable and I found that they weren’t complete sweat magnets, even after 20 minutes of speed-walking with a few rounds of jogging.
However I can’t say if the shorts will stay sweat-free after intense workouts like a 1-hour futsal match or a hike, because I’m not even at that fitness level yet.
Second Challenge: One Punch Man (OPM) Challenge
In OPM, the main character, Saitama said his daily routine of a 10KM run, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats contributed to his superhuman powers.
Not wanting to be super buff and one punch everything in life, I decided to go for a tweaked version of the challenge recommended by Sean Seah, a Singaporean who tried it back in 2019 with impressive results.
Sean split the challenge into different difficulty levels too. Level 1 starts out with a 1KM run, 10-push ups, 10-sit ups and 10 squats, and this increases all the way up to Level 10, which was Saitama’s daily routine.
While the first level sounded simple enough, the 10 push-ups did knock the wind out of me. The shorts served me well through level 1, though I don’t see myself going to Level 10 any time soon.
Third Challenge: Nintendo Ring Fit
I purchased the Ring Fit at the start of the second MCO, thinking that an ‘exercise game’ would prod me to work out more. But half a year later, Ring Fit is just gathering dust at my desk.
So, I strapped one of the Switch controllers onto my left thigh, grabbed the Ring Fit controller and started from the beginner level. I even enabled the game in ‘Silent Mode’ which uses squats to move the character in-game.
I completed the first level in 9 minutes, burning 54 calories along the way. For comparison, a McChicken is about 418 calories, and I consumed that burger on the same day in under a minute.
At the end of the exercise, my heart rate clocked in at 140bpm, which is a normal heart rate for a 30-year old but I sure didn’t feel normal. The shorts remained sweat-free throughout and the stretchability helped to keep my movements flexible while squatting.
Fourth Challenge: Fitness Marshall Workout
As someone who doesn’t have a single groovy bone, this challenge sounded difficult for me. Luckily, The Fitness Marshall’s routines are separated into different difficulty levels, and I went for the easy routines.
The Fitness Marshall was wearing long pants in the video, so I put on the All Day Chino pants, and danced along to his routine. Fortunately, my family wasn’t around to witness me ugly dancing to this easy song that still made me break a sweat.
The pants are quite comfortable to wear too, just like their shorts. Their pants can fit most social gatherings too, as they look like normal chinos, but I do wish their cuffs are a little tighter. Thousand Miles also claims that the pants are water resistant. So we did a little water test on the pants.
Surprisingly, most of the water did not soak through the pants, and when they did, they did dry up fairly quickly.
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The four challenges I’ve done left my legs aching (and at the moment of writing this, they still hurt) but as they say: No pain, no gain.
Overall, I’m quite impressed with the pants and shorts from Thousand Miles. They may not look like they’re meant for exercise, because they’re not made of the typical thin polyester/spandex blend in most sports shorts. But turns out they’re breathable, comfortable and stretchable for all the movements in the challenges.
And if you’re someone that lives a fast-paced lifestyle, they should tick a lot of your boxes for shorts and pants that fit various activities or just for daily wear. Thousand Miles will soon launch a female collection in the very near future, so keep an eye out on their socials.