Every pair of gym shorts looks fine standing in front of a mirror. The test is the bottom of a squat: do they move with your hips, or do they ride, bind and beg for mercy? Here is what separates real training shorts from the footy shorts half the gym is making do with.
The four things that matter
1. Length and inseam
For lifting, the sweet spot is an inseam around 13 to 18 cm, finishing above the knee. Long baggy shorts catch at the knee at depth and hide every centimetre of quad you have built. Too short and you are managing fabric instead of a barbell. Above-knee, athletic cut wins.
2. Room where you need it
Squats, lunges and box jumps need room through the seat and thigh, and ideally a gusseted crotch so the seams are never load-bearing at depth. A straight-cut short with no gusset is where the famous mid-squat rip comes from.
3. Fabric that works as hard as you do
Quick-dry performance fabric with a bit of structure beats flimsy polyester every time. It should shrug off sweat, keep its shape, and survive being crushed into a gym bag daily. Our Quad Stomp Shorts and Squat Crue 18 Shorts are built on exactly that brief, with a drawstring waist that stays put under a belt.
4. Pockets that hold on
Phone, keys, chalk. Deep side pockets, ideally with a secure pocket for the phone, mean nothing hits the floor mid-set.
Style points, since they count too
Gym shorts have crossed into streetwear, and the street-gym crossover is where our Baller 18 Shorts live: bold graphics, athletic cut, equally at home on a court, under a bar or at the shops. If your shorts only look right inside a gym, they are only doing half the job.
Frequently asked questions
What length should gym shorts be?
Above the knee for lifting: roughly a 13 to 18 cm inseam depending on your height. Full range of motion at squat depth is the test.
What is the best fabric for gym shorts?
A quick-dry performance weave with structure. It should dry fast, hold its shape and never go see-through under gym lights.
Can I wear gym shorts casually?
The good ones, yes. An athletic cut with a clean graphic reads as streetwear now, which is exactly how we design ours.
Shop the full JCKD shorts range: built for quad day, styled for everywhere else, shipped fast across NZ and Australia.
