Product Review 17: Sugoi Apparel Calf Sleeves

SUGOI Piston 200 Calf Sleeves

The calf sleeves, as most of you know, were the 1 piece of compression gear I was most interested in as (running barefoot or in VFF) my calves often suffer from DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

The Sugoi sleeve had one of the best levels of compression of any sleeves I tried and, as such, had an excellent second-skin fit to them.
It Did compress but it did Not squeeze. What I’ve found is that many ‘cheap’ compression companies just squeeze you to death and call it a day, which hurts, restricts movement, restricts blood flow, etc. But in the Sugoi, the fit was extremely comfortable.
The height on these particular sleeves was a little off for me (I am a towering 5’ 6”). They were just too long for my personal fit, coming too high up behind my knee cap causing irritation while running and still coming down past ankle bone on the bottom end. Again, I am 5’ 6” so this will likely be a non issue for most of you, but it is still worth mentioning.

On the calf sleeves, like the leg sleeves, I decided to have others try them out and give their opinions, 2 people this time.
The 1st person, male, was a dedicated fitness guru (serving as a State Trooper) who loves his Cross-Fit but is just now beginning to foster his distance running. It was their very first experience with calf sleeves.

The 2nd person, female (the same from the leg sleeves review), was someone who had grown up as a strong athlete (a competitive gymnast) but someone who had never been a runner and who has just now begun to develop their potential as a novice runner. It was their very first experience with any type of compression gear at all.

The 1st person felt that leg sleeves proved to be an excellent tool in recovery, and though they liked them a great deal (and will continue to wear them), they did state their one drawback was that their heat. They were impressed with the comfort of the sleeves and how they “disappeared” once they were put on and said that they made his legs feel fresh throughout the run. His best statement to their effectiveness was that the day after his race he said he experienced the lowest level of DOMS he had ever had post run.

The 2nd person could not speak highly enough about these sleeves! As I mentioned, it was their first experience with compression gear of any kind and she was amazed at the “difference it made” in her post run soreness. She has very defined, muscular, “sprinter” calves and she stated that the calves were very comfortable and that once she put them on she felt nothing but refreshed with no discomfort, no squeezing, and no sliding/shifting of the material while she ran.

As a final note, myself and persons 1 and 2 mentioned above ran a benefit 5k to try out the sleeves. It was the second time any of us had worn them and at the end of the run we noticed that on 3 of the 6 sleeves the “Sugoi” logo on the sleeves had peeled off at some point during the race.