You go to the gym to look good out of the gym. Or at least, you did. What was once a private communion with your own pain has become a social space, where your efforts beneath a barbell are now the background to someone else’s mirror selfies. Which means one thing: it’s time to rethink that salt-stained band tee.

Looking good while standing in a puddle of your own sweat is no mean feat, but with these 16 tips, your wardrobe can at least do some of the heavy lifting for you.

Keep Things Muted

Sports brands have a predilection for nu rave colour palettes. But what looks good on the rail won’t necessarily do the same in your gym bag.

Take a lesson from your wardrobe by sticking to neutrals. If all your kit is white, black or grey, it all matches. Which is one less excuse not to hit the weights.

If your gym membership is mothballed, the darker you should steer. “Black is your friend,” says style and fitness writer Matt Hambly. “It hides sweat patches and looks good on anyone: slimming if you’re not yet in the shape you want to be; flattering if you are.”

Don’t Look In The Mirrors

Gym mirrors are counterintuitive. Ostensibly there to help you check your form (and, yes, your guns), they’re actually bad for your performance. Canadian research found watching yourself exercise has a negative impact on body image, even if you’re confident in how you look; and a similar US study found using a mirror while squatting distorts your perception of body position, which wrecks your form.

“Too much checking yourself out also cuts into valuable training time,” adds Dylan Jones, a personal trainer and founder of P4 Body. “There are mirrors in the changing rooms too, you know.”

Russian lifters used to train blindfolds to hone their proprioception – the body’s sense of where it is in space. So make like the strongmen: if you want to monitor your form, use video. If you want to monitor your other ‘form’, wait until later.