So, in the time I've been a member of this forum I have never seen a debate about this, though I feel it could have be rehashed a thousand times.
For practice and regular meets, what are your suit preferences?
For practice: I usually do a brief with a drag suit. If I'm out of shape or my quads are hurting, I'll use a jammer for the extra compression.
For regular meets: I usually do whatever the team suit is, which has varied over the years. I prefer the brief because of more flexibility.
In big competitions*:, I would use a leg skin and if I had the need to buy one today, I'd probably go with a tech jammer.
*Regionals, States, Nationals, etc
For practice I use primarily speedo endurance products. Regular meets I go for the speedo xtra-life or aqua blade.
I used to get a lot of crap for wearing a brief, but now I feel like they're making a comeback. I like to think I converted some people on my high school team. Actually, the only person who really gives me crap anymore are my friends who don't swim and my girlfriend (who does swim). She says the ugliest part of a guy is the upper outside thigh the brief doesn't cover.
So I switched to square legs recently and must say I really like them. The mothers may still be thinking portly pedo, but in my mind, I am envisioning my inner Burt Lancaster:
From Here To Eternity - Kiss scene on the beach - YouTube
Loved that style! In fact I've been looking for the square leg suits around my sporting goods stores here and have only found jammers or briefs in my size; I go back and forth... I'll use the briefs when I know it's mostly the regular lap-swim crowd, but jammers on the evenings/weekends at the Y when everyone and their great grandmother is splashing around in the free-swim area or sitting in the bleachers... for the same reasons you mention.
So I switched to square legs recently and must say I really like them. The mothers may still be thinking portly pedo, but in my mind, I am envisioning my inner Burt Lancaster:
From Here To Eternity - Kiss scene on the beach - YouTube
Loved that style! In fact I've been looking for the square leg suits around my sporting goods stores here and have only found jammers or briefs in my size; I go back and forth... I'll use the briefs when I know it's mostly the regular lap-swim crowd, but jammers on the evenings/weekends at the Y when everyone and their great grandmother is splashing around in the free-swim area or sitting in the bleachers... for the same reasons you mention.
