Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Allen Stark — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 11:28:14 GMT

I am 66 and reactions to how much skin men show has changed remarkable in my life time. Look at pictures of professional basketball players from the 70s. basketball.wikia.com/.../File:A_young_Jerry_West.jpg .Wearing a brief to a pool party or water park in the 60s and 70s was no big deal.I am not sure when it changed, but now a brief is unusual at a workout. Where I am, most men wear jammers, a few wear drag suits or square cuts. I also notice "old guys"(like me) are much more comfortable walking around in the locker room "au naturale"than the young guys.

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

DeniseMW — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 11:21:01 GMT

Oh dear, I am so screwed.:bump:

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Bill Sive — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 10:23:11 GMT

Stumbled onto this today. www.dailymail.co.uk/.../You-DRESS-Clothing-significant-effect-self-esteem-confidence-claims-expert.html

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Patrick W. Brundage — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 01:15:36 GMT

Never thought about it until I read this, and now I realize I don't wear much.I'm not sure it's swimming my whole life or just laziness, but I could be perfectly content with only wearing gym shorts, t-shirts and sweatpants/shirts the rest of my life ... probably because for about the first 22 years of my life (until I had to get one of those pesky things called a job), that is all I wore. Even today, the first thing I do after work is get out of those constrictive clothes and put on comfy clothes.

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

m2tall2 — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:44:31 GMT

Actually, I think your study could be interesting. You just need to find a way to word your question the right way to illicit the responses you are looking for. And it may be hard to narrow it down to just psychological factors. I think it's possible you may get a different response from swimmers living in cool climates vs. warm climates. Swimming has a tendency to cool one down and especially if your hair is wet a long time after (I got out of the pool 3 hours ago and my hair is still sopping wet). So I'm colder than everyone around me and more likely to wear more clothes. If I was in Florida instead of the northeast, it's possible that I might warm up again much faster and I may not want to be lounging in yoga pants all the time but that's hard for me to know.

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

m2tall2 — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 10:33:26 GMT

No, swimming does not have an affect on my clothing choices in the way you propose. I don't like wearing bikinis no matter what. And I not only can't walk around barefoot but have no desire to. I pretty much look like I've jumped out an Old Navy/Eddie Bauer catalog, so I'd call that reasonably conservative. Swimming does have an affect on me wanting to wear sweats/lounge clothing more than when I don't swim. Because cozy. When not in the pool I am tired and want to be cozy. However, growing up as a swimmer, I have noticed that I have much greater body confidence than many people. I have no problems changing in a locker room out in the open but when I see casual rec swimmers come through, it's a far more awkward dance to try to keep themselves covered and changed that doesn't seem to happen with the regular swimmers. I am more confident than my other mommy friends at the beach. I didn't care that there were about 6 or 8 people in the room when I birthed my children and was not at all uncomfortable or concerned about moving as I pleased half naked in that situation. And it's only through other non-swimmer friends posting about female body image concepts on facebook that has made me aware that I have not grown up thinking in the same way as my non-swimmer friends most likely because of swimming. From swimming I know that you can work your butt off and still come in last, you can not work very hard and be exceptionally talented, and weight is not an indicator of ones work ethic, commitment or speed. So, I do believe swimming makes you more confident but I don't think it has an impact on being more exposed with ones daily clothing choices.

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Former Member — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 07:58:44 GMT

....so you like looking at shirtless, barefoot men, in skimpy clothing. Questions such as these, posed by an individual such as yourself, say more about you than they do about us. Your looking for confirmation that's OK to admire men, in skimpy clothing, in aquatic settings. Thank you for your honesty! You may have just saved me from making a fool of myself in public, because I had no idea that this topic of study could come off as fetish-charged. I'm...kind of oblivious to that sort of thing. ^^; You see, I'm going to be doing a small-scale psychological study in the near future as a project, and I've been mulling over several possible topics to research. Before I commit to one of them, I'm asking people about the topics, so I can see which of my hypotheses are likely to be supported. That way, if a study won't yield any interesting results, I can find out in advance so that I can go with a different topic instead. This is especially helpful because I prefer topics that few people have thought about before, which in turn means that there's little prior research on them to use as a resource. One of these potential topics, as you can guess, is an attempt to pinpoint major factors that cause people to prefer different kinds of clothing, even when they are both in the same environment. One of the hypotheses related to this involves whether people who go without an article of clothing in some circumstances (like swimming) will tend to feel more comfortable going without it in other situations than people who are used to wearing it almost all the time. Obviously, the hypothesis doesn't expect huge and glaring differences, but subtle ones that could nonetheless be identified in a study. Because people tend to wear the least amount of clothing in public when swimming, it seemed like asking people who regularly swim would be a good way to determine whether the hypothesis is likely to be true or false. That said, it didn't occur to me that people might see the whole "with less clothing on" aspect and think that it must be fetish-based. As a result, it probably isn't a good idea for me to pursue this topic, even if my hypotheses might be supported, because people would be unlikely to separate it from fetishism and view it in an academic context. Because of this, I'm very grateful that you made me aware of this now, so that I didn't end up becoming aware of it after I had already committed to the study. Thank you!

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Bobinator — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 06:25:29 GMT

The action of physically training your body on a regular basis tends to keep it at the appropriate weight, toned, flexible, and generally more youthful in appearance. It's no accident that a 50, 60, or even 70 year old athlete might dress in a younger spirit than their non-exercising peers. I'd have to say I find it liberating to be on a pool deck with my swim buddies all wearing speedos and having fun working hard and staying strong! It takes me back to my youth days and puts a happy feeling in my soul. Long live Speedos and Master's Swimming!!

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

__steve__ — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 05:06:57 GMT

Never thought about it until I read this, and now I realize I don't wear much. Right now I'm taking a break from doing doing chores around the yard and I'm just wearing speedo board shorts and flip-flops

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Bill Sive — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 04:41:45 GMT

Doing a study of any type involves a great deal of work. Did you pose the questions yourself, or was it by group effort? The questions, any question, needs to be reviewed to draw out the information you want, without directing to a particular response. Just sounds like you need some additional assistance here with your methodology. Try again I am sure you can do it successfully. That how we learn. Its how you pose the question that you want to work on.

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Bill Sive — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 02:23:53 GMT

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

ganache — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 02:20:54 GMT

I think in my case it has nothing to do with swimming. I am always too warm or hot, so I tend to wear shorts and tank-tops to stay cool. I also wear flip-flops when not at work to keep my feet cooler. I might walk around the house without a shirt because I will be less warm. Also I have allergies and have found that they are worst when I am warm or hot. I try to stay slightly on the border of being cold at all times and that helps control my hay fever symptoms. That is why I like swimming - I can usually stay cool in the pools I swim in. No YMCA pools for me! I am more worried about controlling my allergies and staying cold rather than being "exposed".

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

Rich Abrahams — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 02:19:02 GMT

The only influence my swimming has on the clothes I wear is that I still wear the same size pants as I did 50 years ago!

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

srcoyote — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 02:18:48 GMT

I can answer in the affirmative that, yes, I feel neither vulnerable nor self-conscious when shirtless or shoe-less in settings outside of the pool. I do attribute my comfort to having spent some much time in nothing but a Speedo in public. I will also say that shirts often feel binding and unnecessary. However, I rarely go shirtless in public as I am conscious of how it can make others feel uncomfortable to have me so.

RE: Could regular swimming influence the clothes we wear?

jpetyk — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 01:11:48 GMT

Speaking from a female perspective, I find that I am the opposite of what you propose. I began competive swimming when I was 7 yrs old, but have always been a conservative dresser. Although I do enjoy being barefoot, I otherwise do not like the feeling of being "exposed."