I have been a swimmer for about 7 or 8 years but I have never shaved my legs before, and the swimming team for my school starts in November. I have been training since summer, and I was wondering how many swimmers actually shave, and how does it help? should I shave my legs? and if so, should I do it now so I can get used to it?
Former Member
Shaving cut 15 to 20 seconds off my mile times...
IT WORKS!
Originally posted by Ian
Do you believe in aerodynamics? Then why not hydrodynamics? When sprinting (25.0 for a 50) you are traveling ~1/18 the speed of a car traveling at 70 mph in a medium (water) 1000 times thicker than air. A thousand times thicker than air! And you do not think something that reduces drag, like shaving, will not help you go faster?
I never said that shaving will not help, I asked by how much. I've heard a lot of people say it's shaved seconds off of a 100. That is way too much drag as I can keep within a second or two of my normal times in a set of trunks. I can not see that my body hair will be as much drag as a larger suit. So has anyone ever done such a real study?
However, I will break, I am doing the GMU Patriot Masters Sprint Classic in late October. I'm doing the 200 Free, 200 IM, 50 ***, 100 Free, and 25 fly and free. I will see if I can get my times in SCM at the pool I normally swim at. It's a slow pool so it's not going to help, plus I've been working out and swimming more so my old times will not be of any help. I will then shave my legs before the meet and see how I do. My PB that I can remember for the 100 free is :59.46.
However, I have been swimming more lately, up to 5 times a week up from 2-3. Started doing yoga a bit which has really helped my flexability, so there is no way to say that shaving helped at all. So again I ask has there ever been a real study done or are we just to accept personal stories?
So if you happen to be at the meet look me up, I'll be the guy scratching his legs the whole time.
i have never shaved except the face and a real short haircut(shaved no 2)i notice that shaved hair on the head feels really better when swimming,in my opinion it feels like less drag by quite a large percentage.i sometimes wear a pair of shorts with a pocket in them and the drag of these is phenominal,if a small pocket(which incidentally i put holes in to stop drag)can slow me down then im sure hair can,
