New TYR suit. What do you think?

Originally posted by sparx35 all i can say is......jus get in the pool & swim it b***tch (When you posted this, I thought to myself, I hope they know he's joking, I hope they know he's joking!! ;) ) I tend to agree somewhat- while I'm not well-versed in the technological advancements which are made in swimming, I can't help but wonder, what differenced does it make? If someone is talented and trains hard, surely they will do better than those who compensate by wearing aids... When I first came to the States, i was amazed at the amount of toys that the average swimmer used at the pool, regardless of ability (I quickly caught up, though, and now have my own bag of equipement); I never saw this in Europe. I generally think that many people tend to focus too much on the the 'stuff'- to paraphrase Sparx, just swim and get on with it! peace....

Originally posted by Bob McAdams The bottom line is that the purpose of a swimsuit is to keep a swimmer's private parts from showing, and a "swimsuit" that covers other areas of the body has therefore ceased to be a swimsuit and is instead being worn to artificially enhance performance. Using that reasoning, the purpose of a shoe is to cover the foot, so I guess the track and field athletes should wear Keds instead of those high tech running shoes. And what about their body suits?

Originally posted by Matt S What about TYR's claim that their material achieves muscle compression, which some evidence indicates improves muscle performance? All of the competing "racing" suits make a similar claim (Speedo, Arena, Addidas, etc). My point is that I seriously doubt they are much different and most swimmerrs when given the choice select a suit that feels most comfortable. Re advanced suits versus the nylon suits. This is no different in my opinion than the current starting blocks versus starting from the edge of the pool are using those very tall wooden blocks from the 60s. Or advanced racing lanes that cut down on turbulence or better gutter systems, etc. In fact, the advances in pool technology might be just as important, or more so, then the advances in swimsuits. My point is that these suits are no different than other technological advances that have helped us all swim faster times (starting blocks, lane lines, advanced gutters, deep water, etc) and don't believe half of the what you read regarding claims of increased speed from one manufacturer versus the other manufactuer's suit.

Originally posted by gull80 Using that reasoning, the purpose of a shoe is to cover the foot, so I guess the track and field athletes should wear Keds instead of those high tech running shoes. And what about their body suits? Your analogy is a poor one for several reasons. First, the purpose of shoes is very different from the purpose of a swimsuit. There has never been any question that shoes are not just a costume for the feet, but a protective device that is designed to prevent foot injuries of various types. Second, "high tech running shoes" still cover only the feet, just like Keds. Third, no one in this thread has ever suggested that it is wrong to make swimsuits as high tech as possible provided that they still remain swimsuits. Until the late 1990s, the goal of swimsuit design was to minimize the effect that a swimsuit had on a swimmer's performance, and this was accomplished by using high tech fabrics that reduced drag and minimized water absorption. But suddenly in the late 1990s the goal became to create a swimsuit that would actually enhance a swimmer's performance, and to maximize that effect. A better analogy would be a "ski outfit" for use by ski jumpers which had a jacket and helmet that looked mysteriously like a hang glider. Bob

Originally posted by aquageek Let's be clear - a swimsuit does not enhance performance, it limits the impact of drag. Therefore, the suit acts more like skin, not a performance booster. That is grossly different than a ski jumping suit that traps air and contributes to lift. I'm not aware of any suit that increases performance, humans increase performance. I quite agree and thanks for summarizing so well the crux of the matter. These suits no more improve performance than lane lines. Better suits reduce drag, state-of-the-art lane lines reduce turbulence. Worries that some kind of 'attachments' or 'wonder fabric' will provide a real competitive advantage are misplaced until someone can provide real scientific evidence and at that point I suspect that such "proprietary" technology will be banned by FINA. Don't get me wrong there are good reasons to use these suits. One, it makes us less than svelte masters look like we're hydrodynamic and two, it greatly limits body areas that need to be shaved and therfore no "stubbles" that grow back in areas that do not enhance our spousal approval ratings.

There is sure a lot of SPECULATION here on these suits. If you look at the Journal of Swimming Science there was a study about 2000 on the first Fastskin suit. Conclusion was it did reduce drag. Another conclusion is it probably only affects performance during the start and the pushoffs the walls, or when the swimmer is in a total streamline position. These suits will really help the butterfliers, backstrokers and breaststrokers that go the full 15 meters underwater. There has again been a lot of SPECULATION here on the attachments, and if these suitsaffect all strokes. Let be tell you they absolutely do. Did even one of you notice that NO breaststroker wears the full body siut:mad: That is because the suits are slippery that your own skin, and breaststrokers have found that coverying the calves and forearms are REAL bad news.

Originally posted by gull80 Then they could line up corporate sponsors for the suits so you can tell one swimmer from the next (Michael Phelps in the Mountain Dew Fastskin, Ian Thorpe in the Target Fastskin). I was just thinking about this the other day walking to the pool. A cyclist rode past me wearing one of those ridiculously garish outfits completely plastered with advertisements. I was thinking how nice it was that we don't have that in swimming. It's very prevalent in other sports like cycling, skiing, etc. In fact I remember meets in college where we used a Sharpie to black out the Speedo logo on our suits just to make sure we weren't violating any rules!

I guess FINA will have to do what NASCAR does (with the cars)--just give every swimmer the same suit, then inspect it before and after the race. Then they could line up corporate sponsors for the suits so you can tell one swimmer from the next (Michael Phelps in the Mountain Dew Fastskin, Ian Thorpe in the Target Fastskin).

Not sure if anyone has seen this, but Adidas just put out a press release about their new high tech swimsuit 'JETCONCEPT' that Ian Thorpe will be wearing. They have some picture of Thorpe and the suit at the web site below - to find the pictures just use the sites search look for 'jetconcept' http://www.press.adidas.com Who's next ?