Guys training with girls suits?

Has anyone noticed that a) women have to swim with those straps digging into their shoulders all the time b) high school swimmers seem to go for weirder-is-better approach to practice attire and c)nobody seems scarred for life? I think as an adult we cannot guess the workings of the teenage boy's mind (nor would we want to) and what works to motivate a h.s. team perhaps would not be effective for masters - for the boys team I coach, using trunks, tights, etc is part of the "getting psyched for states" process. We (coaches and any other adult that might encounter them in late February) know they look strange (they also have bizarre hairstyles by that part of the season, but it's all part of it) but they feel like it helps them swim faster. And they DO swim FASTER - who is to say that the mental part of taper is not as important as the physical?

Originally posted by Tom Ellison ALWAYS wore Levis....always will....loyal I guess.... Besides....any tough guy does not worry about a stupid little seam...rufff....errrr...rufff.... *giggle* You're too funny :)

You guys crack me up:p To try to reduce the "shaved" feeling during the week of training, we would wear old t-shirts, pantyhose, women's suits, whatever As a coach this would be the last thing I would ever recommend!Swimmers always have a hard time adjusting to swimming fast during taper. A High school senior might have tapered perhaps half a dozen times, a college senior perhaps two dozen times. Your mind and body need to be in sync with the taper and be able to take advantage of the extra speed, esp. off the start and turns. Missed turns is the most common bad effect of taper. A swimmer cannot afford a bad race, a missed turn when college scholarships are involved. I believe that swimmers who taper often and race often (Amanda Beard) in World Cup have huge advantages in being able to control the mind and body to pull out a great swim despite problems diring the race. I feel breaststrokers are the most disadvantaged during taper because there is not a readily available device such as Zoomers that can simulate race pace speed. Of course I have an article on taper for breaststrokers at www.breaststroke.info/taper.htm Also any of you coach young boys? They HATE regular boys suits, so I had my boys get the jammers, they like the less revealing suit MUCH better. They would have all quit the team if they had to wear womens clothes!!! Same goes for high school boys.

ALWAYS wore Levis....always will....loyal I guess.... Besides....any tough guy does not worry about a stupid little seam...rufff....errrr...rufff.... Connie, you need to meet real men, not hollywood cowboys:D Tom has these inseam burns from the Levis, when he swims they make him faster, less water resistance due to reduction in form drag over wave drag:rolleyes:

I have never seen a man wearing a womens swim suit in the pool. But I have seen a few men wearing swim caps with the chin strap. I remember one fellow who had long black hair . I think he was from India. He had a white strap speedo cap on and it was on backwards the strap was real high up toward the ears almost as a result. . We swimmers smiled and had a bit of a laugh to ourselves..but not because the cap had a strap but it was backwards and really looked goofy! Poor fellow he did not know how the cap was supposed to go on. A cap is a bit different then a swim suit though..lots of guy things have chin straps like fighter helmets football helmets, dive gear..all mucho macho. Now a flower cap would be sissy and get lots of laughs! All in all I guess it would be kind of strange to use womens suits for drag as they have cups. I pity the coach who tells his male swimmers to do this!

Anyways, being a history nut. I remember particularly french men in the 18th century. They wore very flowing shirts and pants and wigs and wore a lot of jewerly and perfume. Granted, few of them were dresses. I do remember swimming on a team with Brazilian olympian Romulo Artress(sorry for the missspelling. He wore a woman's bathing suit and joke about the area where the breasts are at. He had a sense of humor.

I have a couple of questions here 1. I use a old worn suit through out the season as a drag suit for practice. It sounds like some of you are saying that I shouldn't be using a drag suit. Should I or shouldn't I be using a drag suit? Also how often so you use a drag suit for practice? 2. I have an idea as to what it means to taper off but how should you go about doing this? Our league championships is coming up in about two weeks. I usually don't workout as much after championships and throughout the summer. Also if you use a drag suit do you use it when tapering?

SWinkleblech, Taper is all about swimming fast, so why would you use a drag suit then? Taper is for feeling good, finding your stroke and overcoming muscles worn out over thousands of laps, finally feeling good. I like to schedule a swim meet the week after the big meet, just to see if the taper period was correct. You never can tell when you are going to rip that one great swim. I remember coming back after a world championship. I am not a good freestyler, but I did a 56 for 100 free from a pushoff the wall. Talk about missing the taper, I felt so good the week after.:D One of my friends did a 52 push, he also missed his taper. Connie knows him, great butterflier.

Over Christmas break I wasn't able to swim for two weeks and had to go into a swim meet the first week of Janurary. In three out of four events I swam my fastest, since I've been in masters. Someone told me I must taper off well. I don't call taking two weeks off before a meet tapering off. I'm a long distance swimmer. When you mean swim fast do you mean do fast sprints or trying swimming my distance as fast as I can?:confused: :confused:

I really could have done without the thought of hairy guys hanging out of girls suits. Seriously, where would you put your goods? Just the thought is painful. No pain no gain, huh? :D Hook'em Blue