"not so drag" suit..

I always wear two suits - one new-ish, tight-ish one to "hold it all together" and another old-ish, loose-ish one to "cover it all up." I definitely feel the difference when I go to my "racing suit" only at meets. And I don't think it prevents me from swimming fast in practice - I blame all slow swimming on my slacker gene. I may give the legging thing a try - savers is having a 50% off sale on all used clothes this weekend - maybe I'll pick some up to sacrifice to the pool gods. I think the drag suit is a good idea even if it's just a head game

In college we wore drag suits only to practice. They lasted around 2 years which is pretty good for swimming doubles every day. If you get a drag suit make sure its a couple sizes bigger than your race suit size. People use them because they last a long time and they create a little resistance which will make you a little stronger.

My guess is that yes, extra drag will create resistance so that all strokes would benefit. I'm trying to envision the bucket thing. Someone else was talking about this to me. When you turn, how do you not end up with your head in the bucket or knocked out? Speaking as a klutz, of course. Also, I have heard of swimmers who wear sneakers to get their kick nice and strong, if their pool will allow it. I'll stick to dead suit over polyester suit for now. When I take off dead suit and do faster intervals I feel much lighter, so I think even a little drag makes a difference.

I always wear two suits at practice. It is mainly because I have been doing it for many many years. I remember back in the day at my age group club some guys would wear like 5 suits for drag. They would wear suits with the fabric falling apart in some places. The best is that some guys would wear ladies stockings for drag.

Does training with a drag suit benefit all strokes?

I've got to weigh in with Clyde on this topic. I've never understood the logic behind wearing a drag suit if your objective is to swim fast. If you want to swim fast in a meet you should swim as fast as possible in practice. A drag suit may make you feel you are working harder but I don't feel it's going to make you faster in a race. I just chalk it up as another idiosyncratic wrinkle in our swimming culture. Do road cyclists put on knobby tires or big blousey shirts to add resistance? Do runners wear big heavy boots to run? Sure they would work harder if they did these things but it wouldn't make them better at their sport. In fact, it would alter proper technique and have the opposite effect. I do know there is a growing number of coaches out there that want their swimmers training in high tech body suits as often as possible. I do think there is a time and place to add resistance to training, e.g. a power rack or stretch cords, but this is the exception, not the rule for everyday training. Just my 2 cents worth, Rich

I agree with Rich. Why train to swim differently than you would swim in a race?

Road riders might not do those things but they will ride heavier bikes, do training rides on Trail Ridge road in Rocky Mountain NP, add a lot of resistance to the trainer, etc. Don't you lift a lot? I lift, but it definitely slows me down during the portion of my season that I'm lifting, and it affects my stroke for a while, more than a drag suit does. I see greater effects at the end of the year, though, if I stick with some kind of lifting regime. For me, wearing drag is just like doing swim-specific lifting. As a middle distance swimmer, I like to use them early in the year on A/T swims to build endurance and more strength for the ends of races. For fast swims and test sets, I'll take off the drag and throw a cap on. I don't use drag during the race pace portion of my training cycles in order to let my muscles unload a bit. It's a strategy that works well for me. Thank you Mctrusty!! That's what I was looking for! A strategy of when to use a drag suit and when to shed it.

I was always under the impression that if I swim fast in practice with two suits, that I'll swim even faster with a racing suit. Just because you wear two suits doesn't mean you won't swim fast. Of course not as fast as with a racing suit... When we used to shave and taper for the Pac Champs we would wear tights up until Nationals.

I've got to weigh in with Clyde on this topic. I've never understood the logic behind wearing a drag suit if your objective is to swim fast. If you want to swim fast in a meet you should swim as fast as possible in practice. A drag suit may make you feel you are working harder but I don't feel it's going to make you faster in a race. I just chalk it up as another idiosyncratic wrinkle in our swimming culture. Do road cyclists put on knobby tires or big blousey shirts to add resistance? Do runners wear big heavy boots to run? Sure they would work harder if they did these things but it wouldn't make them better at their sport. In fact, it would alter proper technique and have the opposite effect. I do know there is a growing number of coaches out there that want their swimmers training in high tech body suits as often as possible. I do think there is a time and place to add resistance to training, e.g. a power rack or stretch cords, but this is the exception, not the rule for everyday training. Just my 2 cents worth, Rich Road riders might not do those things but they will ride heavier bikes, do training rides on Trail Ridge road in Rocky Mountain NP, add a lot of resistance to the trainer, etc. Don't you lift a lot? I lift, but it definitely slows me down during the portion of my season that I'm lifting, and it affects my stroke for a while, more than a drag suit does. I see greater effects at the end of the year, though, if I stick with some kind of lifting regime. For me, wearing drag is just like doing swim-specific lifting. As a middle distance swimmer, I like to use them early in the year on A/T swims to build endurance and more strength for the ends of races. For fast swims and test sets, I'll take off the drag and throw a cap on. I don't use drag during the race pace portion of my training cycles in order to let my muscles unload a bit. It's a strategy that works well for me.