I swam competively through college (18 years ago) and was always considered a "shave monster". I want to post my experience to see if anyone on this board has had similar experience or can shed any light on why shaving made such a big difference for me.
In the fall of my senior year of college (1989), I was swimming 1:05, and 2:26 consistently in the 100 and 200 yd breastroke. I swam those exact times on a Wed at a dual meet. We shaved for our last meet of the fall semester the following Sat (3 days later, no taper - just shaved). I swam 1:01 and 2:19 in the 100 yd and 200 yd breastrokes. I continued to swim those same (faster) times all through Jan and Feb the following semester. Then we tapered and shaved for our conference championships at the start of March, and I went 1:00 and 2:18 in the 100 and 200 yd ***. I always felt that tapering made some difference, but the bulk of my time drops were always due to shaving.
I've always been curious why shaving made such a big difference with me, but not as much with others. I am fairly hairy - but I swam with guys more hairy than me who saw almost no benefit to shaving. In fact, there was a guy on our team, who had even more hair than me but actually swam slower when shaved. I am convinced that my improved times were due strictly to shaving, and not from the taper, or simply mental benefits. If the benefit were simply mental in my case, I don't believe I would have still swam fast all through Jan and Feb. Also, I swam faster in every practice in Jan and Feb. My senior year in college was the only time I ever shaved mid-season. I had similar drops for championship meets all through high school and college.
I asked my college coach about it, and he basically shrugged and said that I was just weird. He swam at Iowa and said that they had a guy on the team who had similar drops whenever he shaved - but me and this other guy were the only people who knew of who seemed to have such dramatic drops just from shaving.
Anyone have any thoughts? Why do you think shaving makes a difference? Why more so for some than others?
Thanks for any feedback!
And, for anyone doing the math on my 100 and 200 yd times, yes, I was always a "drop dead" sprinter. My 200 times, in theory, should have been a lot faster.
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Former Member
Shaving your body exposes new skin cells to the water and thus results in a better feel. The thin top layer of your skin is dead. You can see how easy it comes off by lightly scraping a finger nail across your opposing hand. By shaving the top layer off, you expose billions of new cells to feel whatever they are exposed to. In swimming I believe that it is more physiological than physical or mental. Of course, the physical and mental have to go hand in hand with the physiological. If a swimmer does not like to shave because it makes them feel less sociable, that swimmer is not going to benefit from the effects. And if the swimmer has not gone to work and put the time in, a shave will not have the effect. I find that my swimmers go crazy when they shave. I have found that my swimmers will get on average up to 1 second in a 50, 2 in a hundred, 4 in a 200, many in distances over 200. This past season I had a swimmer drop 25 seconds from 5:25 in the 500 to 5:00 and 10 seconds in the 400IM from 4:32 to 4:22 and make YNats. Now was that because he worked his ars off everyday twice a day to the point of exhaustion? or was it the shave? I think it was both, plus the fact that he is has a great mental attitude. I do not think he would have gotten such a drop if he didn't shave. But would he have dropped time? I believe so, just not as much.
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Former Member
Shaving your body exposes new skin cells to the water and thus results in a better feel. The thin top layer of your skin is dead. You can see how easy it comes off by lightly scraping a finger nail across your opposing hand. By shaving the top layer off, you expose billions of new cells to feel whatever they are exposed to. In swimming I believe that it is more physiological than physical or mental. Of course, the physical and mental have to go hand in hand with the physiological. If a swimmer does not like to shave because it makes them feel less sociable, that swimmer is not going to benefit from the effects. And if the swimmer has not gone to work and put the time in, a shave will not have the effect. I find that my swimmers go crazy when they shave. I have found that my swimmers will get on average up to 1 second in a 50, 2 in a hundred, 4 in a 200, many in distances over 200. This past season I had a swimmer drop 25 seconds from 5:25 in the 500 to 5:00 and 10 seconds in the 400IM from 4:32 to 4:22 and make YNats. Now was that because he worked his ars off everyday twice a day to the point of exhaustion? or was it the shave? I think it was both, plus the fact that he is has a great mental attitude. I do not think he would have gotten such a drop if he didn't shave. But would he have dropped time? I believe so, just not as much.
