briefs, jammer, legskin, kneeskin or hineck

Ande, if you do that experiment, please post the results. I wonder how you could control for 1) increasing fatigue over the course of the trials--maybe don't do it on consecutive days, 2) a semi-placebo effect where you will swim with more confidence/effort to fulfill the hypothesis. I was planning on doing an experiment to test the FSII. I am tapering for a USS meet -- trials and finals -- in one week. If I am going full out in the morning, I am typically very slightly slower in the evening (I have recent data on this). I am not at all convinced that the suits make all that much difference and, in fact, I am (financially) motivated that they do not. Plus, I'm with Jeff: I really HATE the feel of these suits. So I don't think there will be a placebo effect. I will do a full shave. And I am one of those people who wears the suits in warmup just prior to the race. I need a chance to get mentally acclimated to the feel of the suit so it is not a distraction to me. I'll dry off the suits as much as possible; they do march the finalists behind the blocks, so there will be 5-10 minutes out of the water, which may be enough to restore the buoyancy, if any. Although I'll be swimming 5 events in a 3 day meet (possibly plus relays), I plan on only swimming 3 events (100/200 back, 100 fly) in the evening. So I'll wear briefs for those in the morning. (I was considering wearing jammers in the morning, but what the heck, I'll go in whole hog.) It is a fast meet and it is not at all certain that I'll make the championship heat (especially if the FS really works), so I will be very motivated in the morning. But there are 24 people swimming again at night and I am pretty sure I'll be swimming again in those 3 events even if it isn't in the champsionship heat. I have only every owned one of these things, the kneeskin FSII. It is not new: I have used it in 4 prior meets, but it looks in good shape (no seams popped or anything). So with all those caveats, we'll see what happens. My purpose is to get some ballpark figure of the effectiveness of the suits for me in the manner that I usually would use them (ie slightly used -- I will never buy a new one for every meet -- and wearing them in pre-race warmup). It is a sample of one so I am certainly not going to suggest the results are generally applicable, though I would think they would be similar to others whose body types aren't that different from mine (I am 5'10" and currently weigh 170). I'll post the results in 9-10 days.

FSIIs work in my opinion. Maybe they do; I want to find out for sure (for me, at least). And if they do work, I want to have some idea of the magnitude of the drop (again, for me) and if there is much of a difference in 100 vs 200.

FSIIs work in my opinion. I like the hi neck best. 'Course I never wore the jammers or briefs! :rofl: Swam some lifetime and masters best times un-tapered at mid-season. I too was skeptical but I figured what the hey. I waited about 5 years before pulling one on (FSII or it's predecessor) b/c I was not convinced they worked. Shouldn't have waited so long! I like my fastskin bodysuits too. I'm never wearing a regular suit at a meet again. I'll wear my worn out ones at in season meets if I have to. I don't swim in all that many meets anyway.

Someone posted earlier that research had been done in this area, by towing swimmers through the water while wearing various suits, and measuring the stress on the tow cable. What do the results say?

hineck racing suits can make a half second to on second difference per 100, more for some people so that's 49.0 to 49.50 instead of 50.0 that's a pretty amazing difference if it's true.

FSIIs work in my opinion. I like the hi neck best. 'Course I never wore the jammers or briefs! :rofl: Swam some lifetime and masters best times un-tapered at mid-season. I too was skeptical but I figured what the hey. I waited about 5 years before pulling one on (FSII or it's predecessor) b/c I was not convinced they worked. Shouldn't have waited so long!

Always a brief for racing for me. On a rare occasion you might see me in a jammer for a backstroke or freestyle race. Why? I like feeling water on my legs, especially on breaststroke. And I always get an air pocket in the jammers, which is more annoying than water in my goggles.

Ande, if you do that experiment, please post the results. I wonder how you could control for 1) increasing fatigue over the course of the trials--maybe don't do it on consecutive days, 2) a semi-placebo effect where you will swim with more confidence/effort to fulfill the hypothesis. Maybe you should write the names of the different suits on pieces of paper and put them in a hat and randomly select which one you'll test yourself in on the given day. This wouldn't solve all the methodological problems, but maybe make it a little more random? If you're swimming 25s, it would also be good to use electronic pads because accurate hand timing at such a short distance is pretty difficult. I wonder how the Speedos of the world test their suits? Again, robotic dummies in the ICAR plume might be the best way to go...