LZR - It's Faster, but by how much ?

Former Member
Former Member
After seeing a woman break 24 seconds and I think we can stop the discussion of "IF" the LZR suit is faster and start thinking "how much faster". The previous line of suits (Fastskin and so on) were pretty similiar to a shaved swimmer. Sure - they do feel like they make you float, but overall the times seemed to move along "in line" with what I would expect to see in terms of improvements in the sport. If the previous suits would have been that much faster than shaving, you would have never seen people just using the legskins. By the way - for us Masters swimmers there was always the added benefit of keeping in all the "extra layers of skin". So how much faster are the LZR suits ? If I had to guess based on the results so far, I would say 0.25 to 0.30 per 50 and double that for the 100. I can see the Bernard going 48 low in the 100 and I can see Sullivan getting close or just breaking the 50 record. It makes sense that Libby Lenton would swim a 24.2 or so in the 50. I think one of the top regular teams out there should do a test - you need a good amount of world class swimmers training together to be able to do a test. Here is the test I would propose: 8-10 swimmers 2 days of testing 4x50 on 10 minutes all out Day 1 - swim 2 with a Fastskin2 followed by 2 with the LZR Day 2 - swim 2 with the LZR followed by 2 with the Fastskin2 Get the averages of all 10 swimmers - maybe drop the high and low and there you go. Why do the test ? I would HAVE to know. Swimming is a big part of your life and you just set a massive PR using this new technology - my very first question would be " How much was me and how much was the suit?"?
Parents
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Ian, My favorite suit is the old Arena Power Skin, but alas it is no longer available and I gave my well used one away. I bought a FS Pro for nationals last May, but hated it (probably because it was way too big - a medium long). After a dismal first race in the pro I switched to an old Arena Power Skin Extreme for the rest of my races. I'm thinking of going to the Long Beach meet in Dec. and if I do I'll buy a B70 (size 26 - I'm 6' 1" / 170lb). I like that it is supposed to be more durable than the LZR (and $150 less). Plus, Mark Foster (my hero) swam a pr in one at age 38. I got to try on and swim in the LZR in Omaha but I wasn't sold on its superiority, probably because it was too big for me and I just couldn't relax while swimming with all those Olympic team alums in the competition pool. Also, John S.'s son, Clark, kept bugging me to race him which was very distracting. Hope this helps, Rich
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Ian, My favorite suit is the old Arena Power Skin, but alas it is no longer available and I gave my well used one away. I bought a FS Pro for nationals last May, but hated it (probably because it was way too big - a medium long). After a dismal first race in the pro I switched to an old Arena Power Skin Extreme for the rest of my races. I'm thinking of going to the Long Beach meet in Dec. and if I do I'll buy a B70 (size 26 - I'm 6' 1" / 170lb). I like that it is supposed to be more durable than the LZR (and $150 less). Plus, Mark Foster (my hero) swam a pr in one at age 38. I got to try on and swim in the LZR in Omaha but I wasn't sold on its superiority, probably because it was too big for me and I just couldn't relax while swimming with all those Olympic team alums in the competition pool. Also, John S.'s son, Clark, kept bugging me to race him which was very distracting. Hope this helps, Rich
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