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

(with apologies to Swimming World)... Flash! World short-course championship competitor Oleg Lisagor dons new LZR suit backwards and is catapulted 400 meters in new record! The dazed Lisagor credits his new training regimen rather than the suit, saying "I just hit my taper is all...". USMS competitor John Smith was seen trying on the suit afterwards, claiming that he was 'just conducting research...'

You're right; what a nincompoop. OMG, I would never call Forbes Carlile a nincompoop! The man's amazing, even if we don't agree with his opinions. I feel he may be stuck on the same debate from 8 years ago, and remember interviewing him at the time for the article Suit Yourself. From the article: Two of the first critics to speak out were Brent Rushall of San Diego State University and Forbes Carlile of Australia. Rushall, who published a lengthy article in the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) newsletter, said the suits "are supposed to significantly alter performance and, if so, they should no longer be classed as costume but rather as equipment." Meanwhile, Carlile has criticized the suits' supposed performance enhancing and "harmful socio-economic effects" on swimming. "Now it is claimed, and it may well be so, that the drag resistance has been reduced to below that of natural skin and water interface," said Carlile, "below the resistance previously offered between any costume fabric and water. This is a clear violation of the concept of the 'pureness' of the sport of swimming with swimmer against swimmer, without artificial aids." Carlile intends to introduce a motion during the Sept. 14th FINA Congress to disallow the suits, pending an additional year of research into the performance enhancing effects.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "my argument." Probably "an argument" would be better. I really think ideally the tech suits should be outlawed. Require men to wear briefs and women wear tank suits. What suit you wear shouldn't be a factor in your performance. Hi Knelson You’ve got my whole-hearted approval. :applaud: All of this “suit technology” stuff justs takes away the wonderful feel of being in the H2O and the true athletic art of swimming. :sad: Swimming is the best when it's done almost "Au Natural" and a pair of good old briefs and your bare skin should be the world's standard suit. My adage on this subject is “If you ain’t gettin’ wet, you ain’t really swimming”. :agree: Dolphin 2

The bread and butter of swimsuit companies aren't the comparatively few tech suits they sell but the zillions of team suits, most notably summer league suits. So, this assertion that the money is made on tech suits is nonsense, especially when you consider the tremendous investment made on the tech suits up front. My guess is that these suits generate very little in the way of profit right up front. But, the press from LZR is tremendous, so more people will flock to Speedo for a few $40-$70 suits.

After all, consider that we went from inexpensive nylon suits (from the 70s, swimming's dark dark age) that lasted a long time and could be put on in 2 seconds, to uber-expensive suits that last 1-2 meets and take 20 minutes to don. And as an extra bonus: even if they don't fall apart, by next year they will be out-dated anyway. Here's my Theory of Women's Swimsuits. (Perhaps true for men, too, but to a lesser extent as their suits don't "wear" the same way women's suits do.) For years, the swimsuit manufacturers forced "planned obsolescence" upon us, in the form of Lycra swimsuits. Getting three months out of a women's Lycra suit was practically a miracle. But the stretchy Lycra fabric was so much more comfortable than the old 1970's non-stretch nylon suits that no one in their right mind would want to go back to the non-stretch stuff. Enter stretch polyester fabric... It's not new. I bought a suit not long after I began swimming Masters (1987) that was made of stretch polyester fabric. I think it was an Arena suit. It lasted much longer than my Lycra suits. After it finally wore out, I kept my eyes open for another stretch poly suit but never saw one. I became convinced that the manufacturers were purposely selling only Lycra suits because they knew that we'd be buying new ones every couple of months. ("Planned obsolescence.") Finally, 15+ years later, the manufacturers started selling stretch polyester "workout" or "training" suits. They're easy to find, now. And there are a lot of them on the market. What changed? Why would the manufacturers give up the security of knowing that their customers would have to return every couple of months? Here's what changed: "Technical suits" came into being. Suddenly there were suits that cost $100.00, $150.00, $200.00, and more. I think the manufacturers realized that women would be inclined to spend more money on "technical suits" if they didn't have to buy a new training suit every two months. If a swimmer could wear the same training suit for a year, she might be more likely to spend $200 or $300 on a "technical suit". So thanks to all of you who are spending the big bucks on the tech suits, swimming has become more affordable for cheap swimmers like me who wear the same polyester suit for two years! Anna Lea

Alternately, competitive forces caused them to offer durable suits or give up the workout suit market entirely, although disappearing from the workout suit market might have lead to a decrease in brand awareness and preference. There are a lot more players in the swimsuit market these days, although again that may be due to the ability to make megabucks on technical suits, so you could be right.

April 11 article in the NYTimes: www.nytimes.com/.../11swim.html If I were to design a new technical suit I would include: a layer of neoprene (or other buoyancy enhancing material) embedded in strategically placed panels material emulating denticles (aka sharkskin) to increase surface area of the body associated propulsive motions (gloves and socks anyone)? material that channels water (reducing drag) on non-propulsive surfaces a dimpled panel swim cap with embedded goggles and ear-tie downsIt would take less than a week to design such a suit; a few months to test it and a couple more months to manufacture and market it. This tech suit controversy reminds me of triathlons. Since the bike portion is usually the longest portion of a tri (and swimming is the shortest - grrrr), purchasing a $15K bike and accessories allows a weak swimmer and/or runner to gain a huge advantage in triathlon races. May the best financed athlete win!

This tech suit controversy reminds me of triathlons. Since the bike portion is usually the longest portion of a tri (and swimming is the shortest - grrrr), purchasing a $15K bike and accessories allows a weak swimmer and/or runner to gain a huge advantage in triathlon races. May the best financed athlete win! I've seen some people on $1K bikes smoke some people on $15K bikes. It's more about the motor and the will than it is about the bike!

It would take less than a week to design such a suit; a few months to test it and a couple more months to manufacture and market it. You left out the important piece - a few million dollars, amigo.

I've seen some people on $1K bikes smoke some people on $15K bikes. So $1,000 is a cheap bike? Glad I'm not a cyclist! Although presumably you can use a bike for more than a few rides, unlike these swimsuits.