Interesting video on floswimming. Sean Hutchison at King Aquatics is having his team wear tech suits during workout: www.floswimming.org/.../84660-everyday-is-suit-day
Looks like Ande is on the cutting edge again.
it's important to rehearse racing and race conditions in practice
be used to the suit you're going to wear in your races
after watching the video seems like they wear one the whole time
not sure if I agree with that
Interesting video on floswimming. Sean Hutchison at King Aquatics is having his team wear tech suits during workout: www.floswimming.org/.../84660-everyday-is-suit-day
Looks like Ande is on the cutting edge again.
Yes it makes sense to get a feel for the suit, but all the time?
I always thought that wearing a body suit was akin to shaving down.
If you were to shave down for every practice, where's the benefit on race day?
The one thing that bothers me in all this is the buoyancy issue. That is basically the crux of the coache's argument that the most efficient technique may change when wearing the suit: that body position is significantly affected. FINA supposedly tests these suits and finds them to be non-buoyant, but most swimmers who wear them report that they feel more buoyant.
Which is true? Until that question is answered, the rest is just hand-waving.
I'd love to see some tests to show how much of a difference in "real" buoyancy (body position) these suits actually make, both passively and while swimming. Is the difference enough that the most efficient stroke changes significantly? I am not familiar with all the high tech testing toys that they can play with in the swimming world, but if they aren't looking at this sort of thing -- it seems a pretty important question to me -- what the heck ARE they doing? Maybe I'm overestimating the kinds of tools they have at their disposal.
The difference is in the air these suits trap.Take a Nero Comp and wring it out carefully underwater.It will now slowly sink.Now wring it out carefully in the air and set it in the water and watch it float.The material sinks so FINA says "legal' but the suits float in competition conditions.
This is all well and good, but how practical is it to wear your B70 in practice unless you have money and time to burn? I might wear an old B70 in practice, i.e., the 25+ swims version. But I'm just unwilling to "waste" a new tech suit in practice. (By "waste" I mean wear and tear on the suit; I'm not disputing the benefits of practicing with a suit.) I'm sure it would help my backstroke turns at meets. But, for now, I throw on fins for race pace feel. Fins are not that bad a substitute for the B70 body position boost.
Otherwise, it seems like you'd have to own and use 2 B70s or $800 of equipment, which would have to be replaced pretty frequently at the 25 swim "turn into a pumpkin" time.
This discussion brings something up I've always wondered about. If it makes sense in practice to more closely simulate race conditions - especially mimicking race technique, body position etc. - why would anyone wear a drag suit that has to have the opposite effect? I don't buy the arguement that it increases resistance. Speed increases resistance. Why don't runners use heavy hiking boots to train? That would certainly increase their resistance. Even during easy practices, why does it make sense to alter body position or other aspects of technique for thousands of meters? I do think there is a place for adding resistance to challenge and enhance power output such as power rack or stretch cords, but I just don't see the benefit of going 3,000 meters in a drag suit. Do people do it because it's just part of swimming culture?
My guess is that every suit traps air to a certain extent. It's just that the body suits have more material, thus trap more air. The hydrophobic materials used might increase this somewhat, too.
Rich I think the drag suit idea (or at least as I have understood it) has to do with feel. You have to work harder to get your body through the water with a drag suit on. When you take it off you feel (and are) moving through the water faster and easier. I think if it really alters your body position or stroke it's not a good idea.
This discussion brings something up I've always wondered about. If it makes sense in practice to more closely simulate race conditions - especially mimicking race technique, body position etc. - why would anyone wear a drag suit that has to have the opposite effect?
Good point; I don't know. I had a coach who used to love to have us wear cutoff jeans extensively, early in the season -- they had pockets and got really heavy. I always hated them with a passion, especially in butterfly (which he loved) because I felt like my hips sank, changing my stroke a lot.
Like you, I can see the point in a more limited context, like sprints to work on power, but not for long or multiple sets.
I pretty much think that tennis shoes are similar (I know CreamPuff likes them); they change my stroke too much to use all that much, except maybe on sprints.
The difference is in the air these suits trap.Take a Nero Comp and wring it out carefully underwater.It will now slowly sink.Now wring it out carefully in the air and set it in the water and watch it float.The material sinks so FINA says "legal' but the suits float in competition conditions.
It seems like the trapped air theory ought to be reasonably easy to test scientifically, is there a reason no one has done so?
I think the drag suit thing is part of the swimming culture - same as swimming 2000 yard+ sets with paddles. Don't think there are many other sports who would think about using something equal to paddles in the respective sports.
About the practical aspects of wearing suits in practice -- just wear your older suit -- you can't really wear a $400 suit in practice all the time.
About the 25 swims issue - I think the biggest issue is that the suits stretch out and you will not have the tight fit any more - something that you may not want in practice to begin with.
Agree about the coach overstating this a little bit - it's almost like he thinks of it like a new swimming stroke developing.
Overall I think it's funny that the entire swimming world is up in arms about the suits giving a few tenth of advantage when in the past swimming has changed many rules to have the same effect - Breaststroke dolphin kick - backstroke turn - breaststroke head under water. There was nobody thinking it was "changing the sport" at that time.
