Ban the tech suits?

bottomline is: If you're trying to swim as fast as you can and you don't wear a tech suit you're an idiot. the FS PRO Hineck is probably the best suit for the price. when I compared latest generation suits on performance, cost, # of wears, availability, andreliability, I went with the blue seventy nero comp some masters are getting Speedo LZRs ande

I think the key word in Ande's quote is "you". If "you" are out to break records (like Ande) and generally breaking records in todays masters swimming requires a tech suit, then Ande's quote makes sense. How about the other 99+% of masters swimmers? I think Ande's comments go beyond record breakers. He said "if you're trying to swim as fast as you can." Well, that's a whole lotta people besides those breaking national records. Many, not all, people who compete would like to go as fast as they can. (Typically, to do this, they also train like fiends, work on technique, etc. They do not merely don a tech suit to hold in their gut and float.) Others like to go as fast as they can in a non-tech suit. Either path is fine. But Geek is right. These notions of moral superiority or cheapened performances are ridiculously old fashioned and preachy and outside the world of competitive sports. It is not "plain wrong" to wear a tech suit to go fast. Gear is gear. As I've said before, this is sport, not an antique. Now, if the naysayers want to compete in briefs to beat the pants off the tech suit swimmers, more power to them! It's like the bikers using single gear bikes for a race just for the challenge. The trash talk from this is great. The whining about the decline of the sport and the alleged inequity is what's irritating.

I'm not even interested in trying of one those new suits and see if it helps me go faster. I'm competing with myself (in whichever polyester suit ---brief--- I'm using) so it doesn't matter what I'm wearing. If I'm faster than I was last year: Good. If not, Good too (if I'm still alive).

Wow, this thread has become somewhat hostile. I have no problem with other people wearing tech suits. Spend as much as you want and feel good about your times and results. I think tech suits help participation in masters and sponsorship which is a good thing. I think the key word in Ande's quote is "you". If "you" are out to break records (like Ande) and generally breaking records in todays masters swimming requires a tech suit, then Ande's quote makes sense. How about the other 99+% of masters swimmers? Ande, I hope you didn't mean that anyone that competes and doesn't wear a tech suit is an idiot. I think for the other 99+% that it is a personal decision and no one is an idiot on either side of the discussion no matter their reasons for wearing or not wearing a tech suit. I discovered that I enjoy swimming more without a tech suit, but setting records has never been on my list of goals and giving up a little time to competitors is not a big deal in my book. It is possible to still have time goals, rankings, compete, and enjoy the sport without wearing a tech suit. The thing that I find most fascinating about tech suits is their grasp on the general psychology of swimming. Tim

Here’s a change I can believe in: in the spirit of fairness, let’s persuade the breaststrokers who have been beating me in my backstroke events to clock fewer yards in their workouts and maybe take a few months off, too. Hmmm, :cool: doubtful. But good try. :chug:

I have purchased my first tech suit and can't wait to wear it in 3 weeks at a meet. It will give me added motivation knowing that non swimming and lie-about-wearing-one Dolphin 2 will be annoyed by that. Hey Aquageek Actually, I won't be annoyed by that at all. In fact I'm quite glad that someone is blowing their money and I have less competition for people bidding up real estate!!! :bump: Dolphin 2

Is that why most people buy tech suits though? Because they can't do X time? I bought mine because it was just the newest suit technology (apart from the LZR, which I won't buy). Hey The Fortress If you want the latest "technology" in body compression devices, just go to Macy's and check out Playtex's latest line of girdles and bras. They are basically the same thing (and a lot cheaper than) as a tech suit. :bolt: Dolphin 2

I have purchased my first tech suit and can't wait to wear it in 3 weeks at a meet. It will give me added motivation knowing that non swimming and lie-about-wearing-one Dolphin 2 will be annoyed by that. Geek - you'll love it! Good luck @ Charlotte meet. :) Wish I could have been there.

this old article makes some interesting points: www.sportsscientists.com/.../speedos-lzr-swimsuit.html Tech suits are faster because they: 1) create a better surface than skin, 2) improve the swimmers body shape, and 3) increase bouyancy The articles just confirm that tech suits are another "aid" to swimming. As I've said many times before, swimming with paddles and flippers increases propulsion and speed -so why doesn't FINA allow them too? :confused: It seems that only certain types of aids (mainly the most expensive ones being promoted by the suit makers) are OK. Furthermore, the aggressive promotion of the tech suits is really "pushing the envelope" to the point of intolerance and there is a definite risk that that WRs (such as those set by Michael Phelps) could be voided because they were achieved with the aid of "technolgical doping". Dolphin 2

Hey The Fortress If you want the latest "technology" in body compression devices, just go to Macy's and check out Playtex's latest line of girdles and bras. I'm actually not quite portly enough to require such compression devices. But you feel free to sample! Yeah, Geek, I didn't really understand the "physically unable" comment either. Don't feel physically unable quite yet.