Choose your suit wisely!

Former Member
Former Member
No, this is not THAT discussion. Burn them or buy them, I am not writing to help further that discussion. When I was first presented with the "tech" suits several years ago, I didn't have the budget to buy a full-body suit, so my first tech suit was made by cutting a Speedo Fastskin above the waist and installing a draw string. The only person to notice was Tracy Grilli, and she didn't razz me too much. I performed well in that suit in fly, back and free. Later, when I tried a full body suit I was disappointed to find that my back and fly times were often not as good as my swims in leggings. At first, I chalked it up to my being a head case. In fact, I developed a term for these suits that didn't "perform" well. I said they had "bad mojo". I tried tests throughout the years which seemed to confirm my belief. Then last year, I watched men's NCAA's intently to see how college swimmers "felt" about the suits. I was shocked to see that they were choosing suits in a way that confirmed my beliefs. Backstrokers wore leggings. Flyers wore leggings. Freestylers, wore full body suits. (If breaststrokers want my full report, let me know) When I saw that, I threw out my "head case" theory and formulated a new one. I theorized that the leggings work better for back and fly either because they afford the wearer with greater mobility or they improve the swimmer's body position in the water in the way that a full body suit did not. How could the leggings improve your body position? Well, my theory goes like this: if the suits give some sort of lift, either through buoyancy or some Bernoulli-like manner (yeah, I think that idea is unlikely), then the full body suits might not reduce drag nearly so much by lifting the whole body as the leggings do by lifting the legs alone. Or said another way, perhaps by rotating the legs up, around the center of mass, reduces drag more significantly than lifting the whole body upward. Whatever half-cocked theory that I used as justification, I became pretty convinced that leggings have better mojo in backstroke and fly than the full body suits. In fact, my recent backstroke swims were done with the blueseventy leggings. Coincidence? Maybe. That is why I am interested in what other people have experienced.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Guys - all the leg only stuff was last year. I will bet you any reasonable amount that all the winners at Worlds will wear a full body - at least up to 200 events. I just checked the video of the 400 Medley Relay at NCAAs - A and B final = 64 swimmers and 64 full body suits. www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../20795.asp I know exactly how you feel about the feeling and the shoulder issue and comfort level - but I just think the full body suits are way faster like Blue 70 are way faster.
  • It is unfortunate that we don't have the resources to try more than one techsuit.If I was independently wealthy I'd try Nero's and LZRs and Jakeds and Arenas in practice for each stroke and see which I like best.As it is I have a LZR and a B-70.The B-70 is faster in fly,free and back than any suit I have worn.I have only worn the LZR at meets swimming BR(I don't want to waste it's limited swims) and I am faster in it BR than in my B-70.I have never worn leggings in a meet.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    has experimented enough to know what works for him. It may be body-specific. Besides the obvious feel and so on - what do you think would be a valid test to compare suits ? Just a one 25 with and without will not be enough - and it's somehwat difficult to keep alternating in a workout. I was thinking on 2 seperate days - same timer -- do 4x25 without (or with suit A) and then 4 with suit b -- then switch the order the following day ?? Or you can just hire the Swimetrics guys and test with them -- I wonder what their numbers have shown ???
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    I would imagine Mike -- who has worn both full-body and leggings -- has experimented enough to know what works for him. It may be body-specific. (Though it would be kind of scary to think that Mike's 48.4 100 back wasn't as fast as it could have been.) I'll give it a try at some point. I would love it if the leggings were just as fast as the full body suit. I do have a new pair of FS-Pro legs that I got on sale, I'll try them in practice and see what they feel like. My main concern is that they seem to ride a little low, don't want to pull a Smith and shock the timers when I bend down for the start. You are right, the FS Pro leggings do ride low AND I have had the string break at about the third wearing. Actually, I had lent the suit to someone in Austin last spring and it broke for him. Doh! Since then, I replace the FS Pro string before I start wearing the suit.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Care to clarify this? At first you say you didn't have the money to buy a full-body, but then it sounds like you did have a full-body suit, but decided to cut it in half. I don't get it. Sorry that I wasn't more clear. The suit that I was using was given to me by a friend to try. I ripped out the back on my first test backstroke start. I then asked if I could keep the remains, which became my first pair of leggings. Several years later, I got my first full-body suit.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    What leggings would you suggest and are they legal after 1/1/10? Tim THAT is the $210-$550 question. I am not worried about 1/1/10, because I intend to wear out perhaps two more suits by that point. I will probably wear a tech suit in just about every swim that I do between now and the end of the year. Perhaps that seems extravagant, but I agree with Leslie and Ande (if I have read them both correctly). I want to practice swimming fast (or faster faster) with the suits to perfect my swims. Reading the blueseventy blog, I have faith that they will have a suit that is legal after 1/1/10. Will it be one of their current suits? I can't say, because I don't have enough insight into the workings of FINA.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Besides the obvious feel and so on - what do you think would be a valid test to compare suits ? Just a one 25 with and without will not be enough - and it's somehwat difficult to keep alternating in a workout. I was thinking on 2 seperate days - same timer -- do 4x25 without (or with suit A) and then 4 with suit b -- then switch the order the following day ?? Or you can just hire the Swimetrics guys and test with them -- I wonder what their numbers have shown ??? Erik, I have been considering this same question. I thought about the 2 day test, but that has problems too. My day-to-day performances vary enough, I suspect, that they could taint the results. I like the Swimetrics idea. The non-scientific approach that I took was to do 1x50 back last Saturday at the meet. I said, "if I do my best 50 time with the leggings, then I will use the leggings in the 100 back". I worried before the 100 that I might turn in a 49.8 and disprove my theory. "Worried" is not exactly the right word. I thought there was a 50/50 chance that I would do a 49.8.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Erik, I have been considering this same question. I thought about the 2 day test, but that has problems too. My day-to-day performances vary enough, I suspect, that they could taint the results. I like the Swimetrics idea. The non-scientific approach that I took was to do 1x50 back last Saturday at the meet. I said, "if I do my best 50 time with the leggings, then I will use the leggings in the 100 back". I worried before the 100 that I might turn in a 49.8 and disprove my theory. "Worried" is not exactly the right word. I thought there was a 50/50 chance that I would do a 49.8. But instead, you nearly break the GMU pool record set by a college age swimmer by going :48.49
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Honestly, that was as much a shock to me as anyone.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Honestly, that was as much a shock to me as anyone. Mike...it may have been a shock to you, but those of us who got to witness the race, it was truly exciting. While I doubt I will ever swim the 100 back that fast, your swim did give me continued delight in realizing that I can continue to swim faster as I get older.