In college our coach always said do not shave the insides or your arm or tops of your feet. Is this truly any better than shaving it all? I guess its to grab more water, but I dont think shaving is to reduce drag, its more for the feel. So which one does everyone think is more beneficial?
Former Member
bkbain,
If its been a while since college, I think its great to ask these kinds of questions. Time, research, and change have dissolved many of the old swimming myths.
I remember the one you are talking about. I think it's pretty clear that one was a myth.
We used to shave the palms of our hands to remove "old skin" for an increase in feel...hilarious.
But we believed in it, so it probably had some kind of stupid mental effect. Actually, I take it back. It was ridiculous and had no effect.
There was an article in USMS Swimmer in the July-August 2007 issue that discussed shaving down. The removal of hair reduces the stimuli to the central nervous system.
"By removing the hair and skin, a swimmer decreases his senory input and enhances his performance through an improvement in his motor output"
Ya, I can image that a decrease in CNS activity takes place. Maybe the hairs are like little feelers. No hair, no message sent via the hairs to the CNS.
I'm not sure I understand how a decrease in sensory input increases motor output, though. Do the hairs send a message to the nervous system to take it easy?
I'm not being trite. I'm honestly asking.
There was an article in USMS Swimmer in the July-August 2007 issue that discussed shaving down. The removal of hair reduces the stimuli to the central nervous system.
"By removing the hair and skin, a swimmer decreases his senory input and enhances his performance through an improvement in his motor output"
Thanks! Thats what I meant by the feel. I do not have must body hair so the drag reduction is not a big a deal. I shave for the feel in the water. Maybe it is mental, maybe it drag reduction, but what ever it is..……..I swim faster.
So, if shaving reduces sensory input, does that mean we're tricked into putting out more energy to re-achieve the same feeling, thus making us go faster? Are we that gullible? Perhaps there are other tricks we could pull on ourselves to go faster!
I thought the act of shaving removed hair and skin and exposed a more direct path to the nerve endings.....or, in some cases, might have removed the nerve ending altogether in those oops moments....
