I am curious to see if the banning of tech suits will affect the motivation to compete in masters swimmers who are currently used to wearing these suits.
Obviously, much is in flux right now, but let us stipulate, for the sake of argument, that men are allowed briefs or jammers, and women are allowed leg-less tank suits of the yesteryear variety. Moreover, these must be made out of "normal" textiles--nothing all that fancy. Think spandex, nylon, or polyester. Think Speedo catalogs from the 1970s.
I have gotten used to my tech-suit aided times and am pretty sure that going 2 seconds slower per 100 is going to be psychologically, well, obnoxious. I am not yet sure if it will affect my meet participation, but I gotta say that it might. It's one thing to pay a ton of money to go to a national or even regional meet in the hopes of doing somewhere close to a lifetime best. It's another thing to attend such meets when you will be most likely swimming times more in keeping with your perceived sense of decrepitude and senescence! I know it was always psychological, a small white lie I was telling myself that I was still almost as fast at 56 as I was at 19.
But once the white lie is irrevocably gone, will I want to demonstrate its absence to myself over and over again?
For the truly top elite swimmers, who are racing against each other for bragging rights at the mountaintop of their respective age group, it may make less of a difference. But for some, like me, who were competing more against our own memories of our younger selves, the change might be harder to accept.
By the way, I am one of those who freely admit that tech suits have helped my times significantly.
Former Member
I have heard that Rocket Science suits have water and air escape vents on their suits. Jaked and B70 do not.
I love my Blue Seventy, times have come down a little, but having had kidney surgery and other friends who have had surgeries, at 59 years old, it sure felt good to have the suit hold in those scar/muscle incisions. Its not like us older guys are going to set any Olympic Records, we are mostly out there for fun. Also many overweight people, it sure helps their confidence as I have had many tell me they may not get in the water if it all has to hang out. Hopefully on this one, USMS will not obey the FINA ruling.
I wear an old-school tech suit (TYR Aquapel) so I think it will be approved. I enjoy it and will continue to enjoy it and never really thought about going for something more.
While I will not compete less, I will say that it will be less enjoyable. I like gear and gizmos and this ruling will impact my overall enjoyment of the sport, but only at the margins.
I will also still compete but I'm sure it will feel like something is missing.
For me, there was something about the 'getting it on' feeling of getting myself into my racing suit. Sure it took a while but I could feel a physiological response to just walking into the locker room with my suit in my hand, I could feel my heart beating a little faster, my breathing a little deeper, etc.
It will make no difference to me.I love big meets and to compete.The up to 30 min putting on the suit I won't miss,but the 60 min shaving more than offsets that.Both are part of the psych up however.
I was just talking to the Rocket Science swimwear company. Kelvin said the benefit of the compression suit is that if you use them as a training suit it relieves muscle strain. They also help you to learn streamlining. So there is a use after FINA.
Frankly, I'd rather use paddles and flippers.
They're a lot more comfortable (and cheaper) than the hassle of wearing and buying a tech suit. :)
Dolphin 2
