I recently purchased a Finis Ultimate Drag Suit to use when I swim on Tues, Thurs and Sat with other swimmers. I am consitantly the fastest swimmer there. Often times by a sizeable margin. I thought buying a dragsuit would help even the field so I didn't have so much rest and would give me a hard workout. Unfortunately this drag suit turned me from the fastest swimmer there into the slowest. It's clear that I won't be wearing this suit while I swim with them anytime soon. But I thought maybe a standard drag suit would be the right fit. The Finis suit I'm wearing has 4 pockets that catch additional water.
What's your experience with drag suits. How much do they slow you down.
Anthony,
I've never gone as far as to have a real drag suit, but, even switching from a routine Lycra jammer or brief to a square-legged, Dolphin nylon suit slows me down about 1 second per 100 freestyle. I think you'll find swimmers on both sides of the lane on the use of drag suits. I tend to think that, whatever benefits they might provide in terms of increasing resistance are not worth the damage they might do to your body position and technique.
:2cents:
That's mostly what I train in, though I use a Tiger suit as it's the closest thing I can get to burnt orange (Amazon.com: Dolfin Tiger Tiger Dragster Male: Sports & Outdoors)!
What action_hack referenced -- www.finisinc.com/ultimate-drag-suit.html -- is a big step in drag above that. I know it's a matter of degrees, but I don't think I'd go more than the uglies route because I think the ultimate drag suit's going to cause stroke & body position issues.
Yeah, I've seen that "parachute suit", and it wouldn't be fun swimming with that. I'd rather have on board shorts (with the pocket's cut out)
A drag suit is not necessary because it is not necessary to use anything to slow you down in the first place.
It's the effort that's building your strength, not how fast you go and in a pool, the effort you expend is the same whether you're actually moving or staying still.
Hope that explains the idea.
I agree with James and Joel. It's nice to wear something slightly baggy for training for that mental edge when you wear a tight suit at meets. But if it feels like you're dragging an anchor around then it's too much. I could see throwing that parachute on for a few hundred yards of resistance training a week, but I can't imagine using it as your everyday suit for entire practices.
For me a drag suit helps mentally if not physically. I know that by wearing it in practice, and doing fast times in practice, that I'll be faster in the meets when I wear just a racing suit alone. I've done this ever since the age group teenage years way back when. In college for my freestyle training (distance) I actually put on a pair of swim trunks over my other suits (which I removed the inner lining and slit holes in the pockets). I never find a problem with it affecting my body position.
In my racing suit, I'll wear a size 28 or 30, but my drag suit is a size 38 or so, tied as tight as I can make it so it doesn't come off. :)
This is the type of drag suit I use now (Dolphin Ugles brand):
www.swimoutlet.com/.../41373-31393.jpg
I have a few pairs of the Dolphin Uglies that I use in practice. Like James, I think it is a mental thing when put on my racing suit for meets. I use a TYR Tracer Light, very affordable, when I race.
As far as how much it slows me down I don't know for sure. I am use to it and don't think it makes my body position any worse and I don't have shoulder issues. Sometimes I will use a brief and feel a little bit faster but I think it my of a mental thing for me. Not everyone wants to see me in a brief.:)
This is the type of drag suit I use now (Dolphin Ugles brand):
www.swimoutlet.com/.../41373-31393.jpgThat's mostly what I train in, though I use a Tiger suit as it's the closest thing I can get to burnt orange (Amazon.com: Dolfin Tiger Tiger Dragster Male: Sports & Outdoors)!
What action_hack referenced -- www.finisinc.com/ultimate-drag-suit.html -- is a big step in drag above that. I know it's a matter of degrees, but I don't think I'd go more than the uglies route because I think the ultimate drag suit's going to cause stroke & body position issues.
I do something similar to James, though not quite as extreme.
This is the drag suit I wear:
Amazon.com: Speedo Men's Poly Mesh Square Leg Bathing Suit: Clothing
I typically wear a brief in a 28, and wear it under the drag suit. The sizing of the drag suits is a bit squirrley, and I typically wear a 34 (again tying as tight as I can so it doesn't come off).
Just this morning, we were doing a sprint set. We did 50s fast from the blocks. I did 5 of them free, 3 with the drag suit, 2 without. My times on those without were about 2-3 seconds faster than with.
Even when I do a meet, I'll do my warm-up with a typical brief/drag suit combo, before changing into a jammer for racing. The first time I ever wore a jammer, I hadn't worn it in water at all (tried it on at home to make sure it fit) until I dove in for a 100 LCM free. It felt like I was swimming on top of the water.
The amount of drag a drag suit adds is a function of the material, surface area exposed perpendicular to the direction of motion and forward motion velocity. General terms force= pressure x area where pressure is from the water hitting the area perpendicular to it. So more surface areas like pockets or loose material adds drag. Another thing to consider is the drag is a function of the velocity squared (V**2) which means the faster you go the drag is not linear but increases exponentially. Therefore to get the max benefits from a drag suit is via sprints
