My birthday is coming up and I'm thinking of asking for some shorts that help one get used to the feeling of swimming in a wet suit without over heating. My main pool is pretty darn warm. I'm newer to swimming and all my races would be wet suit legal. For the sole purpose of becoming better at wet suit swimming would this help at all. I would love to hear some opinions. Thanks.
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Re: Roka swim shorts [aries33]
[ In reply to ]
Right or wrong, I wear my Roka Sim shirts all the time. Every swim. I hate carrying around a pull buoy and I don't feel the need to use one since I started wearing them. They do feel somewhat faster but that's probably placebo. One downfall, I have to re-tie them after a few laos and tie them really tight in order to keep them from parachuting. They def loosen up once in the water. But I still love them and I do feel like they elevate my hips and do what they say they're made to do.
Re: Roka swim shorts [aries33]
[ In reply to ]
(1) they are fun to swim in b/c you are actually faster
(2) use them with ankle band and you will learn how to keep your feet out of the way
(3) did I mention they are fun to swim in?
(4) use them in lieu of a pull buoy - you can keep a little kick in and work on rotation - I tend to swim flat when I use a pull buoy
(5) they are really, really fun to swim in
In all seriousness, I use them maybe once every 4-5 swims and have found that feeling good body position albeit aided by the shorts helps me realize what good position should be without the shorts.
And anything that makes swimming more fun is a good thing!
I would say GO FOR IT!
(2) use them with ankle band and you will learn how to keep your feet out of the way
(3) did I mention they are fun to swim in?
(4) use them in lieu of a pull buoy - you can keep a little kick in and work on rotation - I tend to swim flat when I use a pull buoy
(5) they are really, really fun to swim in
In all seriousness, I use them maybe once every 4-5 swims and have found that feeling good body position albeit aided by the shorts helps me realize what good position should be without the shorts.
And anything that makes swimming more fun is a good thing!
I would say GO FOR IT!
Re: Roka swim shorts [jeremyebrock]
[ In reply to ]
I suppose it really depends on what you're like as a swimmer, what your flaws are, how much you want to improve as a swimmer (not necessarily a tri swimmer). Some guys only ever race in wetsuits so perhaps for them wearing sim shorts doesn't matter, but for me I've found when I wear my sim shorts and then return to bathers my buoyancy and body position are shit. The sim shorts can make you lazy. You don't have to kick and you don't have to work on your body position. For a BOP or MOP swimmer with average technique that what's to improve their stroke Id not recommend these. They are great shorts to swim in and when we do wetsuit swims I opt for these instead of my wetsuit, but they can be counter productive.
Re: Roka swim shorts [zedzded]
[ In reply to ]
+1. I love swimming in my Roka sim shorts but now I reserve them for certain situations. Recovery days, 100x100 challenge, etc... I found that I lose a bit of swim fitness if I use them too much.
The SIM shorts are an awesome crutch, but in my view best used judiciously. Personally, I like to use them in lieu of a pull buoy, for warmup, and on days when I'm really flagging or need to keep up with swimmers who are otherwise too fast for me. But I'd be leery of overusing them, because they will prevent you from developing good body position in the water, unless you really only care about wetsuit swimming.