Are you serious?

Of course a fullsuit is faster for racing. What do you think Phelps and Thorpe train in? Drag Suits. There you go, we all know that the Aquablade type fullsuits are faster than skin, that's not the issue. The issue is what do the better swimmers wear to practice in. Sound like you really have an issue.

Wear a speedo and be proud.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

I train in a regular "speedo" and race in a body suit. The difference is huge. When you wear a full suit you push off almost a yard further. Training with loose suits creates drag (extra resistance) which makes you stronger. Sometimes wear a fast suit to feel the speed.

There is always a need for speed.

Doug Stern

NiceTri you misunderstood my post. My post was directed to CTL that said that suits don't make a difference in a race. Your post agrees with me that they do.

No problems with speedos. I've been wearing mine proudly for the last 27 years (not the same one).

Booth

Nice post and very right on.

I see not point in wearing jammers unless you are way over weight. And as others have said the things fall appart in a month.

Speedos - we ya very few can wear one, and again the lycra ones fall appart in a month. Huge waste of $$$.

I think the prime swim training appearl is the nylon baggy, box cut type speedo - guess really not a speedo - but I dont know the exact name for it.

And your observation about long time competitive swimmers having lost most all modesty is absolutly correct. After having stood in front of thousands of people over the years in a very small speedo skin suit (I sawm competitivly long before jammers or body type suits) I like my counter parts have not problem wearing very little cloths. However, this im-moddesty is far different that being willing to strut around way over weight in a speedo. When I was way fat, and I really once was, no speedo was ever worn, just the baggy sufer swim suits to lay around the pool in.

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http://www.clevetriclub.com

rob reddy

My mistake.

Keep rocking the speedo.

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Cheers,

TJ Tollakson
http://www.tollakson.com
CEO: http://www.rustersports.com and http://www.dimondbikes.com

Does bringing a printed copy of my workout onto the pool deck tag me as a triathlete? How about using a wristwatch to record my splits? BTW, I do wear a Speedo.

What I actually said was that the suit rarely is the difference. If you get down to 50s and 100s between extremely evenly matched swimmers, then I agree that the suits may make a difference, some small portion of the time. But, even this is rare, and the results from the Olympics and other world class meets prove my point.

Exhibit 1: Ian Thorpe won the 400 meter free at the last two Olympics by such a large margin than he would have won even if he were wearing the same type of oversized nylon suit that Mark Spitz wore.

Exhibit 2: There is no consensus about which suits are best. Ian Thorpe wears a full one; Klete Keller wears bib johns and Michael Phelps wears the legging sort of thing. It still seems that your feel for the water is perceived by world class swimmers to be more important than the best hydrodynamics. Otherwise, everyone would wear the same full suit that Ian Thorpe wears.

Exhibit 3: Even in world class competition, in the shortest races, decided by fractions of a second, the same swimmers usually win. For example, Gary Hall now usually wins the 50, but he never beat Popov when Popov was in his prime. This leads me to conclude that it is usually the swimmer, whether because of ability, training or desire, and rarely the suit.

I agree I would probably swim a little faster wearing a $400 fastskin suit instead of the $25 swim trunks that I bought at Dunhams. But, there are so many other things, like how often and how hard I train, how good my start and turns are and how psyched up I am for a race that would have much more impact upon my 200 time than what suit I am wearing.

But, I am not swimming in the Olympics and even chose to swim D3 instead of D1 in college because I was going there to learn, not swim. It seems to me that if you are over 25, live in America and swimming for fun, not profit, then you look really silly wearing a tiny lycra suit. But, real men don't care what other people think.

I agree that people get too focused on the technology sometimes, I dont' do GPS but feel lost without HRM monitor. I disagree about the clothes though, when I am doing my workouts in the summer I wear tri clothes for two reasons. Tri clothes are way more comfortable, I hate "running shorts" and 2 they just work better for those workouts.

No different than roadies wearing their full gear on rides

Pictures...PLEEEAAAASSSEEEE!!!!!

I always wanted a pair of Birdwell's, but they were way too expensive back then. Heck, i think I was in Elementary school and they cost something like $15....whew, to think I pay more for Jammers now...

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TheBikeRacer.com

Conjures the image of the Krispy Kreme calendar girls...

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

and i see no point in wearing speedos unless you are european...

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f/k/a mclamb6

The reason is that, by in large, the only Americans who wear speedos are former/current competitive swimmers who were forced to wear them. The average Joe doesn't like them

Probably one area where the US's sqeamishness about sexuality is a good thing - contrast to the stereotypical fat hairy European guy in tight speedo's... yuck!

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I think it's also an age thing. Jammers are relatively new. If you've been swimming for a long time, you've always worn speedos and will probably continue to do so. Those who've come around later watch the stud swimmers and the trend now is to go with more coverage, not less, and why show your junk if you don't have to? Most of the fast kids I see these days are wearing the jammers.

I don't think it even matters that much about your body comp. IMO, the jammers look better on everyone, regardless of their size. I'm extremely lean but I think I look like a moron in speedos so I rarely wear them.

Exactly. Most "new" swimmers, whether they are cut or not, usually opt for more coverage.

ask and you shall receive.

Now, would it really even make a difference if that guy was wearing jammers?

oh my...

It is always the Euro dudes...go on vacation some time...hit the beach, the Italian women do NOT shave their Wookie looking legs and the men ALL wear speedos. I hate women with "happy trails"...

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I remember in high school we would put on nearly every suit we owned. As they wore out you just put another layer on. Seemed like something like 3-4 diferent suits on all in tatters and hopefully between all of them you were covered. We thought we looked pretty cool. Now you have to pay extra for this and they call it a drag suit.
Mike

Only if they were black, because it's soooo slimming.

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I started swimming competitively in 1974...

I hate jammers!!!!!! I wear a small speedo under a drag suit for practice -- and pool meets and ocean swim races - I go old school (and so do most others racing (rather than 'participating')

Frankly I do not understand fashion. Women are wearing less and less clothing -- Men are wearing more and more.

I hate baggy shorts -- when I try and run inbaggy shorts they either bunch up under my legs or I feel them tugging on the front of my thigh. Again -- I haveto shop long and hard but I can still find old school running shorts.

Baggy shirts -- these are the main culprit in bleeding nipples on men -- I never had a problem until baggy came into style. So now I am back to wearing tigher singlets when I run.

Don't try and tell me that baggy is more comfortable -- I tried it and I hate it.

One other thing...

I have been into triathlon for 11 years, I lift weights, watch what I eat. Yet, walking around in "Street Clothes" you can't tell. If a guy is super skinny with no muscles -- can't see it -- the clothes are baggy. If a guy is fat and out of shape -- can't see it. Clothes are baggy and the shirt untucked. Can't tell.

Whatever.

When i go to the beach - i will wear the baggy board shorts - but if I am going to go for a workout -- the speedos are what i am wearing.

Old school is the best school

Our high school team suit was green and white stripes. Being high-schoolers, we had more important things to spend our meager cash funds than training suits, so we'd wear the team suit at practice. The sun penetrates the white stripes more than the green and we all had striped butts.

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Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

hahah whats the deal with 'drag suits'? and 'jammers' degrade REAL fast for training, id just save em for racing if i was a swimmer (they are supposed to be fastest suit for breaststroke). people moaning about ya speedos getting saggy...wear more than 1 pair. just about every swimmer i know/have known would often wear more than 1 pair of togs for training. the good pairs were saved for racing only.

same goes for goggles. plain ole speedos are the best to train in.

Here is me training a Francois training me on how to dive into the pool...

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"...it should be swim, bike, run, cage fight." - el fuser
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