Hey - anyone have experiences with Roka wetsuits? I switched this year and felt pretty constricted in my sternum area. also my shoulder flexibility seems to be limited with it. I bought the suit that was recommended by the staff and their fitting guide, but had a bad experience at my last races and considering a new suit before my next one.
No.
Hmm, honestly I found the fit to be fairly true to size with excellent shoulder mobility. I was coming from an Orca Predator, which has the thinnest 0.8mm shoulder of any suit and I find the Maverick arms up design to be superior in the shoulder mobility department despite neoprene being thicker.
I have the Maverick X. My understanding is the Maverick and Pro suits have stretchier neoprene, so maybe they’ll let your return to “upgrade” to one of those if you have one of their lower end Comp suits?
If you happen to want a size MT Orca Predator, I’d be willing to sell you mine if you PM me. It’s only be worn a couple times (one race) and is mint…
Did you get the one with the arms up tech? I picked up the Maverick Pro a couple months ago (had a 2xu for a couple years) and it has been night and day better for me. Significantly less shoulder restriction. They have a pretty generous return policy so no harm in buying and trying.
Hey - anyone have experiences with Roka wetsuits? I switched this year and felt pretty constricted in my sternum area. also my shoulder flexibility seems to be limited with it. I bought the suit that was recommended by the staff and their fitting guide, but had a bad experience at my last races and considering a new suit before my next one.I feel constricted until I get into the water, at which point I can readjust the suit to fit ideally.
generally no, and specifically in the sternum area - heck no. This is on a Mav X. Now I will say when I swam in the non-arms up older versions, I tried two sizes and one was really good but when I tried the other one I did feel constricted in the chest. Took me less than 5 mins in the pool to figure that out. There are some subtle differences b/w their sizes so maybe that is the issue for you.
I’ve only used it during races so that’s twice. could be that my heart rate monitor is pushing into my chest more with the wetsuit on and I can easily just put that on when I get to transition. an extra 30 seconds wont kill me. maybe it will loosen up. I’d love to get in the open water 1-2 more times before the race, but at worse, I can put it on in the pool. just with limited pool time, it cuts into my workout and the pool is indoor and warm, so I would get uncomfortable quickly.
pretty sure the return policy is out, I purchased in the winter time and well past the 30 days. couldn’t swim in open water because its frozen and the pool for the reasons stated.
In the recent past, Mr Empfield had an article on the front page about how to properly put on a wetsuit. Have you looked at that. A long while ago Bikesport Michigan also had very nice article about putting one on properly.
Here:
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/features/Wetsuit_Demo.shtml
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https://www.slowtwitch.com/Training/Swimming/ROKA_Wetsuit_On_6897.html
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Hey - anyone have experiences with Roka wetsuits? I switched this year and felt pretty constricted in my sternum area. also my shoulder flexibility seems to be limited with it. I bought the suit that was recommended by the staff and their fitting guide, but had a bad experience at my last races and considering a new suit before my next one.I feel constricted until I get into the water, at which point I can readjust the suit to fit ideally.
This is huge. I haven’t done a lot of wetsuit swims, but recently had a race that was going to require one. I picked up a used roka in the ST classifieds and wore it several times in the pool to get used to it before race day. The first few times it was extremely constricting on my shoulders and I was pretty worried about it, but then it would seem to go away and everything was fine. Then I started to realize that only after I had pulled the neck open and allowed a bunch of water into the suit did it fit correctly and not restrict. So every time you put that sucker on the first thing to do is get the inside all full of water and the wetsuit will feel much better. I’m sure this is old news to folks that use a wetsuit a lot.
I have 3 Roka suits… an original Maverick Elite, a Gen 2 Maverick Elite (not the arms up), and a Maverick Pro (arms up) in one size larger. Hands down, sizing up has made a world of difference in how I feel in the suit. I lose some weight during race season, so the Pro is borderline big at the moment (a little water comes in the back of the neck), but comfort makes up for it. At least for me.
I picked up a Maverick Elite in 2015…hated it…felt the same way…very constricted in the shoulders. I had been using a Nineteen Frequency…switched to a Zone3 Aspire and never looked back. Have heard that sizing has improved and the you want the arms up versions.
I went from a Sailfish Attack (old-ish version, bought 2013) to the Roka Maverick Elite I. I wear a Small Tall, so for me tight=good; with my old Sailfish water was gushing into the suit at the neck. With the Roka I can basically stay dry if I want to - nothing moves. However, shoulder mobility is excellent, to the point that I don’t even train with the wetsuit unless I need it for the cold.
Did you make sure to pull it up high enough? The locating markers on the outside of the suit are useful, but I find that I get the best mobility if I move it even higher (until I start to sing falsetto…) and blow air through the arms to adjust it. Get in the water, let it slide around a bit but make sure it doesn’t slide down as you exit the water.
I went from a Sailfish Attack (old-ish version, bought 2013) to the Roka Maverick Elite I. I wear a Small Tall, so for me tight=good; with my old Sailfish water was gushing into the suit at the neck. With the Roka I can basically stay dry if I want to - nothing moves. However, shoulder mobility is excellent, to the point that I don’t even train with the wetsuit unless I need it for the cold.
Did you make sure to pull it up high enough? The locating markers on the outside of the suit are useful, but I find that I get the best mobility if I move it even higher (until I start to sing falsetto…) and blow air through the arms to adjust it. Get in the water, let it slide around a bit but make sure it doesn’t slide down as you exit the water.
Thanks! What are the location markers? I think I need to revisit how I’m getting the suit on. I may have not pulled all the slack out of the arms, which may make a difference.
On my suit, there’s are numbered dots on the knee and shoulders (might be more I don’t remember) with a text saying “this should be above knee/shoulder” respectively. If you line them up in order and pull it high enough, you maximise the chances of a good fit.
Scroll through the various pics on their site. If you look at the knees and the top of the shoulders, there are small squares with numbers in them, believe knees are 1 and shoulders are 2. Those are good little reference points for suit fitting.