Anyone actually shave legs and arms for IM distance?
Anyone actually shave legs and arms for IM distance?
Shave your arms? You don’t need our approval mate. Just go for it, wear a dress and call yourself Susan 
Anyone actually shave legs and arms for IM distance?
Shave your arms? You don’t need our approval mate. Just go for it, wear a dress and call yourself Susan
Only on Crossdresser Tuesdays.
Seriously?? There is one semi-almost-believable-reason-benefit to shaving. It makes putting the wetsuit on a bit easier if you don’t use plastic bags.
Otherwise, it’s all for show.
DO NOT shave your arms. The fact is we shave our legs for road rash prevention, not aero or hydrodynamics for the most part. Nothing and I mean nothing is worse than rubbing a stubble covered arm over your face (or your woman’s back) and on and on and on…
Don’t listen to everyone on here. if it makes you happy and you think you will be faster than shave away. At the very least you will have a conversation starter… "the other day I was shaving my arms when…
If it’s a non wet suit swim, i’ll shave everything i can shave. Even if you don’t swim faster, you will feel like swimming faster… In my long gone school days, our coach always told us to shave before major comps. Your skin gets irritated and you feel absolutely different, like sliding through water, smooth and powerful… going 100m under 60 sec, with all the crap removed from your skin, it’s unforgettable feeling.
only 3 reasons i know of:
to help with the clean up post crash
help prevent infection post crashprevent the deep tissue massage from tearing out your hair
.
If you are pretty hairy then shaving is less like wearing a fur coat and if it’s a hot day that will make a difference.
Shave the legs and trim the arms…NO SHAVING THE ARMS!
finally, a topic that has never been discussed on here before!!! Congrats.
Seriously, who gives a rats ass about it. if you want to do it, do it!!!
If non-wetsuit, shaving everything (exposed, that is) is pretty standard practice. That said, some folks have speculated that keeping hair on the underside of the forearm actually helps “grip” the water, so you want to avoid that. We always shaved it all, though, and I don’t know if there is any scientific evidence of the arm-hair theory.
There HAS been peer-reviewed scientific evidence (will try to find the reference and post if I can) of measurable drag reduction due to shaving in swimming.
Plus, it will show your vascularity.
r.b.
I haven’t heard of shaving arms for IM.
For competitive swimming…maybe. It’s kind of silly but for swimming, I’ve heard you have to be sure to keep any hair growth on the front of your forearm because the hairs will provide extra catch on your swim stroke.
Sure–it makes getting on the wetsuit less painful.
That said…do whatever you want. If you want to shave 'em down, shave 'em. If you feel weird about it…then don’t. I see plenty of triathlete/cyclist guys who shave their arms and legs, and lots who don’t shave anything.
Here is the reference to a study on shaving for breastroke, which includes references to previous studies regarding drag:
r.b.
finally, a topic that has never been discussed on here before!!! Congrats.
Seriously, who gives a rats ass about it. if you want to do it, do it!!!
False
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=681743;search_string=shave;#681743
Continual lycra wearing + hairy legs = annoying ingrowing hairs is the manly reason I give!
x2 for not shaving underside of the forearm, but for a different reason:
I don’t know about such small hairs actually helping to “grip” the water… seems plausible (they do place different textured materials in that area on full sleave racing suits). But as other posters have noted shaving body hair dramatically alters water feel.
That said if you haven’t shaved your arms before I would avoid removing hairs on any part that’s involved with the catch and pull (like the underside of the forearm). I found that shaving that area decreased my feel for the water which can negatively impact stroke technique. I thought of it kinda like vaseline: theoretically it might make you faster if its on your legs and body, but swimming with slimy fingers isn’t pleasant.
Conversely shaving the palms of your hands (carefully!) is supposed to increase water feel by removing excess layers of dead skin cells.
You need a girlfriend…
How about shaving so as to leave an Ironman logo on each shoulder?
Better than a tattoo and sure to intimidate the competition.
sure to intimidate the competition
Uh huh…