I am an MOP adult onset swimmer and have been working hard on position/mechanics the past few months. I have Roka Sim shorts that I wear for some of my workouts, specifically if pulling work is involved rather than using a buoy. All of my races (ocean mostly, a few cold lake swims) are wetsuit legal. My question is this: why should I not wear the Sim shorts for every workout? If I only race in a wetsuit, isn’t the energy used to keep the hips up in the pool with normal shorts put to better use by pulling harder/more efficiently on the plane I will be racing on? Thanks for any help/insight!
You will get alot of different opinions on this, whatever makes you enjoy your time in pool and ultimately swim more is probably your best plan.
You will get alot of different opinions on this, whatever makes you enjoy your time in pool and ultimately swim more is probably your best plan.
^This. I purchased the Roka Sim Shorts last March and I’ve been wearing them every workout since. My wife tells me all the time to swim without them every once in awhile so I’m not always relying on them. Well, I’ll be in a wetsuit every race so who cares? It’s like my Garmin, I feel like my workout is missing something and I’m all out of whack without it. I actually somewhat enjoy swimming those boring laps on end in the pool with the shorts on, why take them off.
Thanks to you both. That was part of my thought (enjoyment, etc), the other part being that if my hips legs are a little lower without them, the pull is a little different at that angle. Seems counter-intuitive to swim like that and then go back to racing in a wetsuit with the higher legs again.
If every single race is wetsuit legal you would be OK. If you end up having a race where they are not legal, it’s gonna suck. I wore my Sim Pro pants for every workout for a while then did a non wetsuit race and felt like I was crawling through the water.
I would say at least throw in a non sim short swim every few weeks. Personally I use them 50% of the time.
I am also an adult onset swimmer. This is my 2nd full year swimming competitively (I knew how to swim growing up near a lake) and I wanted to be FOP/MOP so I took the same approach as you’ve taken. When I’ve got a good time and comfortable pace with the shorts on I’ll take them off to work on the finessing of my swimming. Until then I’m goal oriented and focused on the specific task at hand, winning / podiums in the wetsuit legal races I participate in. They also do encourage me to swim more often as I don’t have to struggle.
Having to suffer on the bike and struggle in the pool every workout can play with you. Sometimes it’s nice to look forward to crushing a session and these shorts make me feel that way from time to time.
Thank you to you both as well. yes, I could see the danger of running into a non wetsuit race, but in New England and the ocean, that is never a concern!