Ok, ladies, I’ve read some of the threads about sizing, but this is more directed at fit. Am I supposed to feel like a pork sausage when I put the suit on ???
I see some of the sizes some folks posted and y’all must be tiny, tiny. I had this Dolfin, 38 and my swim coach said, “that suit is too big for you.” But when I sized down and tried it on I felt, well, really conspicuous, like flub was coming out all sides. Same with a Tyr suit I got. I got a 38, and it’s okay but I still *feel funny. *I’m like a size 8 pants, size 8 or 10 suit jacket so I wouldn’t call myself huge – except if they tried to post me on the thread formerly known as the Hottie thread
Just curious as to thoughts before I ship this suit back
One thing you have to remember is that as soon as you get the suit wet it stretches out and magically becomes bigger. When I first put my suit on in the morning I feel like I’m cramming too much person into too little suit (I’m not a mini person like some of the others here). But if I went up a size in my suit, as soon as it would get wet there’d be too much suit. That all said, you need to be comfortable too. If you get your suit wet and you still feel crammed, then go a size up.
They should feel wickedly, awfully tight. It’ll stretch out in the water and then you’ll be wishing you got the next size down. My suits look like I got them in the kids’ section when they’re hanging up to dry, they feel fine in the water.
The rule of thumb is that when you put practice suit on dry you should be able to lift the arm straps up to just below your ears. If you can lift them way over your ears it’s too big and if they don’t come anywhere near your ears it’s too small.
Racing suits for HS and collegiate swimmers is a whole other game and many folks who swam growing up tend to like a tighter suit to begin with since we were used to stuffing our 5ft7+ frames into size 24 suits for competitions in the days prior to the new speedo shark suits.
“Racing suits for HS and collegiate swimmers is a whole other game and many folks who swam growing up tend to like a tighter suit to begin with since we were used to stuffing our 5ft7+ frames into size 24 suits for competitions in the days prior to the new speedo shark suits.”
Thanks for reminding me… I remember that size 22 paper suit very well… Every once in a while I’ll pull an old racing suit out and marvel at the fact I could get into it!
Yep! And I remember my thighs being red after squeezing into the paper suit and having to keep the arm straps pulled down between events lest they eat into your shouldars.
Yes, after a few swims the suit will stretch out. I used to buy 34’s and now I’ve gone down to 32’s and they are perfect. The 34’s would be super at first, and then after a couple of weeks would be too big and baggy and I could feel the suit fluttering around me as I swam - not a great feeling! ha ha ha ha ha
Also, to keep in mind, the polyester suits don’t stretch out or “relax” as much.
I saved a bunch of my size 24 paper suits and every once in a while I pull them out and look at them in amazement! I also remember how see through they would get when stretch to fit your body!
There was a reason I’d always wear another suit on top of my paper suit until I was just about to step on the blocks. On the bright side, the lack of butt coverage they offered made it really easy to recruit male timers for a championship meet.
With suits, torso length also plays a role in determining proper size. I’m 5’9", but have like an inch between my ribs and hips, and because I’m so short-torsoed, I have to go down at least one size (and sometimes two sizes) from what I should theoretically be buying based on dress size.
Also, you want to keep things smushed down in the chest area because otherwise the girls will create unnecessary drag.
Were I buying based on comfort in the dressing room, I’d be in a 36, even 38. But I buy a 34. IN the water, it feel fine. Of course, I’m sure the lifeguard is like, “Hey, that lady’s ass is exploding out of her suit” when I’m doing my boardless kicking drills…but anything bigger and it’s like I’m swimming in a bed sheet.
???