swimsuit comparisons

hi there d,

as far as high-end suits go, there are more differences than
meet the eye.

primarily people look at the 'hype' to do with reduced drag
through the fabric, but there are more elements to be
considered. the most important being the buoyancy afforded
by each suit.

at the ASCA conference last fall in San Diego, there was a
study presented regarding comparisons between these suits,
and the major factor was the buoyancy. Arena held its
buoyancy much longer thank the others (Tyr, Speedo and
another..Adidas i think). The implication is that the Arena
suit will be much much better in terms of a) longevity and
b) performance during a race. fastskins and the Tyr/adidas
suits quickly become saturated with water to the point that
after 70 seconds or so, they are essentially just bags of
water on the body, while Arena managed to maintain its
buoyancy effect beyond the time frame of the study.

an implication of this covers another advantage of
bodysuits, which is muscle compression. energy is lost
through muscle vibration when you exercise. if the suit
becomes looser through becoming water logged you lose this
advantage also, so there again Arena is ideal.

the new FSkin and Tyr suit, well, good luck getting hold of
the FSII for the next 6 months! i haven't seen any data
about bouyancy for either suit, (although i saw the new Tyr
suit being tested at our Speedo Sectional meet this past
weekend by one of their athletes, Kyle Bubolz, and he was
complaining about the fit around the shoulders.

Our team, and the team i coached prior to this one always
contracted with Speedo for Fastskins, and they do have a
short life-expectancy, to the point that after 8-10 swims
swimmers complained they felt loose, and seams didn't hold
up that well (thankfully theres always a Speedo rep to
replace it at big meets).

anyway, for freestyle, if you're comfortable, go with legs
and body, if not, i know most guys stick with the legs, over
jammers and breifs.

for the IMs you have breasttroke to contend with, and while
i don't see a reason that you can't wear full legs because
the seams are designed well (even if they fray), some
people feel a little restricted, most go with a jammer of
knee-body suit.

hope that helped.

steve

"d" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

I'm a competitive male swimmer looking for comparisions
between high-end

suits.

Quoted message said:

Arena PowerSkin Speedo Fastskin (and the new FSII) TYR
Aquapel (and the new Aqua Shift and Aqua Bands)

Questions:

1) Which of the currently available suits do most agree is
the fastest?
2) Comments about the new suits (funny how they seem to
appear pre

Olympics)?

Quoted message said:

3) Which type (full body, full leg, combo, etc) is
best for:
a) 100/200 free
b) 200/400 IM

oops..forgot to add this...

if you chose a suit for comfort, you don't need to worry
about its buoyancy-maintainance aspect...

go buy some scotchgard, turn the suit inside out, and
spray a coat on
it...let it dry, spray it again. then it'll maintain its water-
proof qualities for a long time 🙂

...not that i'd advocate improving your performance through
increased buoyancy. ahem.

that research i was discussing earlier however is going to
be used in the next big assualt on having the suits banned,
however. i doubt they'll manage it though, and wouldn't be
impressed if they did do it.

steve

"diablo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message -"]news:[email hidden]-
kc.rr.com...

Quoted message said:

hi there d,

as far as high-end suits go, there are more differences
than meet the eye.

primarily people look at the 'hype' to do with reduced
drag through the fabric, but there are more elements to be
considered. the most important being the buoyancy afforded
by each suit.

at the ASCA conference last fall in San Diego, there was a
study presented regarding comparisons between these suits,
and the major factor was the buoyancy. Arena held its
buoyancy much longer thank the others (Tyr,

Speedo

Quoted message said:

and another..Adidas i think). The implication is that the
Arena suit will

be

Quoted message said:

much much better in terms of a) longevity and b)
performance during a

race.

Quoted message said:

fastskins and the Tyr/adidas suits quickly become
saturated with water to the point that after 70 seconds or
so, they are essentially just bags of water on the body,
while Arena managed to maintain its buoyancy effect beyond
the time frame of the study.

an implication of this covers another advantage of
bodysuits, which is muscle compression. energy is lost
through muscle vibration when you exercise. if the suit
becomes looser through becoming water logged you

lose

Quoted message said:

this advantage also, so there again Arena is ideal.

the new FSkin and Tyr suit, well, good luck getting hold
of the FSII for

the

Quoted message said:

next 6 months! i haven't seen any data about bouyancy for
either suit, (although i saw the new Tyr suit being tested
at our Speedo Sectional meet this past weekend by one of
their athletes, Kyle Bubolz, and he was complaining about
the fit around the shoulders.

Our team, and the team i coached prior to this one always
contracted with Speedo for Fastskins, and they do have a
short life-expectancy, to the

point

Quoted message said:

that after 8-10 swims swimmers complained they felt loose,
and seams

didn't

Quoted message said:

hold up that well (thankfully theres always a Speedo rep
to replace it at big meets).

anyway, for freestyle, if you're comfortable, go with legs
and body, if

not,

Quoted message said:

i know most guys stick with the legs, over jammers
and breifs.

for the IMs you have breasttroke to contend with, and
while i don't see a reason that you can't wear full legs
because the seams are designed well (even if they fray),
some people feel a little restricted, most go with a
jammer of knee-body suit.

hope that helped.

steve

"d" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

I'm a competitive male swimmer looking for comparisions
between high-end

suits.

Quoted message said:

Arena PowerSkin Speedo Fastskin (and the new FSII) TYR
Aquapel (and the new Aqua Shift and Aqua Bands)

Questions:

1) Which of the currently available suits do most agree
is the fastest?
2) Comments about the new suits (funny how they seem to
appear pre

Olympics)?

Quoted message said:

3) Which type (full body, full leg, combo, etc) is best
for:
a) 100/200 free
b) 200/400 IM

In d said:

Questions:

1) Which of the currently available suits do most agree is
the fastest?

None, or any. Who can tell? I don't know of any independent
evidence that any of the body suits are faster than the
traditional male brief.

Women's suits have been studied more. But for those, the
evidence is mixed. For some women, the body suits are no
different from traditional suits. For others, there's some
indication of a slight (1%) improvement with the body suits.

I've seen no evidence that the brands are significantly
different from each other.

There's been plenty of speculation and anecdotal reports -
especially in this newsgroup - that any improvement with the
body suits is attributable to buoyancy due to air trapped
under the suits. If that's true, it would be cause to ban
the suits.

Quoted message said:

2) Comments about the new suits (funny how they seem to
appear pre Olympics)?

Funny, isn't it?

Quoted message said:

3) Which type (full body, full leg, combo, etc) is
best for:
a) 100/200 free
b) 200/400 IM

See above.

Several people have noticed that the elite distance swimmers
are refusing to wear the full body suits even though Speedo
is paying them big bucks to wear them, opting instead for
the leg suits. The speculation here has been that it's
because the full suits don't allow proper cooling.

Ross