Shave down

Sean Riley said:

Dear Group,

Love your stuff. All the answers and questions on this newsgroup are great. Anyway here is my
question.

I am a masters swimmer middle to long distance. My 400 time is just under the 5 minute mark. Would
a full body shave down help me reduce this time and if so by how much? I am not all that hairy by
the way. Or will I be making myself look stupid. Does anyone else shave down? I would appreciate
some feedback.

You don't say how old you are, but that's not a bad masters time in any case. Shaving down won't do
a lot for you at that time, especially oif you aren't a hairy guy anyway. I assume you are wearing a
cap. Unless you are within cooee of breaking an age group state record or you are in a hotly
contested dual with another swimmer, I wouldn't bother with the shave.

martin

--
Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway

In Sean Riley said:

I am a masters swimmer middle to long distance. My 400 time is just under the 5 minute mark. Would
a full body shave down help me reduce this time and if so by how much? I am not all that hairy by
the way. Or will I be making myself look stupid. Does anyone else shave down? I would appreciate
some feedback.

Lots of people shave down, especially before a big meet. At the biggest meets, everyone shaves.

The feeling is great. You just feel slippery.

The benefit of shaving is debatable, even at the elite level. Last time this group discussed it, I
think we decided that it may produce a 1% improvement. Or less. The biggest benefit may even be
psychological rather than physical. But then, when the margin of victory is 0.01 second, every
little bit helps.

At the level of mere mortals, though, you won't notice much benefit unless you're normally
quite hairy.

Ross

Thanks for your feedback guys. I guess I knew the answer before I wrote the query. I was hoping for
a drastic improvement to justify such a drastic move on my part. It makes me feel good now that I
don't have to shave down.

Thanks Sean R
p.s I am 33

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

Quoted message said:

Dear Group,

Love your stuff. All the answers and questions on this newsgroup are

great.

Quoted message said:

Anyway here is my question.

I am a masters swimmer middle to long distance. My 400 time is just under the 5 minute mark. Would
a full body shave down help me reduce this time

and

Quoted message said:

if so by how much? I am not all that hairy by the way. Or will I be making myself look stupid.
Does anyone else shave down? I would appreciate some feedback.

All the best,

Sean