How much do wetsuit sleeves really help?

Are you getting your suit up high enough?  I know if you don't it's like stretching big rubber bands every time you take a stroke and will flat wear you out..  A lot/all of that can be alleviated with making sure your shuit is up high enough on your shoulders and in your armpit area.

Buy a new one......your wife won't care.

You are going through the tedious process of slowly inching it up higher and higher, starting with the legs, then the torso, then the arms?  Then repeat as long as neccessary to give your shoulders the room they need.  It takes me a good 10-15 mins to get mine on fully - just slowly working it up higher bit by bit.  I just keep at it until I can put my arms up straight over my head squeezing against my ears and not feel any restriction.

I've watched many people put them on (hey, I've got 10-15 mins to kill while I do mine) and very very few people take the time to do it right.  Unless it really just doesn't fit you properly, I bet you can get it to the point where it doesn't restrict you.

That's what I was talking about. 

Don't cut your sleeves off.......that will end in a fiery crash for sure.

Dude - Jr is 6'4" and 160......he wears a HUUB suit in size SMT.  I promise that suit is too small for him, but he likes them WAY up his legs and arms.  He has pretty broad shoulders from all the swimming.  I bet your problem is user error.

I have swam in both a sleeved wetsuit and a sleeveless wetsuit and I love the sleeveless one the best. I cannot honestly say that I am faster in one vs. the other, but I do know I am more comfortable without sleeves. As others have said, if the shoulders/arms are tight, than there is most likely a fit problem and hacking up a suit will not fix that.

Even a sleeveless suit can add pressure to your shoulders if the fit is not right. it does take a minute to get the legs and crotch of the suit to get in the right position, but once it does, you should not feel any added pressure.

I love my sleeveless and I do not ever see me going back to a long sleeve suit.

I'd be cautious about cutting the arms off a full sleeve.  I have both and the sleeveless has a fairly rigid seam at the arm opening which prevents the suit acting like a parachute.

If you cut the arms off a full sleeve right at the armpit, the elasticity of the suit may not be enough to hold it all together and you'll end up dragging a ton of water.

The advice I received when I bought my full sleeve - when you hold your arms straight out to the side at 90 degrees, the suit should cling to your armpits and there shouldn't be any draping or stretched material.

I always spend extra time to pull the sleeves up tight to my armpits. 

It also helps to have someone physically pull each side tight around your back before zipping up.

ETA to relieve tightness in the shoulders and back, see at the 2:45 mark of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEH0bWMyDnU&feature=g-vrec

I'm going with the suit or brand does not fit you.  I had to try a couple different wetsuits to get one to fit right.  Every one I tried based on size guide was really uncomfortable in the shoulders and arms.  If you noticed your shoulders getting a bit broader lately from swimming I'd say you need to explore a better fit.  You're moving North right?  Sounds like another good reason to look.  Roka has a pretty good sale going on and I've heard good things from ex swimmers who wear them relating to fit.

When I bought my 1st suit (Promotion wetsuit) I called them and discussed what was best as I could have gone into two sizes Did some measurements and called them back.  5'10" long torso (me) is not the same as 5'10" short torso so I ended up with a medium-long and it fit perfectly, was sleeveless however.  Last year I bought another wetsuit used in ML (forget the brand) but this time with sleeves and same thing, perfect fit but did experience some slight arm/shoulder stiffness but not too much.  I compensated some by not forcing my extension past the tightness.

Make sure you soak the suit a bit before use to make the material a bit more subtle.

And definitely pull it up all the way like you are giving yourself a wedgie (!) then work the torso up all the way to the shoulders. Pull the arms up too working from the wrist on up.

I'm with the rest of folks that believe you're not putting on the suit properly.

I'm also a huge fan of Desoto's two piece wetsuit system.  Eliminates a lot of the guess work as to "do I have it on right?" and you can also mix and match sizes between the top and bottom.

Your suit actually sounds too small to me. 

For most true beginner triathletes, I'd say 'you're not pulling it up enough', but you've been around long enough and are dedicated enough that I'd definitely believe you have pulled up the crotch as high as it will go and them some.

I had the same exact problem when I started triathlon - I was fitted by a very experienced triathlon store owner who was recommended, but he absolutely misjudged me, and fit me in way too small a wetsuit. I was a rookie at the time, so everyone was telling me it was on wrong, blah blah blah, so I stuck with it for  4months, but there was no improvement - mine was bad enough that I went from swimming 2 miles no problem in the pool to barely being able to finish 400 meters in open water with the wetsuit because my shoulders would wear out from fatigue. And you better believe I had that crotch pulled up so high that it was worse than superwedgie. I even had other folks check, and recheck the fit before swims.

I got so fed up that I switched to a sleeveless, and all of the problems were gone - instantly. A year later, I bought a fullsleeve suit in medium (not small), and it works just as well, so clearly my original wetsuit was too small.

I'd recommend you either go sleeveless or get a better fitting wetsuit - it'll relieve the shoulder fatigue completely. I only wear my wetsuit on race day now - and a swimmer with your ability should have no need to 'prewear' your suit for 2 weeks to get used to shoulder fatigue - that's a sign your suit is too small.

The Speedtube bottom is 5mm.  The Speedvest top is 2mm.

I have the T1 First Wave Bibjohn and Concept 5 long sleeve top.  I also have the Speedvest in case I want to have a sleeveless.