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2008-08-15 12:47 PM

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Pro
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Helena, MT
Subject: Different swimsuits

There's been a lot of talk about these new nifty swimsuits they've got, but I've noticed that depending on the race, the suit changes. Some races, they are in the full body one. Sometimes just pants, sometimes they have short legs, etc.

Does anyone know the logic behind when they wear which suit? Why not just wear one kind all the time?



2008-08-15 1:01 PM
in reply to: #1606486

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Champion
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Subject: RE: Different swimsuits

The new suits take about a half an hour to put on, and are not particularly comfortable - have you noticed how they pull at them....

The full suits give their real benefit in strokes like freestyle.  So when they can they go to pants only, short legs.... 

2008-08-15 1:02 PM
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Subject: RE: Different swimsuits
heh... we spent a few days trying to figure this one out.  According to Phelps, it's that they are so ridiculously tight that he just doesn't like to wear them for the fly.
2008-08-15 1:54 PM
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2008-08-15 10:01 PM
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Subject: RE: Different swimsuits
surfwallace - 2008-08-15 1:54 PM

I think I heard Mark Spitz say this on Today that the suit was tested a couple of years ago and that it provides no benefit until 6mph which is only reached in the 50.

Meaning it is all mental. I would like to see somebody show up in an old school weenie bikini.


I didn't see the interview, but I'm calling BS on Spitz. In the first place, I don't see how the suit could have been "tested a couple of years ago" when the technology is brand new. Second, it seems unlikely to me that there would have been all these protests and hoopla about the suits if there wasn't actual data suggesting that they made a quantifiable difference.
2008-08-15 11:03 PM
in reply to: #1606486

Buttercup
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Subject: RE: Different swimsuits

Piggybacking on sesh ... yes, the full body suit is so tight that it is counterproductive for events like butterfly which requires a different kind of shoulder rotation than freestyle.

But I read this at swimmingworldmagazine.com and it presents a different kind of perspective:

The result is an engineered swimsuit whose 3D anatomical shape has a Core Stabiliser with a corset-like grip to support and hold the swimmer so they can maintain the best body position in the water for longer without losing freedom or flexibility of movement.

For those of us who swim butterfly, you'll understand how your body/torso moves much differently during butterfly than during freestyle. With butterfly, your abdomen drive your  hips down as your chest/upper body drives upwards (and your arms move out of the water). With freestyle, you don't have this kind of up/down vector propulsion - in fact, you want your torso to be aligned horizontally but rotating side to side. So, if the point of the suit is to keep your torso in a "corset-like grip to support and hold the swimmer" then this would be ineffective and, perhaps, counterproductive with a strok like butterfly. 

That's my guess based upon that quote.



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