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Step 1
Understand how the suits work. By enclosing the body with a fabric that is smoother than skin, they make the swimmer more streamlined in the water. These suits actually change the way water flows around the body to create less drag. They also compress the body, which reduces vibration.
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Step 2
Check out the Aquablade and Fastskin suits on Speedo.com. TYR Sport (tyr.com) offers Aquapel, a coated fabric with a waterrepellent, hydrophobic finish in the Powerflow performance suit. Nike (nike.com) has a comparable suit called the Liftsuit.
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Step 3
Make sure you get fitted correctly, which means skin-tight and wrinkle-free. It should not be so tight as to limit your range of motion, which will reduce your effectiveness. Wrinkles cause added drag, which defeats the whole purpose of the suit.
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Step 4
Spend the money only if you're seriously hard core. These suits cost considerably more than traditional racing suits. Prices range from $68 for a men's brief up to nearly $600 for some full-body suits.
Comments
Anonymous said
on 6/30/2006 If you have any sort of legs on the suit, when you put your suit on try putting a plastic bag onto your foot. Your foot will slide through the leg much easier than if you try it without the bag.
Anonymous said
on 6/30/2006 When you choose a suit remember that the suit will expand when you get in the water. If you are a serious competitive swimmer you will most likely lose weight to. So you would want to get a suit a few sizes smaller than you normally do. But, if you are swimming just for leisure, then get a suit in your size, because do not need to worry about drift of any other factors that swim suits cause.
Anonymous said
on 1/4/2006 A good way to find a good performance suit size is to choose a suit that is two sizes smaller than what your usual practice suit is. It's fine if it takes a while to get your fast suit on, but more than ten minutes might mean it's too small!