Swimsuits

Swimsuits are the one piece of required equipment to a swimmer. Caps, goggles, and nose plugs, however useful they are, can't match the vital importance of a suit. Without it, you are swimming naked.

So what makes a good suit? I won't go into the details of the latest full-body suits benefits and drawbacks here since far too much has been said on their behalf, but if you want to read my thoughts on this "innovation," please consult my section on performance enhancement. The best swimsuits fit snugly without restricting movement or blood flow. For men, take the size of your tightest blue jeans, and drop two inches off the size. For women, or if you're braving a full-body suit, pick a suit that covers your chest snugly. A loose suit will scoop water, and no one swims very fast when they're carrying around a few extra gallons.

I got an up-close and personal example of the dangers of women's suit scooping when I was at one of the US Swimming's training events. Several of us guys thought it would be funny to do a relay at the end of the day wearing women's suits. Each of us borrowed one of our female teammates' training suits in order to be properly costumed for the event. Now, unlike competition suits, training suits are either bought to just cover the body or are competition suits that have worn out. Either way, these suits are very loose. So having donned these suits and enjoyed the joke as we headed to the starting blocks with our borrowed attire I prepared to dive in for my length of the relay. As soon as I dove in I knew something was wrong.

The chest of the suit, being used to holding the very well proportioned body of the swimmer I had borrowed it from, expanded to its accustomed size and dragged me straight to the bottom of the pool. Frantically I tried to correct my course, but it was too late. Stars filled my vision as my head contacted with the bottom of the pool. Dazed and confused, I regained my body position and began to swim the relay again with this anchor around my chest. As I hit the turn the suit once again tried to drag me to the bottom but I was able to correct this time and finish the race. I found a deep respect for female swimmers that day.

Now if not kept snug and new, the full-body suits will do exactly the same thing. So how do I take care of my competition suit so it lasts? Well eventually all suits loosen and wear out. At best you can extend their useful competition life but that's about it. Every time you leave the pool, make sure you rinse the suit out in cold water. This action gets rid of the high chemical content water which breaks down the fibers in the swimsuit. Next squeeze the excess water out of the suit, don't wring them out excessively. Then, air-dry the suit. Blow drying a swimsuit with a hot hair dryer, or using one of those suit centrifuges will also break down the fibers. Broken fibers lead to stretching and eventually, sagging and drag.

Once your competition suit has loosened, it's time to use it to replace your workout suit, which probably has holes in it anyway.