Brent S. Rushall [February 28, 2001]

Watch this web site for a link to the first scientific analysis of the bodysuit ruse. It will be available in a matter of days.

Here are the latest implications of the value of bodysuits for competitive swimmers. [A bodysuit is any suit that covers a swimmer's body more than a traditional suit.]

• Breaststrokers should never wear them.
• At most, backstrokers should never wear them except males might consider the waist-to-knee "jammers" as an assist to lower body floatation.
• Crawl stroke swimmers can wear them but not beyond 200 m. After that distance, the extra fabric absorbs more water than a traditional suit and acts like a mild form of "drag-suit."
• Butterfly swimmers can wear them, but should think very carefully about using them for a 200m race.
• Medley swimmers should never wear them for any distance.
• Most suits only provide extra floatation, and therefore performance benefits are only derived when they are worn dry.
• A tight bodysuit will interfere with dives and turns by inhibiting hip and knee flexion.
• A tight bodysuit on the torso will reduce muscle and joint efficiency and interfere with stroke movements.
• No arm or lower leg covering should be used.
• Science has shown that bodysuits only add to performance improvements in the above conditions for unshaven swimmers in training suits. Bodysuits provide no benefit to swimmers who are shaved and wearing tight traditional suits. [Apparently, shaved human skin is best for humans in water, sharkskin is best for sharks (but even sharks have different forms of skin).]
• Some individuals will benefit from these suits because of the "placebo" effect. It is the belief in benefits that produces improved performances, not the actual bodysuits.
• Bodysuit advertisements continue to be published making outlandish and unsubstantiated claims. Manufacturer's claims of scientific development are fictions or bad science at best. There is no evidence anywhere that any bodysuit produces a universal advantage to any group of swimmers.

The bottom line is:

Return to Table of Contents for The Bodysuit Problem.