- How feels it to wear a ‘Speedo LZR Racer Elite’ full body suit?

I read that it was extremely tight and complicated to put on. Is it different from a zentai or ordinary women’s tights? Or feels it just like a regular swimsuit that was 2 sizes too small?

On YouTube is a video “Speedo LZR Racer How To Put On” and another clip “Zwempak passen” where someone accidentally ripped the upper leg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1T-tvfNSIc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7wlcd0W7G0

- I read that the suits deteriorate after only few (4 to 7?) uses. What happens to them?

Does only the water repelling nano coating rub off or wash out, or is the material like balloon latex that in strongly stretched state rapidly looses its tension (which is claimed to be needed to support muscles?) and decomposes thousands times faster by contact with sweat and ozone by the extreme strain? Has here anybody experience with these suits?

- swimsuit ban by FINA

High tech swimsuits are history now after FINA has banned their competition use.

I see this with mixed emotions. On the one hand I regret this, because these skin tight futuristic suits looked awesome and were impressive engineer work, but on the other hand I can understand that these shortlived and expensive garments made many people angry due to many advanced swimmers and particularly kids in swim sport wanted them to (although often only visually) compete with the pro’s (like with the infamous brand sneaker madness) but either could not afford at all the 550$ to 800$ expensive LZR Racer suit or only wear a used and worn out specimen until it became so loose that it filled with water and decelerated by causing more drag than ordinary swim pants. The initial fullsuit had definitely a gorgeous superhero appeal, but it was certainly also an awful ripoff regarding the price and how short they lasted.

Artists finally made an outdoor sculpture of the banned LZR suits.

Amazing Summer Pavilion Made from 200 Upcycled Speedo Swimsuits:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/upcycled-speedo-pavilion-london.php

But the “techno doping” complaint that adding high tech makes sport unfair is absurd. Sport is not fair and never was; the phantasm that else everyone has the same chance to win is pointless. E.g. a guy like Michael Phelps has huge feet and a huge chest etc. by his genes that makes him faster than others, which can not be compensated by training but would rather need a genetical upgrade or surgery for other swimmers to compete with. Nor is professional sports healthy – eventually in fact it kills athletes by forced bodily overload, which is ethically not that different from pharmaceutical doping; after end of career many professional athletes even start to consume hard psychoactive drugs (cocaine, speed etc.) to fake the “winners high” their brain got addicted to, which reveals a disgusting cynicism in the sports club slogan “Winners take no drugs”.

Technology in sports is no evil. Perverse is only when a company monopolizes by patents a technology (may it be a swimsuit, racing car or doping drug) necessary to win, and the way the entire thing is embedded into capitalism and suggests by ads that money can buy everything.

We need cyborg sports…

But we are living in an age of mind and technology where it is absurd to condemn and outlaw technological improvements and request that solely natural muscles should make winners. Stop watches are a disease of mankind that lead to tailorism and sweatshop piecework, thus creative problem solving should rather be honoured in sports now than the banal counting of milliseconds.

So it is time to create an alternative kind of cyborg olympic games that much like Paralympics applies a different set of rules allowing body-attached devices. But it should be a celebration of bionic optimization and energy efficiency, not a machismo contest boasting “bigger is better”. So not only grossly unhealthy or dangerous things but also devices those pollute environment (e.g. any combustion engines or pyrotechnical gadgets) should be outlawed. Also the use of patented gear (especially when made for the sport) should be banned to prevent monopolies. Like in car racing there should be several formulas with different rules.

E.g. in swimming with bionic devices there could be a formula where legal swimming aids can weight maximum 2kg in total and may include a small amount of stored energy (e.g. a weak rechargeable battery or pneumatic cylinder) to drive you forward. But the exact design should be restricted very little and so allow creative mechanical solutions like fins or fishtails or tiny propellers, so long it becomes no boat that glides over the water (which could be another formula).

In running and jumping disciplines devices like the spring walker and mechanical exoskelettons could be used. Also here weight, size and stored additional energy should be restricted by rules.

The bionic sports championship should not be intended to replace given sports but create a modern alternative. Whether this may make conventional sports die out by lack of interest only the future will tell.

Let’s stay on the air…

{>X
Oo–oooOOOOOOooo–oO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aerial – a sincerely confessed plastic-shamen

I too, however, laughed out loud while reading this article. Mainly at the statement from one of the swimmers interviewed: “I didn’t go any faster, but you feel faster, though… the suits are a lot more mental than physical, but it was kind of crazy how big of a difference it made.” Seriously? If you didn’t go any faster, it didn’t make a difference! Good job, you (or your parents) just spent $500 so you could FEEL fast… but not actually GO fast. They do feel amazing, but that’s not really the point, is it? The point is to swim faster. And the fact that a kid could put on of those on and not drop time is proof that they are not made for just any age group swimmer, but swimmers at a certain level of training and with the right body composition, combined with a proper taper.

At least, this will all be over in 2010…

Needless to say, many of the parents quoted in this article have no clue. Any parent who would let his or her kid wear a high-tech swim suit in a summer league competition should be made to feel very embarassed. Rather than condoning or even supporting this, they should act like parents and teach their kids that doing whatever is necessary to win is not what sports — or life — should be about.

Same goes for the coaches who are quoted. The excuse that “everybody else wears them so our swimmers would be at a disadvantage” rings awfully hollow. I am guessing that if Curle-Burke and RMSC, which are two of the top clubs in the nation, took a stand, that would make a difference. Could it be that these coaches actually like the suits because (1) they do make their swimmers post better times, and (2) their clubs have the means — financial and otherwise — to get them?

Parents need to think more carefully about the reasons why they have their kids swim or play other sports. For myself, it is to teach them valuable life lessons and to develop a habit of exercise and living heathfully while having fun. I certainly don’t see it as a way to teach my kids that cheating — in spirit if not in fact — pays.

Steve M has it right – a little adversity makes the person better, not a $500 suit!

Oh and as far as the kids “being the best of the best, some of whom compare to Olympic athletes”..
At this meet..are you kidding me? Take a look at the times then take a look at WCT results. These fine athletes have a LONG way to go and best of luck to them. I just hope overzealous parents can still help them keep their perspective .

On a sidenote, a quick glimpse of the times this year showed several jr cuts being made by kids that undoubtedly all ready had them and NO wct cuts or open cuts or 2008 ot cuts . And congratulations to anyone that broke a record wearing a tech suit at a summer league meet.