How much do swim trunks slow you down?

Competitive swimming often comes down to milliseconds. Athletes often practice several times per day to become the best swimmer they can be. What many often overlook is the fact that swim trunks slow you down when swimming. Therefore it’s important to understand how much swim trunks slow you down.

In this article, we will dive deeper into the topic of swim trunks and competitive swimming and answer the question “how much do swim trunks slow you down?”

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It’s no secret that swim trunks slow you down when swimming laps. But how much exactly do swim trunks slow you down?

Research shows that swim trunks slow the swimmer down by 10% when worn by a swimmer and by 16% when testes without being worn.

This is a significant difference in a sport where every 0,1 second could make all the difference.

While swim trunks slow you down, it’s important to understand that not all swim trunks are created equal. In fact, there is a big difference between swim trunks that produce a lot of drag and swim trunks that produce less drag.

The best swim trunks are the ones that slow the swimmer down as little as possible.

How do swim trunks slow you down?

When swimming laps it’s actually the water that holds you back the most. The main objective is to push yourself through the water as fast as possible. To become faster the swimmer needs to be as streamlined as possible to enable the water to flow as smoothly as possible alongside the body.

This will decrease the overall drag (the force that slows you down) when swimming.

Think about the shark with its very pointy nose and a streamlined body. This is no coincidence, but rather natures way of making the shark able to swim as fast as possible.

The clothes you wear when swimming will also create drag and slow you down.

As a general rule of thumb, less fabric equals less drag. But it also matters how close the fabric is to your body. Loose fabric will create more drag, and slow you down more.

This is why swim briefs are so popular when doing competitive swimming.

Swim briefs are tight swimsuits that minimize the amount of fabric and are close to the body. This will reduce the drag and make you swim faster.

10% slower might be hard to grasp. It’s not always easy to know how that translates to real-time when swimming. In the table below you can see how much swim trunks slow you down when doing different length laps.

Distance	Average time	Lost time
100m	2 min	12 sec
500m	12 min	72 sec
1000m	30 min	180 sec

How to reduce drag when swimming

As a competitive swimmer, you want as little drag as possible. To reduce drag swim with swim briefs. If you have long hair this will also slow you down. Use a swim cap to keep your hair in place and reduce drag.

True competitive swimmers will also save away any hair on their bodies to get that extra advantage.

All of these will help you to streamline your body and become faster in the water.

While it’s important to understand how much swim trunks slow you down, it’s also essential to know that there are ways to reduce drag when swimming. Swimmers who want to be as fast as possible should always be aware of the drag-reducing techniques.

The full bodysuit

You might think “wait, competitive swimmers don’t use swim briefs, they use a full bodysuit. Doesn’t this slow them down a lot?”

It might look counterintuitive to wear that much fabric over the whole body. Doesn’t that create drag and slow you down when swimming?

Remember that all water has to flow alongside the body, and will always create some form of drag. But what if you wear a material that makes it easier for the water to flow than your skin?

That’s what the full bodysuits do. The development of swimwear has really come a long way. And today we can create swimsuits that are as a second layer of skin and actually creates less drag than your own skin. This is how competitive swimsuits slow you down even less than your own skin.

The swimsuit will also make you more buoyant which gives the swimmer an advantage.

The banned swimsuit that was too fast

In the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, 25 world record was destroyed. That’s the most since the introduction of swimming goggles.

How is this possible? Almost all of the records were set using the new Speedo’s LZR Racer. This full-body swimsuit was designed by Speedo and NASA.

They had managed to create a swimsuit that created so little drag and almost didn’t slow down the swimmer at all. The suit reduced drag by 24%.

The swimsuit was deemed to be way too good and was banned shortly after 2008.

This shows the effect of drag and how much it can slow you down when having the wrong gear and how much is to be gained from having the right gear!

When swimming laps, it’s important to be as fast as possible. This is why swim trunks with a lot of loose fabric will slow you down. To become faster, the swimmer needs to be as streamlined as possible to enable the water to flow smoothly alongside the body. There are many ways to reduce drag when swimming.

Rounding up

So, what should you wear when doing competitive swimming? It turns out that swim trunks are a bad idea – they actually slow you down. That’s why it’s important to choose the right outfit for your next race. Speedo makes some great racing suits that can help you shave valuable seconds off of your time. What type of clothing do you wear when swimming competitively?

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