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This article forms part of our Competitive Swimming Knowledge Hub.

High-performance swimwear is a crucial tool that can significantly impact an athlete’s performance. The right swimwear minimises drag, helping you to glide through the water with ease. Every second counts, and every techsuit feature matters. This blog will explain why: 

How are manufacturers using hydrodynamics in performance swimwear?

Human skin is actually not very efficient at moving through water, as it is relatively loose compared to the skin of aquatic creatures, which creates drag. Human skin is also not hydrophobic enough, producing natural oils that create highly viscous drag, or skin friction, which is the resistance force exerted on an object moving through a fluid. Speedo used this information to develop a polyurethane coating for swimsuits, creating an exceptionally hydrodynamic surface.

Performance swimwear is also made of lightweight fabric to prevent swimmers from being weighed down by their suits. One example is carbon fibre, which Arena uses to boost speed and endurance. 

In addition to being lightweight, tech suits are often made with water-repellent fabric. This reduces water saturation and creates a frictionless surface that decreases drag. 

These suits are also almost completely seamless, which reduces drag and enables a tighter fit.

How much faster does high-performance swimwear actually make you?

For swimmers, even a small improvement in drag resistance can be a game-changer in competitions. In fact, after the 2009 World Swimming Championships, Speedo's LZR suits were banned by World Aquatics in 2010, as swimmers wearing full-body polyurethane suits broke almost every world record.

However, one study (Hagedorn, 2013) tested the current range of tech suits for performance. In just over 5 metres, there was an average increase in speed of 0.27 seconds when wearing a tech suit and a domed cap.

While 0.27 seconds may not seem like much, it could mean the difference between gold and silver.

The right material and the right fit

When choosing performance swimwear, there are a few key features worth prioritising:

A snug, supportive fit: The right racing suit should feel close to the body without restricting movement. You should be able to move naturally, with no pinching, rubbing, or chafing around the straps, legs, or seams.

Targeted compression: All performance swimwear offers varying degrees of compression, which improves blood flow to your muscles and reduces lactic acid build-up. This is important for preventing tiredness and muscle pain during exercise, like swimming.

High-quality materials: Most racing swimwear uses technical fabrics such as nylon, polyester, and elastane. Look for options designed to repel water, minimise drag, and withstand chlorine for longer-lasting wear.

Performance-led design details: Features like bonded seams, engineered panels, and buoyancy-focused construction can help create a more streamlined shape and improve body position in the water—especially at speed.

Propel your swimming performance with Sporty Swim

While working hard at training your swimming skills, adding the right high-performance swimwear to the equation will help you achieve peak performance. In addition to physical benefits, these suits improve psychological needs as swimmers feel faster.

If you want to make the change from everyday swimwear to training swimwear, athletic swimwear will be an investment that might not suit everyone. Training swimwear offers a range of benefits for swimmers gearing up for races, and these features will give swimmers a competitive edge.

Here is everything you need to know about the differences between the two suits, in case you want to dive in further:

Training vs Everyday

Ultimately, everyday swimwear is made for recreational use, with a wide variety of strap styles and fits. training swimwear , on the other hand, is designed to stay in place, allowing athletes to swim at high speeds without worrying about their swimwear falling off. 

Features such as fit, fabric, strength, and construction are the main features that set training swimwear apart from everyday swimwear.

Let's take a closer look at what sets them apart, so you can choose the right swimwear for your aquatic adventures.

Fit and Compression

One of the main differences is that training swimwear is designed to be snug to prioritise muscle compression while still allowing for stretching and breathability. Training swimwear is also designed to help train for swimming races and competitions.

Compression is a key element of training swimwear design, providing muscle support and reducing muscle vibration. 

The tightness of swimsuits can also reduce the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles. Lactic acid is the main culprit for your muscles feeling tired or getting a stitch when you perform an aerobic exercise like swimming, and it is produced when your body breaks down fat during exercise. Training swimwear aids with compression to build up stamina for training.

Fabric Technology and Durability

Human skin naturally produces oils, which is a major factor in the design of training swimwear, which is coated in a water-repellent material. Training swimwear has exceptional strength and can retain its durability far beyond other elastane swimwear fabrics.

Regular bikinis are often made from standard nylon-spandex blends that look great, but can quickly lose their shape and fade in the sun or degrade in chlorine over time, whereas training swimwear is durable and engineered to withstand the test of time.

Drag Reduction and Hydrodynamics

The main goal is to minimise friction as much as possible through textile technology, compression, and design. Professional swimmers will even shave most of the hair on their bodies to reduce drag. Training swimwear helps add to hydrodynamics in the construction and design.

Form-fitting suits reduce "form drag", where baggy material acts like a parachute, by ensuring that the body is supported and the suit fits snugly.

Seam Construction and Design

While everyday swimwear can lose its shape after a season, Sporty Swim’s training range is built to last, whether you swim weekly or only pack a suit for holidays. The difference is in the construction:

• Secure, stay-put design: From reinforced bikini fastenings to men’s swimwear with supportive waistbands and reliable drawcords, swimsuits for training are made to hold their shape and stay in place; no slipping, no constant readjustment.
  

• Comfort-first support: Wider, more durable straps on women’s styles help prevent digging, while men’s jammers and briefs are designed with a streamlined, secure fit that won’t feel restrictive during longer sessions.Final Lap

The bottom line is that it's all about what you like and what feels right for you. 

Regular swimwear is looser and easier to move in, both in and out of the water, and is therefore perfect for lounging. Training swimwear will provide a snug fit and help you reach your peak performance while doing laps.

Want to create a splash next time you hit the pool? Check out the Sporty Swim collection, stocked with big-name brands.

Sporty Swim work with TORQ Nutrition to provide not only the best natural fuelling products on the market but SportySwim educates it's staff to provide the correct guidance and advice surrounding fuelling and recovery guidance. Nutrition and Hydration is an often overlooked part of a swimmers routine in what is a such a rewarding but at times brutal sport. Torq Nutrition is a great way to keep your body fuelled before, during and after exercise.

They originally developed our range of performance nutrition products through a need to offer the highest standard of support to the athletes we worked with and TORQ has since evolved into the most desirable, respected and integral Performance Nutrition brand on the market today. TORQ use the purest potent natural ingredients to achieve our goals. Where possible, their products are certified Organic by the Soil Association, or carry the Fairtrade mark, providing farmers in developing countries a fair price for their produce. 

They don’t use chemical sweeteners, colours or artificial flavours, yet we work meticulously to deliver the finest natural flavour profiles available in any food product, let alone the niche sector TORQ is represented in. From product function, through to usability, flavour and packaging quality and design, they accept absolutely no compromise and always strive for perfection.

At SportySwim we stock a range of TORQ products to help you with your nutrition. Take a look at the range of the products below. 

See more information on nutrition here. Essential reading for any swimmer and parent.

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To help guide our customers, here are some of our thoughts regarding popular goggles here at SportySwim. Our thoughts and opinions are our own.

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to goggles, as each individual is different. It is perfectly natural for swimmers to train in anything from high end racing goggle to a lower end training goggle, and the same concept for racing too. It is very much personal preference, and finding out what works best for you, and how you prefer to wear your goggles.

Training Choice: So many options for competition and leisure swimmers to choose from. 10 years ago, the obvious selection would have been the superb Speedo Merit. Hard wearing, comfortable and cheap! For whatever reason this is now long gone. The Arena Airspeed is our most popular goggle. Lightweight, comfortable and a nice price point with good colour and lens selections. Don’t discount the Arena Tracks, Maru Sonic, Pulse and the TYR Blackhawk.

Racing Choice: The Speedo Hyper Elite and Arena Cobra ranges dominate the market and who can argue. The selection really comes down to the swimmers personal choice. Don’t forget the AquaSphere Xceed which has a big following for those in the know. And the TYR Tracer X which is equally well received.

Junior Choice: Look no further than the TYR Swimples or range of AquaSphere goggles. Soft seals, great comfort and lots of lovely colours and designs.  The Swimples is a really good goggle for thinner faces 5 to 10.

Value Choice: Maru Sonic and Pulse have always been one of the go to goggles of the SportySwim team. A great price, comfortable and loved by everyone. Great choice for training and leisure alike.

Open Water/Triathlon Choice: In our opinion, look no further than the selection of AquaSphere goggles. They’re the experts and eyewear specialists. The Vista & Kayenne are always popular and with the new Defy Ultra as the high end Mask on the market, they will always continue to be one of the specialists in this field. Alternatively, you can look to Zone3 for their specialist Open Water goggle selection!