How Much Faster Can A Wetsuit Really Make You?

It's the ultimate showdown, wetsuit James vs swimwear James! We know that wetsuits are designed to make us swim faster with buoyancy but how much faster? In today's video, James becomes our lab rat to test it out to find out exactly how much time you can save with a wetsuit! 🏊

0:00 - Intro
1:41 - The test
2:58 - The results

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How much faster do you feel when you wear a wetsuit? Let us know in the comment section below! 💬

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[gtn]

How much faster do you feel when you wear a wetsuit? 🩲

[dbk]

Do a test with a elite swimmer and an average swimmer, with both top of the line wetsuit and a budget wetsuit. That’s the test we all want to see.

[Thrash]

Would be interesting to see an Economy Wetsuit VS High End Wetsuit or maybe a Fullsuit vs Sleeveless. Nice Demostration GTN Team.. :)

[zoltanvarga]

I've been racing triathlons for 36 years and have used many different wetsuits, and also track my times accurately. In my experience a top-end wetsuit can make you 8-10 seconds/100 meters faster, regardless of distance. That applies for my swimming speed, so at the same effort I would swim 1:24/100 instead of 1:34/100 when doing a 1000 m, or a 1:12 instead of a 1:22 for a fast 100 m. Also it reduces my number of strokes / length from about 43 to 40. For a faster swimmer it means less. A tri suit is about 3 s/100m faster than swimming trunks.

[abrishmalick]

i like this format, a single topic presented short and brief😊❤

[MianAzamMianAzam-lmvk]

I love these types of videos! thanks, Heather and James!

[jcoterhals]

I like this format, a single topic presented short and to the point. Liked 🙂

[raohussain]

Nice and Excellent. Always give great tips

[jnd]

Nice test! Just the extrapolation to the Ironman distance fell a bit short: 3.8 km are 19 times 200 m, not 16, and the gain would be 254.6 sec, which is 4 min 14.6 sec

[momomoyo]

Great video. However, I think this difference is due to James being a great swimmer and having the right body position. Wouldn't the average triathlete make more of a difference?

[joslynwilson]

Another benefit is that sighting is easier in a wetsuit so you may end up swimming straighter and thus a shorter overall distance in the race.

[ariomanousi]

Could you do a comparison between a top of the line wetsuit and an entry level wetsuit? Is it worth the price difference?

[adnanshaikh]

I love these types of videos...NYC swimming 😊

[danish_]

"Who's gonna be the fastest james vs wetsuit james?"
"My dad"

[nicw]

Wow James, I'd like to post 2:38 as a slow 200m split (in a 50m pool) !

[gluecksdrache]

Thank you for the great test. I am astonished about the time difference.

[s]

I’ve always thought the difference to be greater than that for longer distances. May depend on the individual as well, and the scale for longer distances may not be linear as compared to a relative sprint. (Yes a 200 is just ever so slightly off a sprint for those in great shape)

[Azhanali-it]

I like this formit a single topic presented short and to the point like ❤️

[allydea]

I'm way slower than James (around 2:50/200m) but what I've noticed is that swimming with a buoy (I never tried a wetsuit, but I suppose the principle is similar) makes me WAY faster over longer distances than short. Over 200m max effort, I'm pretty sure the no-buoy swim will be faster, while 400m and up the buoy will be faster. For me it has to do with how much effort I put in my legs. A stronger kick tens to also help your body position.

Would be interested to see James try the same thing over 800m (maybe not on the same day).

[adrianbjones]

The difference in the performance advantage varies so much between people - for those of us with poor form and sinky legs, it's a ridiculously huge difference. And, I don't think fast efforts are a good test - it won't have as much impact when you're sprinting vs longer triathlon distance swims.