Wetsuits - Sleeve or not to Sleeve

MDLNH

Greetings fellow Triathletes and Friends -

Wetsuits: Sleeve or not to Sleeve . . . That is the question.

I will be competing in my 1st triathlon this Sunday (23rd) and the water temps are already above 70 degrees. Since it's my 1st one, I had decided not to go crazy and purchase all the fancy gear (*I'll save that for later*) and go with what I already have. Everyone has started telling me I should get a wetsuit and the benefits they provide. I've done my research and my tri-club also offers discounts on Xterra wetsuits - so the main question I have is: Full Wetsuit or Sleeveless ?

*Extra info/stuff about me
- I will be competing in only a few triathlons for this year, but already planning more for next year.
- I will only be competing in sprint trialthons this year, but already planning for longer ones next year.
- I live in NH and will be competing in the New England Region.
- Concerned about limited mobility (shoulders) with a full wetsuit
- Costs are a factor

I've read the Pros and Cons for each type, read the on-line reviews, and talked to some people . . . So what are your thoughts; comments and feedback on this topic - Full length vs. Sleeveless wetsuits?

Thank you - Mark

scott091501

Sleeved. Faster and warmer. If you lived on the gulf coast I'd tell you sleeveless was an option, but there is really no reason to not get sleeves.

jentris

I have a sleeveless. I also live in NH.

My next wetsuit will probably be sleeved though I will keep my sleeveless shorty for races where the water is warmer but still legal.

For what it is worth, I like swimming in colder water and am pretty used to it I guess.

I did last year's Mass State Tri and I was so hot that I wanted to rip off my wetsuit and cap halfway through the swim. I don't think there is any way that race was wetsuit legal though it got in right under temp. wise. I can't imagine doing that swim with a full suit. It might have even been dangerous.

I say get both.

jentris

And Best of Luck to you!! Go get 'em and most of all, Have FUN!!!

scott091501

I say get both.

You can always look at the Desoto brand suits. They come in separates. So you can get a sleeved and sleeveless top to go with the same bottoms.

jentris

I say get both.

You can always look at the Desoto brand suits. They come in separates. So you can get a sleeved and sleeveless top to go with the same bottoms.

Excellent idea. I researched them a little last year and they are a great company with a quality product.

smbkrn

I just went through this same process this year. I ended up purchasing the Xterra Vortex w/sleeves. I have used a a hand full of times already and love the suit. Shoulder restristion has not been an issue and the sleeves peel off a lot easier than I woudl have ever thought. Just make sure you body glide your wrists/forearms and ankles/calves. Be sure to practice your "exit" b/c so far I have found that stripping the legs without almost falling over has been the toughest part. But then again, the suit is still new and I am being a little overly carefull.

If anyone else woudl like to chime in on this I woudl appreciate it. I am having a hard time getting over the fact that wetsuits can tear from finger nails and soforth but you are supposed to step on it in a parking lot to get it off? Maybe I am overthinking this one a little to much but aren't you just asking to tear the suit? Or should I just not worry about it b/c "that's why they have wetsuit cement" as someone told me.

rugbygirlca

I belong to an open water swimming club in Ontario (Canada) and the members recently had a lengthy discussion about this. Many of the members of the club are triathletes, others are serious marathon swimmers (English Channel crossings under their belts and other crazy stuff like that).

Most have full-sleeve wetsuits, but some are thinking about getting a sleeveless on their next purchase. The leader of the group basically feels that really good swimmers should get sleeveless as the slightly improved shoulder mobility outweighs the increased warmth and boyancy. Those who are good (but not great) swimmers should get full sleeve as the increased boyancy and speed outweighs the shoulder mobility issues.

All that said, I have a full sleeve suit. I tried on a bunch and went with a higher end full-sleeve. I found that the entry level ones were much more restrictive.

It has been coming in handy this spring for sure. Our first open water 'swim' was in 48 degree water. I call it a swim, but really it was a 5 minute head-up dip in the lake. It has now warmed up to 56 degree...which seems cold, but in comparison feels incredible!

scott091501

I belong to an open water swimming club in Ontario (Canada) and the members recently had a lengthy discussion about this. Many of the members of the club are triathletes, others are serious marathon swimmers (English Channel crossings under their belts and other crazy stuff like that).

Most have full-sleeve wetsuits, but some are thinking about getting a sleeveless on their next purchase. The leader of the group basically feels that really good swimmers should get sleeveless as the slightly improved shoulder mobility outweighs the increased warmth and boyancy. Those who are good (but not great) swimmers should get full sleeve as the increased boyancy and speed outweighs the shoulder mobility issues.

All that said, I have a full sleeve suit. I tried on a bunch and went with a higher end full-sleeve. I found that the entry level ones were much more restrictive.

It has been coming in handy this spring for sure. Our first open water 'swim' was in 48 degree water. I call it a swim, but really it was a 5 minute head-up dip in the lake. It has now warmed up to 56 degree...which seems cold, but in comparison feels incredible!

My opinion is that you only get shoulder restricting in cheap wetsuits. Once you get over the $300-$400 threshold there is no issue. I have a fried with the Freak of Nature from TYR. I tried it on and you can barely tell it's there. Of course I'm not dropping $1k plus on a wetsuit.

3dogsrunning

I went the cheap/sleeveless Xterra wetsuit (they are always on sale, just have to google the code, it was $99 when I bought it). I live on the East coast of Canada. I have no complaints about the suit, although it is a little cold still early in the season (I've been in twice now). FWIW I plan on going with sleeves on my next purchase. Also going to go for quality this time. As I said, no complaints about my suit, it served as a good affordable entry option for me. This will be my 4 th season with it.

Definitely going to check out the option mentioned above with the combo.

MDLNH

All the responses have been great and very informative !!!

I really appreciate it - Thank you all :-)

smbkrn

The consesus I got when I did my research is that you want to make sure that you are getting 1.5mm neoprene in the shoulder area. Less expensive suits have 2mm and this is the primary reason that they feel restrictive in the shoulder area. The only other thing that matters (unless you happen to be a top age grouper) is fit.

daj150

If you feel you MUST use a wetsuit, then I say sleeveless. You get more movement. Also, if you have never done an open water swim with a wetsuit before, I highly advise NOT to use one for the first time at a race. If you are doing the Philly Tri this weekend, then I personally am not wearing a wetsuit. Although, with water temp only around 70 right now, I really hope it gets to mid 70s for the race.

scott091501

If you feel you MUST use a wetsuit, then I say sleeveless. You get more movement. Also, if you have never done an open water swim with a wetsuit before, I highly advise NOT to use one for the first time at a race. If you are doing the Philly Tri this weekend, then I personally am not wearing a wetsuit. Although, with water temp only around 70 right now, I really hope it gets to mid 70s for the race.

If you can wear a wetsuit, wear a wetsuit. It is FREE SPEED. It fixes form issues and makes you more hydrodynamic. Advising anyone to not wear a wetsuit or to wear a wetsuit if you must is counter productive. All research shows that sleeves are faster than sleeveless, sleeveless is faster than a speedsuit, and a speedsuit is faster than swimming in your tri kit or bathing suit.

MDLNH

If you feel you MUST use a wetsuit, then I say sleeveless. You get more movement. Also, if you have never done an open water swim with a wetsuit before, I highly advise NOT to use one for the first time at a race. If you are doing the Philly Tri this weekend, then I personally am not wearing a wetsuit. Although, with water temp only around 70 right now, I really hope it gets to mid 70s for the race.

Thanks for the input . . . My 1st triathlon (sprint distance) is this Sunday. I did a practice "open water" swim last night. It also happend to be my 1st "open water" swim . . . and it went great. Practiced my treading water starts; sighting towards a point, rounding a point (a friendly person in a canoe) and getting out of the water several times. It was a timed swim, since I know my avg. 1/4-mile time. I defintely can see where a wetsuit will come in great for addititinal buoyancy. The water temp was approx 72 degrees. Once this event is over, I can spend some more time on this and actually try-on a few different wetsuits and find what I like and can afford :-)

trijoe

If you feel you MUST use a wetsuit, then I say sleeveless. You get more movement. Also, if you have never done an open water swim with a wetsuit before, I highly advise NOT to use one for the first time at a race. If you are doing the Philly Tri this weekend, then I personally am not wearing a wetsuit. Although, with water temp only around 70 right now, I really hope it gets to mid 70s for the race.

If you can wear a wetsuit, wear a wetsuit. It is FREE SPEED. It fixes form issues and makes you more hydrodynamic. Advising anyone to not wear a wetsuit or to wear a wetsuit if you must is counter productive. All research shows that sleeves are faster than sleeveless, sleeveless is faster than a speedsuit, and a speedsuit is faster than swimming in your tri kit or bathing suit.

Yeah, no. This advice is WAYYYYYY to generalized (or if specific, then specific for THE ANSWERER) to be totally effective.

Wetsuits can really warm you up. If your water is already warm, you can overheat terribly in a wetsuit. A warm water wetsuit swim is hell on earth. The warmer the water the less wetsuit you want on, especially if you heat up easily, or sweat profusely.

Also, there's the T1 speed issue. The shorter your swim, the less effective your time shavings by wearing a wetsuit. If you're not very speedy at getting out of those contraptions then you can lose every second you saved swimming in it just trying to get it off. If you've not practiced this contortionist skill, the time loss becomes even more pronounced.

Then there's the good swimmer / bad swimmer thing. Wetsuits save you time in the water by correcting your form. Mostly. Yes, wetsuits now have these grooves on the arm that offer more resistance as you stroke. Think "teeny tiny arm paddles". Still, it's not that much of a time savings. Wetsuits offer the most benefit for the worst swimmers. If you're a strong swimmer, you'll benefit less from your wetsuit than than a terrible swimmer. This is because your form is already sound. Weaker swimmers with crappier form gain the most from wetsuits.

So yes. There are times when wetsuits really pay off. And the colder the water, the more you want to make sure you're in a full body suit.

But no. There are times when wetsuits are more of a hindrance than a help. And if you're in one of these situations then you really need to think about how you want to proceed. How hot will you get in that puppy? How much time will it shave off your swim, honestly? And how friggin' slow are you getting out of it? All questions that should NOT be ignored.

Good luck! Enjoy your race!
TriJoe.

scott091501

If you feel you MUST use a wetsuit, then I say sleeveless. You get more movement. Also, if you have never done an open water swim with a wetsuit before, I highly advise NOT to use one for the first time at a race. If you are doing the Philly Tri this weekend, then I personally am not wearing a wetsuit. Although, with water temp only around 70 right now, I really hope it gets to mid 70s for the race.

If you can wear a wetsuit, wear a wetsuit. It is FREE SPEED. It fixes form issues and makes you more hydrodynamic. Advising anyone to not wear a wetsuit or to wear a wetsuit if you must is counter productive. All research shows that sleeves are faster than sleeveless, sleeveless is faster than a speedsuit, and a speedsuit is faster than swimming in your tri kit or bathing suit.

Yeah, no. This advice is WAYYYYYY to generalized (or if specific, then specific for THE ANSWERER) to be totally effective.

Wetsuits can really warm you up. If your water is already warm, you can overheat terribly in a wetsuit. A warm water wetsuit swim is hell on earth. The warmer the water the less wetsuit you want on, especially if you heat up easily, or sweat profusely.

Also, there's the T1 speed issue. The shorter your swim, the less effective your time shavings by wearing a wetsuit. If you're not very speedy at getting out of those contraptions then you can lose every second you saved swimming in it just trying to get it off. If you've not practiced this contortionist skill, the time loss becomes even more pronounced.

Then there's the good swimmer / bad swimmer thing. Wetsuits save you time in the water by correcting your form. Mostly. Yes, wetsuits now have these grooves on the arm that offer more resistance as you stroke. Think "teeny tiny arm paddles". Still, it's not that much of a time savings. Wetsuits offer the most benefit for the worst swimmers. If you're a strong swimmer, you'll benefit less from your wetsuit than than a terrible swimmer. This is because your form is already sound. Weaker swimmers with crappier form gain the most from wetsuits.

So yes. There are times when wetsuits really pay off. And the colder the water, the more you want to make sure you're in a full body suit.

But no. There are times when wetsuits are more of a hindrance than a help. And if you're in one of these situations then you really need to think about how you want to proceed. How hot will you get in that puppy? How much time will it shave off your swim, honestly? And how friggin' slow are you getting out of it? All questions that should NOT be ignored.

Good luck! Enjoy your race!
TriJoe.

I would disagree.

If you have issues getting the suit off then you haven't thought it through much. It's really quite simple to get off. Start peeling it down as you run to T1. Get it to your feet at the bike. Step on one leg with the other foot and yank. Repeat. Done. If you over heat in a wetsuit in a sprint you are in the water WAY too long. Overheating in a wetsuit is an issue at places like IMTX where it's wetsuit optional and damn near 100 degrees outside. It should not be an issue at most 99% of the wetsuit legal races out there. As to speed, yes it is a matter of degrees when you're talking good swimmer vs. bad swimmer. The bad swimmer will get the extra bonus of their legs being held up as if swimming with a pull buoy. That isn't the only extra speed you get. You get the reduced surface area from the compression of the neoprene. You get the improved hydrodymanics because of single uninterrupted surface (ie no pockets or seams). A full sleeve is faster scientifically and pulling off a full sleeve vs a sleeveless is essentially the same thing going into T1 so you should always go with the full sleeve unless you can't afford a good one because then you'll have shoulder stiffness issues.