Passive drag and body position of swimmers wearing a rubber full-body swimsuit

The introduction of rubber suits abruptly improved the swimming performance. However, it is not still clear how this kind of suit affects the drag of swimmers. The purpose of the present study was to analyze how the trunk and lower limbs hydrodynamic position, induced by wearing a rubber swimsuit, affects the Dp in front crawl swimming. Fourteen male high-level swimmers performed six 20-m trials of passive swimming at increasing velocities (1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 m/s). The whole protocol was repeated in random order wearing a brief-traditional suit and a full-body synthetic rubber swimsuit. The present data showed that the synthetic rubber swimsuit induced an increase of the legs inclination with a raising effect similar to that involved by a pull-buoy. As the drag is reduced by changing the body position during gliding, a modified position of the lower limbs may be a further factor contributing to the passive drag reduction observed when using a full-body swimsuit.