Swimsuits for women are not quite what they used to be. Back then, it was taboo for a woman to show more skin than the social norm dictates. These days, swimsuits expose more parts of the body than they hide.
But the good news is that there are so many choices when it comes to women swimsuits these days. While most of them are either one-piece or two-piece suits, the cuts and styles vary. There are string bikinis, halter tops, French cuts, the Miraclesuit tankini — all designed to make you look sexy by the beach or by the pool.
But for women who do swimming as a sport, they may not have that many options for racing swimsuits. Most of the ones available are made for lounging around and looking sexy. There are very few that really care about how you perform.
Racing swimsuits were made to be as resistant to water as they can be. Our bodies were not made to stay in water and it shows in our skin. It gets saggy, prune-y, and it gets heavy when we stay in the water long enough. There are animals that were made to resist water but sadly we are not one of them. Racing swimsuits try to copy this quality about other animals so that its wearer can move as fast and as easy as possible underwater.
Some brands that carry racing swimsuits are Arena, Nike, Speedo, and TYR. Most of these are really in the business of providing apparel for athletes. The racing swimsuits they design are the conventional two-strapped ones which meet at the back to give the wearer security against it falling off. Racing swimsuits are very tight to allow the wearer to move freely along.
During the Olympics, we saw a revolution in how racing swimsuits were designed. Now they provide the wearer covering from her neck all the way to the knee. Some would even cover up to her ankles. The racing swimsuits are made of lightweight, thin fabric to keep streamline the swimmer’s figure. There is a compression in certain parts of the body to keep the swimmer’s posture optimal.
This makes her swim faster and use her energy more efficiently. These racing swimsuits were so good that there was actually some question as to whether they should be allowed in the Olympics or not. But the ban did not push through so the swimming scores now are higher than they used to be. This new kind of racing swimsuits are changing the way aquatic sports work.
There are other sports that need swimsuits other than swimming. The two-piece ones are worn by professional beach volleyball teams. These two-piece swimsuits cover a lot more than the others do because you need support and coverage when playing a sport such as volleyball. You can think of them as athletic bras in a way because of the maximum support that they provide.
