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8 Best Tech Suits for Butterfly Swimmers- The Expert Guide

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Do you want to swim faster butterfly? Are you looking for a competitive edge over your competition? Well, in that case, you’ve come to the right place because in today’s article we will be taking a look at the 8 best tech suits for butterfly swimmers, as well as some of the benefits that these tech suits hold for you as a swimmer.

The winter training months were tough, it was cold, but you still showed up to training every single day to make sure that you’ll be the fittest you’ve ever been and that you’ll be race-ready. You’ve been grinding it out every session. You’ve been spending time in the kitchen to ensure your nutrition is optimal and you’re consuming the right foods.

And not just that, but you’ve also been visualizing your races on a daily basis. You’ve done everything to prepare to swim fast, and you know exactly what to do to crush those PBs and win those gold medals.

And now it’s that time of the season again, not that the season really ever ends, but it’s the time where the meets start. And when the meets and racing starts, you have to start oiling your cylinders and priming your body to swim fast, and that includes ensuring you have the best tech suit for your main stroke, namely butterfly.

8 Best Tech Suits for Butterfly Swimmers

Here are the best tech suits for butterfly swimmers-

  • Speedo LZR Pure Intent
  • Arena Carbon Core FX tech suit
  • Arena Carbon Air 2 tech suit
  • TYR Venzo tech suit
  • Mizuno Sonic GX V tech suit
  • Finis Rival 2.0
  • Budget suit- Mizuno Sonic MX
  • Budget suit- Finis Fuse

←Scroll to view full table on mobile→

Butterfly Tech Suit Recommended Butterfly Events Material composition Our rating View on SwimOutlet
Speedo LZR Pure Intent 50, 100 and 200 butterfly 66% polyamide, 34% elastane 10/10 >View price
Arena Carbon Core FX 50 and 100 butterfly 52% polyamide, 47% elastane, and 1% carbon fiber 10/10 >View price
Arena Carbon Air 2 50, 100, and 200 butterfly 65% polyamide, 34% elastane and 1% carbon fiber 10/10 >View price
TYR Venzo 50, 100, and 200 butterfly 70% nylon, 30% lycra 10/10 >View price
Mizuno Sonic GX V 50 and 100 butterfly N/A 9/10 >View price
Finis Rival 2.0 50, 100, and 200 butterfly 44% elastane, 41% polyamide, 15% polyester 9/10 >View price
Mizuno Sonic MX (mid-range suit) 50, 100, and 200 butterfly 65% nylon, 35% spandex 8/10 >View price
Finis Fuse (budget suit) 50, 100, and 200 butterfly 71% polyamide, 29% elastane 7/10 >View price

For help with finding the right size for your tech suit, consider reading my tech suit sizing guide, where I cover all of the most popular swimming brands and their tech suits.

1. Speedo LZR Pure Intent Tech Suit

Speedo recently released their new tech suit range. This includes the Speedo LZR Pure Intent tech suit.

The LZR Pure Intent is a feature-packed racing suit built to allow you to swim fast while optimizing your performance in the water.

The suit is highly versatile and can be used for a wide array of swimming strokes. It’s, however, more focused on sprint and middle-distance swimming events, making it perfect for all butterfly swimmers since you’ll be able to use this suit for 50, 100, and 200 fly events.

The Pure Intent takes has taken the most advanced features from all of Speedo’s previous tech suits as a base and has improved on them, as well as adding its own large and unique set of high-end features and technologies, allowing you to swim faster than you have ever before.

A few of the features that stand out most to me include the suit’s great muscle compression. The Speedo LZR Pure Intent utilizes dual compression layering to increase blood circulation and to connect important muscle groups in your body. This allows your muscles to consume more oxygen while being supported, activated, and stabilized, resulting in more speed and power while swimming butterfly.

Speedo LZR Pure Intent Tech Suit

The suit also contains an awesome feature known as textured fabric zones, this allows for targeted drag reduction while you’re racing. While the triple fabric construction, with its low profile bonded seams, ensures that you’re always able to reach maximum range of motion on every butterfly stroke and kick.

All in all, this is an excellent tech suit with a lot of really solid features. (check out the feature and benefits box below). Not to mention that this is the suit worn by the 100m butterfly world record holder- Caeleb Dressel. If you’d like to know more check out my full review by clicking here.

Features and benefits of the Speedo LZR Pure Intent tech suit-

  • Built-in dual compression layers, allow for intelligent muscle compression, ultimately enhancing blood flow and oxygen to your muscles and reducing fatigue.
  • An ergonomic seam construction connects large muscle groups in your body, resulting in higher power output and swimming speed while swimming butterfly.
  • The tripe-fabric design with low profile bonded seams ensures that you have an optimal range of motion on every fly stroke and kick without feeling restricted in any way possible.
  • Advanced textured fabric zones ingeniously target drag reduction to allow for faster swimming and more gold medals, and best times.
  • New band technology in the LZR Pure Intent allows for a powerful butterfly kick, allowing you to generate more momentum and power from your legs and to swim faster.
  • The Speedo LZR Pure Intent is built with a premium waistband and leg grips engineered to reduce water ingress, ultimately allowing you to swim with less drag.
  • Durable and light-weight construction with a 66% polyamide and 34% elastane composition keeps you light and agile in the water, ensuring peak racing speeds.
  • The jammer is available in a high-waist and standard-waist variation, while the women’s suits are available in open-back and closed-back variations, allowing you to choose the style you prefer.

Cons-

  • High price point, this is one of the most expensive tech suits available.
  • Leaking at the back, on jammers, if you don’t put the suit on properly.
  • Waistband too tight for some swimmers.

2. Arena Carbon Core FX Tech Suit

The Carbon Core FX is one of Arena’s newest and most advanced tech suits available. This suit is an excellent tech suit for butterfly swimmers specializing in the 50, and 100 fly events due to its high levels of compression and carbon cage, making it ideal for sprinting events.

Arena Carbon Core FX Tech Suit

Quick summary: the Arena Carbon Core FX is a compressive tech suit ideal for sprinters and also makes a good IM option. It is optimal for all of the strokes.

The suit has many innovative features, including an advanced carbon compression cage, state-of-the-art taping system, lightweight water-repellent fabric, and a flexible design.

Downsides include lacking water-repellent technology and short drawstrings. 

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The suit will still be suitable for 200 butterfly swimmers, but some swimmers might prefer lower compression for the 200 butterfly event. In that case, I recommend the Arena Carbon Air 2 or Mizuno Sonic GV V MR which we’ll cover a bit later.

The Carbon Core FX presents some awesome new features and technologies. My favorite is the dual taping on the hamstrings, this helps swimmers to maintain a high body-position throughout their entire race and significantly reduces resistance as a result.

I’m also a huge fan of the carbon cage providing some insane levels of muscle compression. This provides a really great locked-in-feel and ensures that you are able to swim as fast as possible due to muscle activation and higher rates of blood circulation.

All in all, this is a really solid tech suit with some superb features designed to help you push your limits in the pool and swim faster than ever before.

Arena Carbon Core FX Tech Suit

Features and benefits of the Arena Carbon Core FX tech suit-

  • The internal taping system allows for powerful muscular support and core stabilization, resulting in higher power output and allowing you to maintain speed when you start to get tired.
  • Dual taping on the hamstring ensures a lifting-effect, helping you to maintain an optimal body position, even when you’re tired. This significantly reduces resistance in the water and optimizes your swim speed.
  • Advanced carbon cage fabric forms a horizontal and vertical grid around important muscle groups, resulting in very strong and durable muscle compression with a locked-in-effect. This ensures faster blood circulation, higher oxygen consumption, and a tight streamline.
  • Lightweight design with a material composition of 52% polyamide, 47% elastane, and 1% carbon fiber keeps you light and agile, optimizing your speed and reducing drag while you swim.
  • Versatile tech suit, ideal for sprint swimmers. This suit allows for unrestricted movement in all of the strokes but is ideal for 50 and 100s due to the high compression levels.
  • The Arena Carbon Core FX comes in at an excellent price point, considering that it’s a flagship tech suit, this ultimately saves you some money.
  • Women’s suit is available is an open- and closed-back variation, so that swimmers can choose the suit they prefer most.

Cons-

  • Water repellency isn’t the best, considering this is a premium tech suit.

3. Arena Carbon Air 2 Tech Suit

You’re probably familiar with the all so popular Arena Carbon Air, well recently Arena decided to upgrade that suit to deliver us the Arena Carbon Air 2. The Air 2 is very similar to the original carbon air, but it has a few major upgrades, making the redesign well worth it.

The Carbon Air 2 is ideal for all of the butterfly events, this includes the 50, 100, and 200 fly. This is due to its great compression, unrestricted range of motion allowance, and super-lightweight construction.

The main changes include the switch to a single fabric construction, instead of 2 separate fabrics. This serves many purposes, but the main purpose is an increased reduction in drag while you’re racing.

The Air 2 also received integrated carbon bands for intelligent muscle compression. This will increase blood circulation and oxygen consumption, ultimately enhancing your performance in the water.

Further, the Arena Carbon Air 2 still carries over that ultra-lightweight design that we saw in the original Carbon Air. This is one of the key signatures of the suit and it’ll allow you to reach peak swimming speeds in no time.

Overall, this is a really solid tech suit for butterfly swimmers specializing in all of the fly events or looking for a good 200 fly suit. The suit has a lot of excellent features and a high-quality design. Not to forget that this is also the preferred tech suit worn by butterfly-legend Chad le Clos.

Arena Carbon Air 2 Tech Suit

Features and benefits of the Arena Carbon Air 2 tech suit-

  • The single fabric design reduces your drag in the water by completely removing the side seams on the suit. It also increases comfort and makes the suit easier to get on.
  • Internal carbon bands ensure comfortable and intelligent muscular compression. This increases the rate at which oxygen and nutrients can be replenished, while keeping you stable in the water, ultimately helping you to maintain maximal speed for longer.
  • The internal 3-panel design allows you to enjoy freedom of movement, ensuring that you’re able to reach full range of motion of every fly stroke and kick, resulting in more power and faster swimming.
  • The suit is super versatile, making it ideal for any butterfly event, as well as other swimming events so that you don’t have to worry about purchasing multiple suits for different events.
  • Highly water-resistant fabric keeps you light and smooth, ultimately reducing drag and enhancing your swim speed, ensuring that you ace those best times and gold medals.
  • The suit features the most lightweight design available with a material composition of 65% polyamide, 34% elastane, and 1% carbon fiber, keeping you light and agile.
  • Women’s suits are available in open- and closed-back variations for the freedom of preference.

Cons-

  • The suit is slightly see-through due to intense stretching, but the modest panels cover critical areas.
  • The Air 2 slightly lacks buoyancy due to the light design.

4. TYR Venzo Tech Suit

The TYR Venzo is one of the best racing suits currently available. It’s a feature-packed tech suit built to enhance swimming performance and it’s being worn by some of the best professional swimmers on the planet. A few names include- Katie Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, and Matt Grevers.

Top Pick for Sprinters and IM
TYR Venzo Tech Suit

Quick summary: the TYR Venzo is one of the best sprinting tech suits, although still perfectly suited to mid-range events. The suit works well with all strokes.

Features include a durable, water-resistant fabric combined with a frictionless fiber construction and seamless exo-shell to reduce drag. Built-in surface lift technology, dual layering, and an endo-compression cage further enhance your performance.

Downsides include lacking comfort and being hard to put on.

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The TYR Venzo has a ton of awesome features and some advanced technology built-in. And not to mention, that it’s probably one of the coolest, if not the coolest looking tech suit currently available.

Team TYR did some thorough research on things like drag reduction and speed optimization when designing this suit. This ultimately led them to create a frictionless fiber construction allowing you to swim butterfly with far less resistance while racing.

The TYR Venzo also has some great compression technology built into its design. The suit contains an endo compression cage, allowing for a flexible cage of muscle support for the abdominals, obliques, and quadriceps.

This also creates an insane snapback effect allowing for increased distance per stroke and a lot of power coming off the walls and dives.

Overall, the TYR Venzo is a really solid tech suit with some excellent features and a great design built to enhance your butterfly swimming performance. The Venzo is perfect for all butterfly swimming event, as well as a wide range of other events.

TYR Venzo Tech Suit

Features and benefits of the TYR Venzo tech suit-

  • a Frictionless fiber construction consisting out of ultra-smooth fiber reduces drag and surface friction and increases your butterfly swimming speeds while reducing energy consumption.
  • Surface lift technology ensures that no water enters your suit’s fabric, resulting in a higher body-position through your entire race. This greatly reduces your resistance in the water.
  • Internal endo compression cage forms a flexible and compressive cage of support for critical muscle groups, creating a snapback effect that increases your distance per stroke and allows for an excellent snapback effect off walls and dives.
  • Seamless Exo shell construction is aimed at optimizing your body-position while decreasing drag and enhancing your buoyancy and speed in the water.
  • The lightweight material composition of 70% nylon and 30% lycra allows for lower drag, increased agility, comfort, and ideal swimming performance.
  • Durable fabrics allow the suit to retain critical features like compression and water-repellency for longer. This keeps your suit fresh and saves you from purchasing a new suit earlier on.
  • The jammer is available in both a high- and standard waist variation, while women’s suits are available in open- and closed-back variations.

Cons-

  • High price point.
  • The high levels of compression might be a bit uncomfortable for some swimmers.

5. Mizuno Sonic GX V Tech Suit

The Sonic GX V is Mizuno’s latest tech suit and it’s absolutely packed with awesome features and technologies that are ideal for butterfly swimming events. What I really like about this suit is the fact that it comes in 2 variations, namely an ST (sprinter) and MR (multi-racer) variation.

Most Compressive Tech Suit
Mizuno GX-Sonic V Tech Suit

Quick summary: the GX Sonic V is a very compressive tech suit optimal for all strokes. The ST variation is ideal for 50 and 100 events, and the MR variation for 200 to 400/500 events.

Features include highly water-repellent fabric and taped seams for drag reduction, dual-layering for buoyancy, and sonic line X taping for hip elevation and kick support. This tech suit is also very durable.

The main downside is that the suit is uncomfortable to wear and hard to put on.  

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This makes the suit ideal for practically every single swimming event. Typically, I’d recommend the ST variation for 50, 100, and even 200 fly events, but if you are a swimmer specializing in both 200 fly and other middle-distance, IM, or even long-distance event then I’d recommend you go with the MR variation. That way you won’t need multiple suits for each event.

The Mizuno Sonic GX V is one of the most buyout suits currently available, this makes it great for maintaining a high body position throughout your entire race, resulting in a significant reduction in drag over the course of that race. The suit also arguably has the best snapback effect out of all of the suits on this list, making it excellent for powerful push-offs, dives, and even underwaters.

All in all, I think this is an awesome tech suit for any butterfly swimmer. The pricing is still relatively high but at the same time lower than some of the other suits like the Speedo LZR Pure Intent, making the features well worth the price.

Mizuno Sonic GX V Tech Suit

Features and benefits of the Mizuno Sonic GX V-

  • The suit utilizes Mizuno’s flat concept designed. This means that the suit is constructed to increase hip elevation while assisting you in maintaining an optimal body position throughout your entire race, resulting in far less drag and higher swimming speed.
  • Manufactured using Sonic light ribtex fabric, a unique and innovative fabric designed to enhance your speed and performance in the water. It also assists you in maintaining a tight and rigid body line.
  • Water repellent fabric and coating reduces the amount of water the suit absorbs, this allows your suit to be lighter while providing you with less resistance, faster swimming, and more medals.
  • Compressive internal panels engineered to support and align your important muscle groups allow for higher power output, faster swimming, and more gold medals.
  • Sonic Line X taping supports the up and down kick and provides a hip-lifting effect throughout your entire kick cycle, allowing for more power to be generated by your legs.
  • Low profile taped seams reduce resistance in the water by cutting down the surface area of the suit, optimizing your speed in the water.
  • The Sonic GX V is available in an MR (multi-racer) and ST (sprinter) variation, allowing you to choose the tech suit most optimal for your butterfly event.

Cons-

  • High price point (still cheaper than some of the other suits though).
  • Hard to get on due to the tight and compressive design.

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6. Finis Rival 2.0 Tech Suit

You might not be completely familiar with Finis as a swimming brand, but believe me when I say you are going to want to consider picking up the Finis Rival 2.0.

FINIS Rival 2.0 Tech Suit

Quick Summary: The Finis Rival 2.0 is a versatile and durable tech suit ideal for all strokes and events.

The fabric is quite compressive but still offers good flexibility. Other performance-enhancing features include shield-tech proprietary fabric, flexible hip panels, and hip-lift technology, ensuring you perform at your best when racing.

In terms of complaints, I have heard that the women’s suit can be tough to get on. 

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The Finis Rival 2.0 is one of the newest and best tech suits currently on the market. The suit is loaded with awesome features and it’s ready to provide some great swims.

Firstly, the Rival 2.0 uses some of the best water-repellent fabric available. This fabric absorbs very small amounts of water, ultimately reducing drag and friction while you are racing.

The Finis Rival 2.0 has hip-lift technology built-in. This allows for increased muscle compression while locking the swimmer into perfect body-position. The suit also has an ultra-lightweight design allowing for reduced drag in the water. Overall, the Finis Rival 2.0 is an excellent racing suit with some really awesome features built into its construction.

FINIS Rival 2.0 Tech Suit

Features and benefits of the Finis Rival 2.0 tech suit-

  • Innovative fabric technology retains very small amounts of water, creating a shield-like effect in the water, allowing you to swim with less drag and friction, which will then lead to faster times and more PBs.
  • Shield-tech proprietary fabric technology allows the suit to move with your body, resulting in an optimized range of motion and supreme comfort while wearing.
  • Built-in flexible hip-panels on the inner tighs also enhance your range of motion, allowing you to generate the maximum amount of power from your legs and swimming as fast as possible.
  • Advanced hip-lift technology utilizing support seams on the hamstrings enhances muscular compression and locks the swimmer into perfect body position, thus improving the snapback effect during your fly kick and push-offs from the walls.
  • An ultra-lightweight construction featuring a material composition of 44% elastane, 41% polyamide, and 15% polyester keeps you light and agile in the water, ultimately optimizing speed.
  • The highly durable fabric allows for a long-lasting tech suit that will save you money in the long run.
  • The jammer has a slightly higher waisted design allowing the stabilization of the core and lower back when you start to fatigue in your race.

Cons-

  • High price point.
  • Women’s suit is hard to get on.

7. Mizuno Sonic MX Tech Suit- Mid-Range Option

The Mizuno Sonic MX is a premium tech suit coming in at a mid- to budget range price point. The features on this suit make it ideal for swimming butterfly and the suit is perfect for all of the fly events.

Mizuno MX-Sonic Tech Suit

Quick summary: the Mizuno MX Sonic is a solid mid-range tech suit with a premium design. I recommend this suit for sprinters, but it will also make a good option for events in the 200-400/500 range.

The suit features durable Sonic Light Ribtex II fabric, stitched anchor points, a water-repellent coating, grooved fabric, and compression panels.

My main complaint is the stitched seams. These lack durability and performance.

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The Sonic MX features compressive internal panels that are designed to provide excellent compression, comparing to that on highly-priced tech suits. Other features include quality fabric, water-resistant materials, and a highly buoyant construction.

All in all, this is a great tech suit coming in at nearly half the price of some of the new flagship suits with their fancy features and new technologies. That said, the suit is still going to provide you with some great features, that are going to give you a nice boost in the pool.

Mizuno Sonic MX Tech Suit

Features and benefits of the Mizuno Sonic MX tech suit-

  • The suit has compressive internal panels engineered to support and align the large muscle groups in your body, this allows you to maintain maximal speed when you start to tire out.
  • Sonic Light Ribtex II fabric is a unique and grooved fabric designed to reduce drag and provide compressive support, allowing you to swim faster and win more medals.
  • Water repellent fabric and coating reduces your drag in the water and optimizes your swimming speeds.
  • Lightweight design with a material composition of 65% nylon, and 35% spandex, keeps you light, agile, and fast while racing.
  • The suit’s construction allows for high buoyancy and a great snapback effect on push-offs and dives.
  • An affordable budget price point ensures that you save some money.

Cons-

  • The seams are sewn, making them slightly more prone to getting worn out, and also increasing surface area.
  • Limited color options.

8. Finis Fuse Tech Suit- Budget Option

The final tech suit on our list is the Finis Fuse tech suit. This suit is by far the best value for money tech suit currently available. It presents a large range of top-notch features while being priced well into the budget price ranges.

The suit contains premium features such as bonded seams, compressive technology, and a flexible design allowing for an ideal range of motion on a large set of events, including 50, 100, and 200 fly.

Overall, the Finis Fuse is an awesome tech suit coming in at a very affordable price while still packing a good punch.

Interested in some more budget tech suits? Click here to check out my article on the best budget suits.

Here are some features of the Finis Fuse tech suit-

  • Flexible muscle compression allows for a full range of motion on every fly stroke and kick, ensuring maximal power output and making the suit usable for a wide range of events.
  • Bonded seams combined with a double panel construction reduces drag and improves speed in the water.
  • Water-repellent technology ensures a reduction in drag and turbulence while racing and optimizes your speed, helping you to crush that record or best time.
  • Compression technology allows for high-levels of muscle compression with resilient elasticity built-in. This enhances blood circulation, increases muscle activation, and ultimately helps you to swim faster.
  • Silicone watertight edges ensure a comfortable, secure, and water-tight fit while wearing, ultimately reducing drag and optimizing your swimming speed.
  • High-quality fabric with a material composition on 71% polyamide and 29% elastane provides you with a durable and light tech suit.
  • Budget price makes the suit one of the best value for money tech suits available.

Cons-

  • Lacks some high-end features.

Looking for some more tech suits? Consider checking out some of our other tech suit guides-

The Science Behind These Tech Suits

As you have probably realized by now- there is a ton of research that goes into developing these suits. A lot of these swimming brands literally have laboratories and teams of scientists researching how to make these suits as fast as possible, while still staying in the regulating boundaries set by FINA.

But does it really have such a big effect on your swimming? In short- yes, the tech put into these suits can literally break or make a race, especially at the elite levels like professional swimming, the NCAA, and even elite level age group swimming where the competition really starts to get tight.

A study conducted by researcher Jean Claude Chatard and Barry Wilson,  published in the Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, has found that tech suits have the ability to provide swimmers with an overall performance benefit equating to roughly 3,2% when compared to standard training suits.

Let me put that into perspective for you by giving you a real-life example. Say your 100 fly PB without a tech suit is 1:02,10 (which is a solid and yet reasonable time for a lot of good butterfly swimmers). Now you put on a tech suit and gain that 3,2% performance benefit, that would put your PB at a 1:00,12, exactly 1.98 seconds faster! Just from wearing a tech suit.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about how these suits are able to achieve those results consider checking out my article- “do tech suits make a difference?“.

10 Tips to Make Your Butterfly Tech Suit Last Longer

1. Save Your Butterfly Tech Suit for Your Big Meets

You shouldn’t be wearing your tech suit every meet. It is a good idea to save it for your big and important meets.

Once you have a few tech suits this becomes a bit of an easier process since you can cycle through older tech suits on the smaller meets and use the new tech suits for the bigger meets.

2. Take Off Your Butterfly Tech Suit Slowly (And Put It on Slowly)

Sometimes it can be very, very tempting to get your tech suit off or on as fast as possible. However, I would advise you not to do so. When you take off or put on your tech suit very quickly you can make yourself vulnerable to a tear.

I recommend that you take your time and put your tech suit on slowly and carefully, as to avoid a tear or pinching the fibers of your butterfly tech suit with your nails.

3. Don’t Hang Your Tech Suit Up to Dry

Hanging up your tech suit is a really bad idea. Why? Because if you hang up your wet tech suit, it is going to be heavier at the bottom as the water starts to drip out. This can cause your butterfly tech suit to stretch and make it lose some of its lifespan and cool features.

4. Rinse Out Your Butterfly Tech Suit with Water

Pools have a lot of chlorine in them. Chlorine isn’t very healthy for your tech suit either. You don’t want to let the chlorine stay on your tech suit for too long, that is why it’s a good idea to rinse out your tech suit with cold water after you are done racing for the day.

This will protect your tech suit from chlorine damaging the fibers.

5. Don’t Leave Your Suit in Direct Sunlight

Similarly to chlorine, direct sunlight can also cause damage to the fibers of your tech suit. Many swimmers want their tech suits to dry out quickly so they decide to leave it out to dry in direct sunlight.

This isn’t a very good idea, because like we just discussed, the sun can cause damage to the fibers of your tech suit and reduce its lifespan.

6. Wear Shorts Over Your Butterfly Tech Suit In-Between Races

One of the things that irritate me the most is when swimmers don’t wear something over their tech suits. Why? Because they go and sit on some rough surface somewhere and the next moment they are crying because something sharp tore their tech suit.

It’s a pretty good idea to wear shorts or some pants over your tech suit to protect it from getting ripped.

7. Dry Yourself Before Putting on Your Tech Suit

Okay, this is a pretty simple one, but a lot of people just don’t seem to get it.

It is way easier to get on that tight tech suit, once you are actually dry and secondly trying to get on a wet tech suit is going to cause it to stick to your body, this can cause it to stretch as you try and pull the sticky tech suit up your legs.

8. Go Underneath the Lane Ropes After Your Race

Sometimes, just sometimes the lane rope is a bit broken and has a few pieces of sharp plastic sticking out. and sometimes, just sometimes, you might decide to swim over the lane ropes after your race.

BAD IDEA! I know it’s quite uncommon, but it is like they say- “Rather safe than sorry”.

It is better to swim underneath the lane ropes after your race to avoid tearing your tech suit on the lane rope, plus I find it easier anyway than trying to climb over the lane ropes when I am tired.

9. Cross Your Drawstrings, When Tying to Prevent Tearing

This is a slightly more complicated one to explain on paper, but I’ll do my best. When tying your suit before you go and smash another PB cross the drawstring so that it forms an X.

Do not pull them in different directions from each other when tying them. When you pull them away from each other (in a different direction) you put a strain on the fabric and it can result in an unnecessary tear.

10. Go to the Bathroom Before Putting It On

Meets can be quite stressful sometimes. Maybe you have a big race on the line and you really, really want to win, qualify for nationals or beat that old rival swimming next to you.

All of this can cause your stomach to be quite upset. Therefore I recommend that you spend a good amount of time in the bathroom before putting on your tech suit.

This will help ‘clear’ your stomach and you won’t have to put your tech suit on a thousand times. Ultimately this will help to reduce stretching off your tech suit and increase its lifespan.

For some more tips check out my article on how to make your tech suit last longer here.

Swim Faster with a New Butterfly Tech Suit

As you can see, there are many benefits in wearing a tech suit. These benefits range from physical enhancements like increased blood circulation through your muscles, reduced drag in the water, and even increased stroke rate and stroke length while racing. There are also mental enhancements that come along with wearing a tech suit, but I talk more about that here.

I think it is important to invest in a good tech suit since it will allow you to have the confidence that you have done everything to prepare for that big race. There will be no holding back and a lot of the times you are going to have great swims.

It is also important to remember that tech suits aren’t the only important thing when it comes to swimming fast. Sure, they definitely play a role in helping you swim faster, but if you don’t put in the hard work and dedication first, they won’t mean much.

Photo of author
I am Benjamin, a competitive swimmer with over a decande of experience in the sport of swimming. I also hold certifications in Exercise Science and Nutrition. I am very passionate about competitive swimming and love sharing everything I have learned about the sport. I specialize in swimming butterfly and my favorite event is the 100m butterfly with the 50m and 200m fly closely following.

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If you’re a swimmer, you’re likely familiar with dry, straw-like, and brittle chlorine-damaged hair. Perhaps, embarrassingly, others may have commented on the chlorine smell of your curls before. Similarly, if ...

Complete Swimming Equipment List for Every Type of Swimmer

If you want to maximize your performance in the water, reach your swimming goals, and ensure your competitors don’t outswim you, then it’s essential to have the right swimming equipment.  ...

8 Best Pull Buoys for Swimming- The Expert Review

Are you always falling behind in training? How about in competition? Would you like to fix that?  Are you looking to improve your pulling technique and power, build upper body ...