by
Olivier Poirier-Leroy
Whether you are a breaststroker, or an IM specialist looking for a tech suit that provides compression and lots of mobility, here is a breakdown of the best tech suits for breaststrokers.
You’ve done all the training, ate like a champion, and completely nailed your taper.
Know it’s time to step up on the blocks and unleash a hurricane of fury on the competition and your personal best times.
This means choosing a tech suit that is hydrodynamic, water-repellant, and has lots of compression.
But for the needs of a breaststroker or individual medley specialist, any old tech suit won’t do.
What breaststrokers need in a fast racing suit:
Although tech suits are highly personal, there are certain swimuits that are tailored more specifically for breaststrokers and medley swimmers.
Here’s a breakdown of the best tech suits for breaststrokers.
** Our top pick for tech suits for breaststrokers
TYR is one of the more popular gear makers for competitive swimmers. Their stable of swimmers is very impressive, including Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, and Ryan Lochte.
But it’s their core of breaststrokers that make them stand apart from other tech suit manufacturers:
The Venzo, like most high-performance racing suits for swimmers, is made carefully with two goals in mind: compression and reduction of drag.
The suit is made of 70% nylon and 30% spandex, is built without seams, and is highly water-repellant.
The TYR Venzo is available in a variety of colors and backs for men and women. Although it ranks as our favorite, it does land on the higher end of the spectrum when it comes to price.
Arena has built up an impressive portfolio of racing suits over the past few years, with the Carbon Pro and Carbon Flex both ranking as favorites. (Additionally, the Arena ST 2.0 is my favorite all-time cheap tech suit balancing performance fabrics with a budget-friendly price.)
The Arena Carbon line gets a new addition this year with the Carbon Core FX Racing Suit.
The Carbon Cage technology works by providing compression both vertically and horizontally, giving you that familiar “locked-in” feeling when you slide into the suit. The horizontal compression makes it an ideal racing suit for breaststrokers, as you get the full benefits of compression with the range of motion necessary to breaststroke kick like a boss.
Along the back of the legs, the suit is twin-taped for maximum buoyancy in the water. The Arena Carbon Core FX comes in open- and closed-backs for girls/women, and is made of 52% polyamide, 47% elastane, and 1% carbon fiber.
One of the legacy suits of Arena’s is the Carbon Flex. This suit has been wildly popular with breaststrokers and individual medley specialists over the years, and with good reason: The Flex lives up to its name by being highly compressive and highly flexible.
Constructed with a carbon-thread shell, and supported with internal tapes and seams that are bonded to reduce drag as much as possible, the suit’s “Flex Lines” maximize support of target muscles.
The Carbon Flex suit comes in over half a dozen color combinations and in closed and open-backs for women, and is the suit of choice for the fastest male breaststroker on the planet, Adam Peaty.
The Speedo LZR’s and Fastskin’s have been around for a while now, and are the flagship racing suits that the world’s most well-known swim gear manufacturer produces.
The Speedo LZR Pure Valor, one of the two latest iterations of the LZR suits (the other is the Pure Intent), was developed with the feedback of hundreds of high-level swimmers. The suits were tested and retested to ensure maximum compression and flexibility.
Caeleb Dressel, one of the best swimmers on the planet, has this to say about the suit: “It works with your stroke. You’re one with the suit.”
FINIS makes some truly epic swim gear. From their swimmer’s snorkel to Tempo Trainer, FINIS is on the leading-edge when it comes to developing high-performance kit for serious swimmers.
Their tech suit, the Vapor PRO, is a solid mid-range suit that is made of 80% polyamide and 20% elastane. The back of the legs features dual paneling that gives you that secure feeling of compression and buoyancy in the water.
** Best Cheap Tech Suit for Breaststrokers
There are plenty of value-priced options when it comes to racing suits for breaststrokers.
My all-time favorite suit for racing-on-a-budget is the Arena Powerskin ST 2.0.
It costs around $100, is durable, and provides a solid amount of compression. Whether you are a breaststroker or not, the Powerskin ST 2.0 is an awesome budget tech suit for swimming fast on race day.
While it’s not as fast and as water-repellant as the high-grade racing suits, it does provide an economical option for those in-season meets and preliminary sessions, allowing you to save the limited uses you get out of your elite suits for your most important races.
Olivier Poirier-Leroy Olivier Poirier-Leroy is the founder of YourSwimLog.com. He is an author, former national level swimmer, two-time Olympic Trials qualifier, and swim coach.
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