Guide to Choosing Swimwear for Competitive and Fitness Swimmers

You can find endless tips on how to choose the right swimsuit for your body shape, or styles that are more figure-flattering than others. But what’s harder to come by? Tips on how to choose fitness and competition swimsuits that help you achieve your goals and be the best you can be. It’s a lot to ask of a swimsuit, but they definitely exist, and all you need is a couple of pointers to find them. Keep reading for a guide to choosing your fitness and competition swimsuits, because you shouldn’t have to settle when it comes to performance.

While brand names do mean something in the swimwear industry, you’re better off using actual consumer reviews to choose the right swimsuit for you. After all, these aren’t the style reviews of beach-goers, they’re the tried-and-true stories of competitive and fitness swimmers, so you can put more stock in them. Do some research on what the swimming community prefers most instead of just going with the most well-known swimsuit brand—after all, smaller, upcoming swimwear brands have the ability to use high quality fabrics without cutting corners and spend more time making each piece.

Your next course of action is to determine exactly how you want to use your suit; whether you’re looking for fitness or competition swimsuits, it’s important to figure out exactly what you need from your swimsuit. If your goal is to be faster and move as easily as possible, you’re going to want a flexible, stretchy swimsuit that streamlines your shape and cuts through water to get beat your time, every time. If you’re looking for a practice suit that will last so you can swim every single day without having to replace it constantly, then you’re going to need a much higher quality suit with a heavier thread count.

Before finding a suit that just feels nice to wear, you want to do some research into the right fabrics for your need. You shouldn’t have to stress about your competition swimsuit falling apart constantly because of the chlorine or fraying so much you’re afraid of tearing a hole. There are a few common fabrics that crop up constantly in swimwear, so you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons of each to figure out what’s right for you. Nylon is super lightweight and has low water absorbency, which makes it a great swimsuit for speed, but it doesn’t stand up well to sun or chlorine, so if you’ll be swimming outside you might want to consider other options. Spandex is super form fitting and stretchy, but also doesn’t last long with regular chlorine usage. Polyester is durable and long-lasting, and definitely our favourite.

Armed with this knowledge, it’s time to actually go find some competition swimsuits. Luckily, these days you don’t have to go far. Online swimsuit shopping has revolutionized the shopping game, making it super easy to order them to your door and return them just as easily. Plus, you don’t have to try and navigate racks on racks of suits, deal with snooty salespeople, and you can try them on from the comfort of your home (no one needs the negativity of fitting room lights, let’s be honest). Gone are the days when department stores were your only source for swimsuits; now, boutique companies are cropping up with better, well-made options for fitness and competition swimsuits that you actually enjoy wearing. Plus, once you find a brand you love, you’re set, so it’s worth exploring different companies to find the right fit for you.

Speaking of fit, this is pretty much what it all boils down to. Nothing else matters if during a meet your swimsuit is cutting off your circulation or billowing out around you. You want zero distractions when it comes to fitness and competition swimsuits, and we more than get that. Every shape is different, so one size might not fit everyone the same. It truly becomes a matter of trial and error; order your swimsuit in two size options to make sure you don’t discard a potentially great suit just because of a sizing issue. If you have a longer or shorter torso, find a suit that caters to that instead of simply sizing up or down or else you’re going to run into issues when you hit the water.

While the cost of your fitness or competition swimsuit shouldn’t tell you everything you need to know, there is some amount of trust you can put into it. The truth is, a $20 swimsuit isn’t going to get you very far. A swimsuit may be short on fabric, but the fabric it does have needs to be high quality and well-made, and $20 simply isn’t going to buy you that. If the cost seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Check out our selection of high-performance, cute AF competition and fitness swimsuits.