Hi, I am an undergraduate student at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada and am currently taking a comparative biophysics course. I have chosen to investigate the benefits of "shaving down" (if there are any) on competitive swimming as the topic of my term paper. If anyone could suggest any helpful websites or ...just anything about this topic I would be very thankful.

Anne-Marie, I have swam competively for years and have performed the shaving ritual many swimmers go through. The reason I would say most people shave is not to achieve less drag, but to obtain a better feel for the water. The body becomes much more sensitive after shaving and allows the swimmer to have a better control. Technique is the major factor in swimming, not power. Good luck on your project. - Nick -- Nicholas A. Plaxton, M.S. Orthopaedic Research Lab Inc. Mt. Sinai Medical Center One Mt. Sinai Drive Cleveland, Ohio 44106 United States of America nick@orl-inc.com http://orl-inc.com Phone: (216) 421-4334 Fax: (216) 421-4843

Dear Anne Marie, From a purely subjective standpoint, as a competitive swimmer I definitely found an advantage to "shaving down" before swimming in championship meets. Some of this was no doubt "psychological," but I hasten to add that there are most certainly physiological as well as biomechanical advantages to the practice. The psychological effect was related to the fact that I was performing this "very special ritual" specifically for the year-end meets, and this seemed to increase my readiness to compete. I believe physiology began to grow in importance here, with the possibility of enhancing "adrenaline production." (I'll ask the exercise physiologists to grant me some flexibility in terminology..) From a biomechanics perspective, for the majority of the swim season, I practiced and competed with quite a bit of wet hair covering my legs. This was decreasing my proprioception, but I was unaware of this fact until the first time I shaved down as a high-school senior. Now, almost instantly, I could feel the water moving over my legs, and I could perceive the position of my legs much more accurately for flip turns, etc. This increased perception was exhilarating, and I suspect the effect here might also have been to increase "adrenaline" production. I have heard others suggest that shaving with a razor might have taken a few dead skin cells off the surface of the legs, adding to better proprioception. And finally, I believe there is a strong argument for the suggestion that hair removal results in lower surface drag across the legs. All told then, for a combination of psychological, physiological, and biomechanical reasons, shaving down seems to truly enhance swimming performance. Best regards, Frank ********************************************************************** Frank L. Buczek, Jr., Ph.D. (210) 705-6597 voice Director, Biomechanics Laboratory (210) 705-6567 fax Santa Rosa Outpatient Rehabilitation Center fbuczek@srhcc.org for Children and Adults 2701 Babcock Road, San Antonio, Texas, 78229, USA **********************************************************************

Hello, Please check following web page: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/coachsci/swimming/abstract/hydros/table.html It contains abstracts of articles concerned with hydrodynamic characteristics of and forces in swimming. For example, Sharp, R. L., & Costill, D. L. (1990). Shaving a little time. Swimming Technique, November 1989-January 1990, 10-13. Good Luck! Kiyoshi Omori omori@pobox.com

say hi to prof. demont. look for articles by a scientist named Rick Sharp who is at Iowa State Univ. he did the research at Ball State Univ. rodger kram Assistant Professor mail address: 3060 VLSB University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-3140 office: 5024 VLSB phone (510) 643-9370 FAX (510) 643-6264 e-mail rkram@socrates.berkeley.edu WWW http://garnet.berkeley.edu:80/~rkram/

Hello, I saw an article in the Discovery web site (www.discovery.com) about shaving down olimpic athlets, as fas as I remember they would gain a 1000th of a second, does this helps? Alex.

Anne-Marie, Just for fun when teaching my biomechanics courses I suggest to my students that swimmers when they shave down should leave their arms as the hairiness will increase the drag and thus be beneficial to the forward motion. It would be interesting if someone such as yourself conducted an investigation looking at the relative benefits of shaving the arms, ie whether the increased drag benefits of the arm motion through the water outweight the influence of the drag on the body movement through the water. Have fun! Regards Doug McClymont (lecturer in Sports Science) E-Mail: DougM@rimu.cce.ac.nz

Some years ago (1980 - 85) D. Costill the physiologist worked on this with regard to LA during 200 yd swims I think. I do not know the reference off hand but I think it was in Swimming Technique or the Journal of Swimming Research. Dan Daly

Hi, Anne-marie- This isn't scientific, but I heard it recently with respect to shaving down for competitive cycling. According to this person, the main reason professional cyclists shave down is not for aerodynamics but so that the athlete's massage therapist can get better "purchase" when performing deep tissue massage. This may or may not have application in competitve swimming and is strictly anecdotal. Good luck with your research! David Curd, M.S. Director of Research Hughston Sports Medicine Foundation Columbus, GA USA dcurd@msn.com

Anne-marie, Check an early issue of the Journal of Swimming Research published by the American Swimming Coaches Association for an article by Sharp and others. They had athletes swim at four different speeds for 200 yards shaved and unshaved and took lactates to see if less lactate was produced under shaved conditions for the same speed. They were able to confirm that less lactate was produced at a given speed when a person was shaved. Hope this helps. Dave Luedtke College of St. Catherine

Anne-Marie, I can recall a study by Costill and others that looked at energy cost of swimming shaved and not. They found less cost when shaved. Sorry I can't recall citation (think it was Med Sci Sports Exerc after 1990). On other hand I remember a study that pulled swimmers through the water and looked at drag force, but found that difference was less than their error of measurement. Unfortunately can't recall any details, but was prior to 1985. By the way I just shaved for a YMCA sectionals meet over the weekend. I felt fast even if I wasn't. :-) RJ

Anne-Marie: You should look at an article by Rick Sharp and David Costill in the journal "Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. They completed a study in 1989 which looked at physiological responses to shaving down in breastroke. The exact reference is Sharp, R.L. and Costill, D.L. (1989). Influence of body hair removal on physiological responses during breastroke swimming. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 576-580. Hope this helps, Scott Scott P. McLean, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Health and Human Performance 235 PE Building Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011 (515) 294-8755 FAX (515) 294-8740 smclean@iastate.edu