Monday, June 29, 2009

The A7 Tracer Revealed at the TYR website!

I saw the A7 at the TYR 2009 Swim Meet of Champions and but I thought is was a Titan. I was very wrong and I should have taken a photo. >.<

What TYR says about the technology: "... TYR has continued to improve upon its proprietary “zoned compression” model of performance suits. The A7 securely locks muscles in, providing precise compression where muscle fatigue can form during exertion, while also allowing range of movement throughout the torso, hips and knees with the BioMark III neoprene. The suit caters to a swimmer’s range of movement while addressing muscle oxygenation, and energy return. ..."

[Link]

There is information about the dual fabrics they use and two other innovations in regards to "core panel", and a "neck panel" to provide more comfort.

12 comments:

Rob D said...

Nice! If they need someone to do some independent testing of this suit I can make some space in my schedule :)

Any word on when it's for sale and for how much?

TedBaker said...

What they are describing in the sales pitch reads as bio-feedback... That can't be right... Open the door to the use of a device that provides a bit of bio-feedback and where does it stop?

Swimming is a "feel" sport. To go fast is to make very slight adjustments in body position, stroke rate, etc. based on very subtle and slight inputs from how one "feels" in the water.

If these suits really do enhance that... Wow, that changes the very nature of the sport... What happens when the next suit does it better? Where does it end?

Tony Austin said...

I think bio-feedback is mere hyperbole or as used as puffery.

(Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express subjective rather than objective views.)

Actual biofeedback is defined as "... a non-medical process that involves measuring a subject's specific and quantifiable bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, sweat gland activity, and muscle tension, conveying the information to the patient in real-time. This raises the patient's awareness and therefore the possibility of conscious control of those functions. ..."

Anonymous said...

Hey Tony:


Quote from your post:
"The suit caters to a swimmer’s range of movement while addressing muscle oxygenation, and energy return. ..."

Wow…you guys are really out there this time…Puffery…is right!! Now why are they making these kinds of claims?? Someone in the press will challenge them on “addressing muscle oxygenation, and energy return…” and how in the world will they defend that? This means they would have to be conducting at least all kinds of oxygen consumption measurements, and what lab conducted those measurements…etc. Feels just like the NASA claim…from you know who…but funny no mention about that claim during the lawsuit proceedings….just puffery?

I thought at least TYR would rise above this kind of….puffery… :)

Tony Austin said...

What do you mean "you guys?"

I am not on TYR's payroll nor have I accepted any favors, gifts, money, suits, loaners, discounts, wine, women or an MP3.

I cannot be bought and I cannot be leased.

Anything I wear from TYR, including the $344.20 Tracer Light was purchased.

I am not making any claims whatsoever.

Anonymous said...

Tony, Tony, Tony:

Not talking about you…but our friends from TYR and their “puffery” about “addressing muscle oxygenation, and energy return. ..."

Everyone knows you are an upstanding guy…but you didn’t need to include women…wouldn’t ever blame you for that one…. :)

BTW – Thanks to you… “puffery” is now my favorite new word…

Tony Austin said...

ok, thanks, I feel much better now.

Kevin said...

I was a timer at the Swim meet of Champions. Having seen the newer TYR suits up close I was disappointed. Most of the tyr suits had portions of rubberized coating pealing away. Don't get me wrong, I like Tyr. However, these suits looked extremely fragile. Of course other suits had some of these issues, but the percentage of the tyr suits having this problem was much higher than any other. If I had to guess, I'd say more than half.

Tony Austin said...

I saw a kid named Garret wearing one, he was a breaststroker and he said it was faster than the Tracer Light and Faster than the b70. His looked fined to me but you must have seen a lot of suits that day too.

Kevin said...

I timed for the finals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was really surprised by the condition of some of these suits. Most of the problems seemed to be with the diagonal strips on the hips.

Anonymous said...

The suits that were peeling at SMOC were the tracer rise and not the A7. Chloe and Tom wore the A7 and there suits held up fine. Also the peeling suits the MVN swimmers wore were used at the 5k and 10k open water trials too, I dont think 85+ degree salt water is good for tech suits. In other news Chloe's suit had pockets!

Tony Austin said...

I am hearing that the Rise has a shorter shelf life too.