Looking for some help with water getting trapped in the calves of my wetsuit

It's bodyboard dude. Don't worry about the extra water, or just build your calves.

 

calf raises....all day every day. make sure you balance that with a decent trap workout too. don't wanna look like a fool with your shirt off.

 

Calf implants, think about it....

 

Stop peeing in your suit.

 

Worked for Johnny Drama.

 

^^^Someone got it! HAHAHA

 

I would just make a bunch of holes in that area to let the trapped water drain out. Easy, peasy...

 

get your weight up. . .

 

Hate to tell you man, but I think it's just kinda the way wetsuits go. The same thing happens to me (I have an Xcel suit too, if that makes a difference).

Wetsuits are designed to trap water—it's how they work. When you have a suit designed to trap water between you and it, there's going to be a certain volume of water in the suit. When you stand up the water has nowhere to drain but down and neoprene is stretchy. Hence the balloon legs.

I just deal with it and slip a finger under the cuff of each leg when it starts really annoying me. But if it really bothers you, I've heard of people using things from velcro or rubber bands around their calves to punching holes in the legs. It's not really a huge deal though, especially (I imagine) when bodyboarding.

 

Bench offs, but using your legs instead of arms. It worked for one legend.

 

SUPerman...c'mon brah?! I know I descended on this forum early spring like killa bees on the swarm, but give me some credit!!!

I don't watch a lick of TV. But...I have and will watch any move ever produced (i.e. Cool As Ice) and any HBO series as well.

Speaking of, has anyone seen This Is The End? Wow. I think my already compromised melon was further damaged by two hours of hypoxia during my hyperventilative state. That theater was pumped with nitrous or that's the best comedy in history. I'm talking 107 Minute Abs. I cried more than when your wives/girlfriends/slampigs saw The Notebook while on their periods. Wow. Gotta go see it again daily.

 

Erroneous. Erroneous on both accounts. Then it would be a squat-off. NJshred only works the beach muscles. His baggies are extra baggy to hide his stick legs.

 

All jokes aside, is the OP talking about water getting trapped at the ankle or calf? The slack of a suit is going to typically be at a thinner part of the body (wrist, ankle, collarbone, small of back) and that's where water should build up. Either that or he's not pulling the arms and legs of the suit to their full extent of form-fitting.

I haven't been in the game long, but XCEL is all I wear (brahs...I even got the street apparel. What?!) and between the different thicknesses I have 5 of their suits and three 2mm toppers (and two pairs of baggies). I love their gear, but it's long on the appendages. Then again, even when it's long, that doesn't really matter when the suit is as tight as it should be. I think the OP needs to go down a size. Are we talking about a 6/5, 5/4, 4/3, or 3/2? I'm XLS in a 6/5 all day for XCEL. In a 3/2, I'm an LS at most, perhaps an M. All I know is that if the suit is the right fit for you, even longer arms or sleeves won't be an issue. My 4/3 is like that because it's used (previous owner was taller) and is a bit long but snug as heck otherwise.

All bodies don't have the same composition either. However, I'm going with the least common denominator (slimmest major body part) and getting a suit to fit that and working through the fact that other parts are a bit on the tighter side. If its something not so special like an SLX then trim the sleeves or legs. If its drylock and has quality seams on the cuff, you're senseless to pay top dollar for seams you're gonna cut off. As for making pinholes in any part of the suit, you best be talking about a warmer water suit. If not, I reckon you've never felt the sting of 36-53 degree water on bare skin for sustained time periods. Anyone who had seam leaks at the crotch in northern winter can back me up with full force.

What thickness and suit style are we talking about here? Are you sized properly for the suit in question based on the XCEL sizing guide? If so, and your calves (not ankles) are ballooning with water, you either really do need to hit the calf raise machine til the next winter solstice or go get a custom made suit as they are out there. For those saying that there should be any more than a very thin layer of water between skin and suit, you either don't surf in cold water or don't know the point of a wetty.

Then again...I'm the guy in New England who went hoodless in a 4/3 as of March 1 and into baggies and a 2mm topper as soon as the water hit 54 and air 75. Don't listen to me, as I'm either a medical miracle in thermoregulation or just some jerk looking for attention by some feat of strength (idiocy) by surfing cold water wearing insufficient protection.

 

Gaffer, can you please elaborate on this? I'm just short of the dawn of man, a present-day wooly mammoth and don't have this issue. I shed leg hair like a dog sheds its hair. Whereas I shave full upper body for wrestling and MMA training (which doesn't exactly hurt the surfing aspect and wetsuit going on and off), I don't let a razor touch the lower body aside from general manscaping. I could not take having to shave legs, hips, ass, and toes even every other day. Full-body stubble? Dang.

Are you postulating that the tufts of leg hair are creating excessive space between the suit and skin? If so, then your legs must look like Austin Powers' chest, in which case no wetty is needed due to all-natural insulation.

 

Wetsuits are no longer designed to trap water inside. They absorb water. You don't want any to pour in when you fall. When they were made of rubber, they needed to let water inside.

I have a 3/2 xcel with the same issues. Water comes in and stays in my legs. A lot of people have this problem. If I take a few falls I go to the beach to drain the water. Sometimes it drains out when I stand up on the next wave. Shortboard seems to give me more issue than longboard.

 

Pro cyclists all shave their legs. Maybe not for the reason that you might be thinking. They all know that every one of them will hit the deck at some point. Crashes are especially likely when grouped up in the big pelotons. No hair on the legs makes it less painful to strip & re-apply the daily bandages for the road rash.

 

I've never had this problem with any of my ripcurl suits, maybe try a different brand, they aren't all created equally, meaning their sizing may be slightly different from brand to brand