Swimming goggles whether you swim for fun or competitively we all use and need swim goggles. 

At the most basic level swim goggles are made to keep water out of your eyes and let you just swim without having any distraction allowing you the swimmer to see clearly without water coming into your eyes or irritating them.  

This water whether salt water, chlorinated or fresh irritates the eye so keeping water out of your eyes by using goggles will mean you can relax not having to worry about your eyes. Chlorinated water being acid is not good and will irritate the eye and cause them to sting thus wearing swimming goggles can prevent this from occurring. Therefore, it is very important to choose the goggles that will fit your face correctly to keep this water and particularly chlorinated and salt water our of your eyes. There are ranges to fit smaller faces called Junior goggles, Kids goggles and Nano goggles. These goggles will all have smaller lenses and nose bridges for smaller faces as if the lens is too big for your face this will cause goggle leaking no matter how amazing the goggle features are or what good swimmers wears them. 

Goggles  are also designed to stop the light from entering your eyes by having mirror or tinted lenses. There is also polarized lensed goggles and transition lens goggles which will also adapt to the light to assist your vision while swimming. Many swimmers will choose to swim with mirror lensed goggles to hide their eyes this is just a personal preference but mirror lenses will assist you with cutting down the glare from the sun but may be a bit dark in doors so you will want to beware of that. 

Curved lens goggles will provide more peripheral range for you to see out of and this may be something you will like. For female and women swimmers some goggles have their own femme fit goggle which is made for the more petite faces so again trying to ensure a finer fit to prevent goggle leakage and provide extra comfort. 

The Main difference between training and racing goggles is mostly the lens size, racing goggles will have a lower profile lens compared to training goggles to be more streamlined to allow fast movement through the water. Therefore, you see most competitive swimmers wear small goggles to have less drag and be more streamlined with smaller lenses. As the water will flow over the goggles easier than bulky goggles that will not fit as snug into your eye sockets. With this also comes more suction and worse goggles marks but as a competitive swimmer all you are looking for is speed so this is something they live with and don’t compromise on as long as the goggles don’t fall off and are streamlined, they will choose the smallest most comfortable goggles for their face shape.  

Goggles are worn to protect your eyes from the chlorine, salt water and this irritation avoidance means you can just focus on swimming. They also assist you to see easier that if you are not wearing goggle and a goggle lens can also protect you from the sun. So, if you are swimming outdoors make sure you select a goggle lens that is mirrored or at the very least tinted. Polarized lenses are also available in some goggle makes and as are transition goggles which will adapt to the light.
The Main difference between training and racing goggles is mostly the lens size, racing goggles will have a lower profile lens compared to training goggles to be more streamlined to allow fast movement through the water. Therefore, you see most competitive swimmers wear small goggles to have less drag to be more streamlined. As the water will flow over the goggles easier than bulky goggles that will not fit as snug into your eye sockets. With this also comes more suction and worse goggles marks but as a competitive swimmer all you are looking for is speed so this is something they live with and don’t compromise on as long as the goggles don’t fall off and are streamlined, they will go for the smallest most comfortable goggles for their face shape.
Most of them will race and train in racing goggles sometimes just selecting a goggle with a little more silicone padding for training. In our Aqua Shop range this could be going with the TYR special Black ops or TYR Blackhawk for training and the TYR socket rocks or TYR RZR for racing as the latter provide more streamline. Another leading innovation racing goggle just released is the TYR Tracer Elite goggle made to sit very flat on the face.
Contrary to popular belief tightening your goggles does not always stop goggle leaking. If you are always stopping to tighten or adjust your goggles while swimming most likely the goggle is not the right shape or design for you face. Call our goggle experts on 1300 132 852 and they can assist you with selecting a goggle right for you.
Some form of Goggles marks will always occur as without suction your goggles can’t keep the water out. Often if you have a goggle that sits more out of your eye sockets you will get less intense goggle marks, so if you want goggles for less goggle marks go for bigger lens goggles, but this may not be right for you if you require racing goggles as these need to sit more in your eye sockets to be more stream-lined.
The best way to recover from goggle marks is to wash your face with warm water using your chosen face cleaners. For older faces a face mask is good and we say cucumber slices over your eyes is healthy way to refresh the face from the harshness of the chlorine as well as the intense suction of goggles.
A clear goggle or a light blue goggle lens will be good for lower lights and reduces the surface glare from water and provide good visibility. Amber, Yellow or light rose goggles are also good for lower light and darker days or when you are racing at night.