Let's take a look back before Michael Phelps had won a single Olympic medal, before you could do 14 dolphin kicks on breaststroke and not get DQ'd, and before Katie Ledecky had completed elementary school. Here we've listed a few nostalgic paragraphs with one goal in mind… to take you back to the good and bad times of swimming in the '90s.

*Disclaimer: Some of these could still have relevance today, and we ask that if you believe they still apply to you to please refrain from tweeting, Facebooking, or social mediaing us. Actually, never mind… go for it. We can take the heat.

1) Swedish Goggles

A staple in the swimming community, these bad boys came in what looked to be a ziploc bag for a hefty price of $4.99. Just don't catch a breaststroke kick to the eye or you could be seeing stars for a week straight #NoPadding.

2) Terrible Pull Buoys

Take the worst material possible, tie two pieces of it together with a rope, and there you have it, the first edition chaffing device coaches like to call a pull buoy. Fast-forward to 2017 and kids are rocking memory foam pull buoys covered with only the finest imported Egyptian silk.

3) The Aquablade

You could pretty much only wear this suit once, maybe twice, before it turned into a see-through sponge of slowness. It would be comparable to driving a stock Honda Accord from 1999 in the Indy 500 today against a 4,000 horsepower rocket ship with magic powers. 

4) Size 46 Drag Suits

The bigger the better, right? The ideal training tactic back before Y2K was to basically toss on a pair of jeans, swim 9,000 yards without stopping, then shave every hair off of your body, and toss on an Aquablade.

5) Tarp Running

Ah yes, the oh-so-coveted post-practice tarp sprint. These types of activities have become increasingly scarce with the new implementation of intense safety regulations worldwide. It won't be long until we're swimming in helmets and shoulder pads and have clip-on airbags created by Volvo's top safety engineers.

6) No Social Media

No unrelenting desire to be connected to social media world, no Snapchat Stories, and definitely no Instagram/Facebook LIVE. What a time. What a place. What a magical land of cheering and excitement. Don't feel bad if you found this article by clicking on a link posted on Twitter or Facebook… we use the social medias some as well.

7) OG Starting Blocks

The only fins we knew of were ones that went on your feet, not an adjustable launch pad with five different settings designed to fit every body type known to man. We didn't have reaction times, seven different hand-position options for backstroke, or a backstroke foot pad of glory. This one may just be me complaining about not getting to utilize all of the cool new upgrades in starting block technology but oh well. 

8) Low-Tech Paddles and Fins

The original fins and paddles have officially been placed on the endangered equipment list due to a recent decline in demand for outdated sporting equipment. Red paddles were either for dwarfs or 6-foot-7 man beasts from "Harry Potter," depending on which size red paddles you were talking about. Fins would fall off or break in half because they weren't made of carbon fiber and didn't have anti-slip technology. For more information on pull buoys refer to No. 2 on the list, we felt they deserved their own number.

9) Garbage Yardage 

Now before any coaches out there get their Speedos in a wad, we aren't negating the known benefits of endurance training. What we are saying, however, is that doing 14x2000s for time might not be the best way to train someone to go 40.00 in a 100 freestyle. That's all. 

10) FloSwimming Didn't Exist

If you're reading this, you are either wildly upset that we shamelessly plugged our own brand on our own website or you like FloSwimming as much as we do. At FloSwimming, we aim to bring the best swimming-related content to a community we care very greatly about. In addition, we are glad you have taken the time to check out this fun article about 1990s swimming fads. If you're interested in learning more about what FloSwimming provides, we've listed some links below to help guide you in the right direction.
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