How to Wear Xtrainerz

Now that you have the world’s best swim buddy with your Xtrainerz, we wanted to put together a quick guide on how to wear your Xtrainerz with a swim cap, goggles, and ear plugs. We know how important the right fit is over the course of dozens of laps, and we’re here to help you get it just right.

The Gear

For the purpose of this article, we’re assuming your kit includes swim training staples like Xtrainerz, a swim cap, goggles, and ear plugs. Ear plugs are optional, but they actually highlight one of the ways that Xtrainerz stand out among the underwater headphone competition. 

Other waterproof headphones can cause infections and swimmer’s ear because swimmers are forced to plug their ears with the headphones themselves, rather than with proper earplugs. Actual ear plugs, rather than headphone earbuds, will properly keep water out of the ear canal and help prevent infection. With Xtrainerz’ versatile, open-ear design, swimmers can leave their ears open, wear AfterShokz-provided ear plugs, or wear other ear plugs of their choice. This flexible design allows users to swim and listen to audio content while avoiding the discomfort and safety risks that have always been present with traditional waterproof headphones.

The Order

To achieve the most comfortable, sleek configuration, we definitely recommend putting your Xtrainerz on before anything else (Ok, swimsuit first, then Xtrainerz 😉). Your swim cap will go slightly over the ear rests of your Xtrainerz, so it’s best to get your headphones well-situated first. 

Ears go under the crooks of the band (ear rests), and the transducers should rest on your cheekbones, just in front of your ear canals. The headband will wrap around the back of your head (some space between your head and the headband is normal). 

Once you have your Xtrainerz on, it’s time to put on your swim cap. There are many different techniques for putting on a swim cap, and depending on how much hair you have, these techniques carry varying degrees of importance. 

This video will walk you through how to put on a swim cap without pulling your hair—the instructor does a great job demonstrating the basics. Seams of the cap should be facing front/back, you’ll tuck your forehead in first and then stretch and shape the rest of the cap over the top and back of your head. From there you can tuck in any remaining hair. We recommend tucking the top part of the Xtrainerz’ ear rests just underneath your swim cap, so the cap is covering just the tips of your ears (see the picture at the top of this post for an illustration).

Next, put your goggles on, adjusted to whatever tightness is comfortable and effective, but we recommend placing the rubber band of your goggles up on the top/back of the head and clearly above where your swim cap meets your Xtrainerz. 

Lastly, we recommend you put your ear plugs in to block out the water and avoid swimmer’s ear. Using ear plugs is a personal preference, but we prefer to swim with proper ear plugs in place. You’ll also notice a slight volume bump from wearing the Xtrainerz with ear plugs, so if things get particularly splashy or wavy, you’ll still be able to rock those tunes and podcasts 😉.