Swim in clothes? Cool idea !

Swimming in clothes is a valuable survival skill to learn and a great fun sport for everybody to enjoy. In this section we give you tips on swimming strokes, survival, some research about fitness benefits, and finally some games that involve getting wet in clothes.

Info about local lessons is available from the Free Lifesaving Society or the Brighton Swim Team in England.

Lessons should be Fun

Most swimming lessons begin with the basics, like breaststroke and front crawl. Class members just wear normal swim wear. As they progress they may put on more clothes for resistance training. The teacher will demonstrate this so the students learn how to properly swim in clothes.

Survival Swimming

In addition to teaching regular swimming skills most of the better pools now offer survival swimming courses. The lessons involve swimming fully clothed to prepare for any emergencies. Different outfits are used to give a wide variety of experience. The teachers wear similar clothes to the class members so they can demonstrate the effects different clothes have in the water.

Go to your local beach for today's workout instead of more laps in the pool. Depending on the reasons you swim, you may find it more psychologically rewarding. It can certainly be just as productive for building your fitness.

The number of people drowning while swimming is only 20 percent of the total. The remaining 80 percent of all drowning accidents occur when the person is fully clothed, such as boating, travelling or simply playing around the water.

Most people don't realise how hard it is to undress in the water, or to swim in waterlogged clothes if you haven't trained for it. They often use up too much energy trying to get out of their clothes, or swim to shore, and drown before help can come.

Researchers have found recently that keeping clothes on is safer as it provides more warmth and buoyancy. It may be that in many cases the fact that the person is wearing clothes may assist in survival, but not then be recorded in police accident statistics. Therefore, it may seem from official figures that, should an accident occur while fully dressed, the chances of survival may be reduced, when in fact the opposite is more likely.

That's why an increasing number of Japanese schools and universities are teaching survival swimming. It's an easy lesson to add to the course work because nearly all schools in Japan have pools. They already teach swimming as part of the physical education curriculum. Eventually, all students will participate in this regular exercise.

Japanese research has shown that swimming in clothes provides about twice the muscle building effect by increasing VO₂Max levels.

You may want to wear three unlined clothing layers (base, middle, outer), as used in canoeing, coasteering, sailing or other adventure sports. High visibility clothes would be an advantage.

You may need for each swimming session:


1. T-shirt or long sleeve pullover (will get wet)
2. Tracksuit or hoodie/sweatshirt with trousers
   or Jeans and Denim jacket (will get wet)
3. Windproof rain suit or anorak and bottoms (will get wet)
4. Trainers or sports shoes and socks (will get wet)

5. A large beach towel and plenty to drink.
6. Dry clothes and shoes to change into afterwards.

   

   Above all, have fun with this swim training !