Survival swimming skills enable you to perform an effective self rescue and live to tell the story. This training should only be undertaken by competent swimmers. The objective is for you to be able to swim and survive in any condition, even fully clothed. Practice until you can complete each activity in a competent, efficient manner.

Go to your local beach for a swim 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.

Each week do three endurance sessions for stamina where you swim for a given length or time, say 200 meters distance per session. Also do three resistance sessions for strength where you aim to swim 50 meters in one minute or less, fully clothed.

If you keep this up consistently, preferably with a training partner to keep you motivated, then you will notice the difference.

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 will need for each swimming session: