purbeast
Contributor
Not to dissuade the OP but for me personally, the swim + tread was by far the hardest part of the whole certification process for me. I am a fit 200lb male with an athletic build that includes being fairly muscular with minimal body fat. I am a sinker by nature and can't float on my back with my face above water.
I also do not swim very much even though I exercise regularly.
Well let me tell you the 200yd swim was MUCH more difficult for me than I expected it to be. Our pool was 25yd which looks small, and I thought 8 laps would be easy, but I was wrong.
I had to take like a 10-15 minute break after that and drank a lot of water, as I was sweating a lot after the swim. I don't typically sweat when swimming and I hadn't really "swam" in years. It's just a different type of exercise and conditioning than I'm used to.
Then doing the 10 minutes tread, I was struggling just as much if not more. I saw other people having conversations while treading, and here I am just hoping to make it. The huge digital clock that had seconds on it, right in front of me, did not help the situation either. Multiple times I just floated with my head under water to try and rest a little bit.
I was breathing heavily and exhausted for like 45 minutes afterwards. This was at 9:30pm at night and let me tell you I slept very well that night.
My point isn't to discourage you, but to let you know that you can push through it. It's doable for people who can't swim distances or tread for long times such as myself. Since this was the middle of winter I didn't really have access to a pool easily to practice any of this, but if it was summer time, I would have definitely swam laps at my pool and practiced different treading techniques prior. So if you have access to that, I'd recommend doing so.
I also do not swim very much even though I exercise regularly.
Well let me tell you the 200yd swim was MUCH more difficult for me than I expected it to be. Our pool was 25yd which looks small, and I thought 8 laps would be easy, but I was wrong.
I had to take like a 10-15 minute break after that and drank a lot of water, as I was sweating a lot after the swim. I don't typically sweat when swimming and I hadn't really "swam" in years. It's just a different type of exercise and conditioning than I'm used to.
Then doing the 10 minutes tread, I was struggling just as much if not more. I saw other people having conversations while treading, and here I am just hoping to make it. The huge digital clock that had seconds on it, right in front of me, did not help the situation either. Multiple times I just floated with my head under water to try and rest a little bit.
I was breathing heavily and exhausted for like 45 minutes afterwards. This was at 9:30pm at night and let me tell you I slept very well that night.
My point isn't to discourage you, but to let you know that you can push through it. It's doable for people who can't swim distances or tread for long times such as myself. Since this was the middle of winter I didn't really have access to a pool easily to practice any of this, but if it was summer time, I would have definitely swam laps at my pool and practiced different treading techniques prior. So if you have access to that, I'd recommend doing so.