Passing the Swim Test

[dmaziuk]

Also, a key seems to be not raising arms out of water too far and "digging deep" in the water to get the most power.

Actually, you want to do a "horizontal pull" rather that "dig deep" as the latter directs part of the energy down. That is a part of bad technique: you push down to get your face out of the water and that reinforces the "push down" at the start of the stroke, that puts you in a bad trim and now you have to "dig deeper" to get to the actual horizontal part of the stroke.

What I was taught to do is "stab" my fingers into direction of the gaze, extend as far as the arm'll go, then pull as close to straight line as you can. Elbow out helps to keep the line straight. Turn your hip out of the way at the end of the pull. As for recovery, just throw your arm forward from the shoulder as relaxed as possible and let the forearm rotate around the elbow as it will. Hip/torso rotation will give you all the height you need, and it should land fingers-first exactly where you need to start the "stab".

The other basic variant, favoured by slower long distance (as in, miles) swimmers is to stretch forward over the water, "dig in" with fingertips, and do a slow long pull in a very shallow arc -- the key here is to keep is very shallow. Not sure how they do arm recovery, exactly.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Today, I swam 500 yards in 7 minutes 15 seconds and 550 yards (500 meters) in 7:44 in a 25 yard pool.

My pool swim workout:

Warm Up
200 swim, 200 kick, 200 drill (100 catch-up, 100 fingertip drag), 200 swim

Pre Set
6 x 50's freestyle build on a 1:00
1) 70% effort
2) 80% effort
3) 90% effort
4) 75% effort
5) 85% effort
6) 95% effort

Main Set
2 x 500's with 1:00 rest between each 500.

Cool Down
200 slow & easy

This workout is designed to prepare a swimmer to pass the USLA lifeguard swim test for open water lifeguarding of 500 meters/550 yards within 10 minutes or less if tested in open water or 9 minutes or less if tested in a pool. The workout is 1000 - 2000 less yards than our average US Masters swim team practice when I swam on a team. To compare a masters workout to the college team using the same pool, they swam up to 7500 yards per practice. Sometimes twice a day. Michael Phelps swam as much as 88,000 meters or 50 miles a week.

The 200 yards we ask people to swim for OW certification is really just a warm-up for a trained swimmer. The 400 yards a divemaster has to swim is 100 yards less than what we had to swim to pass American Red Cross Advanced Lifesaving/Lifeguard Training when I was in college. We had to complete it in 10 minutes or less. Today, you just swim 300 yards demonstrating proficiency with different strokes.

My summer workout consists of beach sprints and run - swim - runs. My favorite workout is a 200 beach run - 400 open water swim - 200 beach run x 4 - 5 sets at my local state park. The beach is 200 meters and the swim area is buoyed off at 200 yards end to end. I run from one end of the beach to the other, complete two laps of the 200 yard swim area swimming next to the line that marked the far boundary and run back. The fastest I did that this season was 8 minutes 20 seconds. I rest 1 - 2 minutes between sets depending upon the effort.

Having made many rescues in all kinds of diving, open water, and surf conditions, I'm a big proponent of maintaining United States Lifesaving Association and USCG rescue swimmer fitness standards for dive pros. If you are a pro or thinking about turning pro, becoming a USLA lifeguard or American Red Cross lifeguard with Waterfront component is a great thing to do. It will enhance your skills and give you more options to better assist or rescue a diver.

For the beginning diver the 200 swim is an opportunity to assess comfort, technique and fitness. If a student with any then improvement is indicated prior to starting OW class. Long classes of 6 - 8 pool sessions held once a week gave students a month to improve. Today, with 1 to 3 day classes you almost cannot fix swimming during scuba training. Having the student get some swim lessons or coaching prior to class might be the way to go.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Today, I swam 500 yards in 7 minutes 15 seconds and 550 yards (500 meters) in 7:44 in a 25 yard pool.

My pool swim workout:

Warm Up
200 swim, 200 kick, 200 drill (100 catch-up, 100 fingertip drag), 200 swim

Pre Set
6 x 50's freestyle build on a 1:00
1) 70% effort
2) 80% effort
3) 90% effort
4) 75% effort
5) 85% effort
6) 95% effort

Main Set
2 x 500's with 1:00 rest between each 500.

Cool Down
200 slow & easy

This workout is designed to prepare a swimmer to pass the USLA lifeguard swim test for open water lifeguarding of 500 meters/550 yards within 10 minutes or less if tested in open water or 9 minutes or less if tested in a pool. The workout is 1000 - 2000 less yards than our average US Masters swim team practice when I swam on a team. To compare a masters workout to the college team using the same pool, they swam up to 7500 yards per practice. Sometimes twice a day. Michael Phelps swam as much as 88,000 meters or 50 miles a week.

The 200 yards we ask people to swim for OW certification is really just a warm-up for a trained swimmer. The 400 yards a divemaster has to swim is 100 yards less than what we had to swim to pass American Red Cross Advanced Lifesaving/Lifeguard Training when I was in college. We had to complete it in 10 minutes or less. Today, you just swim 300 yards demonstrating proficiency with different strokes.

My summer workout consists of beach sprints and run - swim - runs. My favorite workout is a 200 beach run - 400 open water swim - 200 beach run x 4 - 5 sets at my local state park. The beach is 200 meters and the swim area is buoyed off at 200 yards end to end. I run from one end of the beach to the other, complete two laps of the 200 yard swim area swimming next to the line that marked the far boundary and run back. The fastest I did that this season was 8 minutes 20 seconds. I rest 1 - 2 minutes between sets depending upon the effort.

Having made many rescues in all kinds of diving, open water, and surf conditions, I'm a big proponent of maintaining United States Lifesaving Association and USCG rescue swimmer fitness standards for dive pros. If you are a pro or thinking about turning pro, becoming a USLA lifeguard or American Red Cross lifeguard with Waterfront component is a great thing to do. It will enhance your skills and give you more options to better assist or rescue a diver.

. . .

Don't forget to exercise on your towing kicks (flutter and frog in supine position; and scissors side kick), ideally with lifeguard rescue can and a "volunteer victim" --but a swim kickboard by yourself at the pool is fine.

This was my weekday MWF pool workout routine when I had non-professional first responder American Red Cross Lifeguard & PADI Rescue Diver ratings, and was on once-a-month weekend volunteer crew 24/7 at the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber for a year:

500 yards (or 500 meters in Olympic size pool) slow & easy warm-up Free-style under 14 minutes --roughly approximating the GUE Swimming Requirement.

Then continuously without stopping:
50 yards or meters resting Breast Stroke
200 yards or meters Scissors side kick (alternate sides every 50);
50 resting Breast Stroke
200 kickboard work Flutter & Frog (alternate every 50);
50 resting Breast Stroke
200 kickboard work Dolphin & Frog (alternate every 50);
50 resting Breast Stroke
200 kickboard work Backstroke Flutter & Frog -Supine (alternate 50);
50 resting Breast Stroke
200 Free-Style Sprint (at 70% max effort, six-beat flutter kick on last 50);
50 resting Breast Stroke
100 Free-Style Sprint (80% max effort, six-beat flutter on last 50);
50 resting Breast Stroke
50 Free-Style Sprint (all out max effort, full continuous six-beat flutter);
50 resting Breast Stroke
50 Free-Style Sprint (all out "whatever is left and die" effort);
50 slow & easy Breast Stroke
Warm down stretches legs, back, shoulders & arms;
50 underwater breath-hold pull & glide Breast Stroke (notify Lifeguard first);
Tread Water 15 min & finally "Dead-man Float" back stretches.

On Resting or Fun Non-Diving Weekends:
Run a mile at the beach;
Either 1500 easy free-style
or 200 medley (Butterfly, Back, Breast & Free-Style).

Circuit train in weightroom twice a week for endurance (no more doing five days a week power pyramid sets/max lift sets for me --I'm getting too old for that!)

My emphasis above was endurance on the variety of kick styles (Frog, Flutter, Dolphin, & Scissors and surface flutter kicks supine on back) that I would use during a recreational or technical dive, or on a victim surface towing rescue. . .

 

[Trace Malinowski]

That's a workout designed by a USLA trainer I posted. I often modify it. I posted to Facebook yesterday that my workout of the day was: Easy 200 swim, 200 kick, 2 x 50's catch-up drill, 2 x 50's finger tip drag, 2 x 50's pull, 200 easy swim, 1 x 500 yards in 7 minutes 15 seconds, 1 x 550 yards (500m) in 7 minutes 44 seconds, 3 x 50's rescue breaststroke, 4 x 25's rescue crawl sprints, 4 x 25's inverted scissors rescue kicks, 200 cool down followed by 1 mile run in 9 minutes 29 seconds.

In open water, I normally swim 200 yards on each side of rescue kicks and 400 yards IM stroke. I used to hate butterfly, but watching the Olympics made me decide to do it a lot and I now like it. I used to hate squats in the gym but like those too now.

I'm considering returning to a full-time lifeguard career at age 49. I have a test in FL after Christmas with Okaloosa County Beach Safety. I need to run 1/2 mile in 4 minutes, run 1 mile in 10 minutes, and swim 500 meters in 10 minutes (ocean) for the USLA lifeguard certification. To begin the two-week, 88 hour lifeguard academy in February (season starts in March) the times need to be 1/2 mile in 5 minutes, 1 mile in 11 minutes, 500m in 12 minutes, but must meet USLA standards by the end of training or the lifeguard will be terminated.

 

[Nemrod]

Swimming and being a good swimmer is important to being a good diver, I am not going to argue that. If one cannot pass a 200 yard swim in decent form using a recognizable stroke or strokes in no more than 10 to 12 minutes then they need to get to where they can before being certified.

Cardiac events are a killer of, uh, well, let us call them mature, divers.

If one is going to do something, why shoot to just pass, why not try to do it good?

My typical weekly workout (I am 63yo):

Swim: 3X1500 meters (I swim 1500 meters in 30 minutes and can go much faster, around 24 minutes if pushed)
Bike: 3X40K ( I may sub indoor cycle for 3X1hour, I have a fluid trainer and rollers always set up)
Run: (Complicated due to injuries, I now sub 2X1hour elliptical and a jog on the Y indoor track for an hour alternating running and fast fitness walking)
Strength: 2 per week, full workout, no free weights, all machines

I workout every day and double workouts occasionally. If you cannot make that time for yourself then make it for your loved ones who will miss you. A reasonable goal is 3X1hour workouts per week. That is enough to increase and maintain base fitness.

When I was regularly doing triathlons my 1500K/1650 yard times were around 18 minutes. I was younger. My 40K bike was 1 hour flat and 10K run well under 40 minutes.

Limiting factors as one gets older, your maximum heart rate declines as we age. The motor is just not as capable, nothing we can do about that. A 65 yo for example has a target heart rate of 78 to 132 BPM and max. 155. I still work at the 40 yo level, about 180 BPM max. My resting pulse (taken when i wake up once per week) is 40 BPM.

The reason we should workout, at least three times per week, is so that we can continue to enjoy longer and more fully the things we love to do.

Well, I got to get moving, the wind is light, my bike awaits, my chase team is ready. I shall ride my 12 miles to the Y, swim my mile and then ride back home. Then I got to ride the tractor some, my 100 yard range needs mowed, cannot see my steel.

Y'all be good, have a happy holidays and a wonderful Christmas.

N

 

[TMHeimer]

Nemrod, I agree that being able to swim with a reasonably proper stroke is important if you're going to be a diver. Though, that skill probably won't do much to make you a "good" diver. My buddy years ago seemed fine diving, and told me he had no idea how he passed the 200 swim test as he basically didn't know how to swim (he did later consider swim lessons). Again, I agree that proper swimming is a life skill.
Interesting point you made about Cardiac events killing us old folks. I imagine any cardio exercises would help with that, whether you include swimming as part of your routine or not. I hope so, because the pool is too far from my house to be financially doable. I use the stationary bike daily for cardio.

 

[Bob DBF]

...must meet USLA standards by the end of training or the lifeguard will be terminated.

Sounds a little harsh.


Bob

 

[dmaziuk]

I usually go
- 1000 kick w/ board in zoomers: alternating front/back dolphin/flutter hundreds,
- stretch legs,
- 1000 pull w/ buoy and paddles, front crawl but I tend to do a 100 breastroke pull in the middle for a change,
- shoulder/neck/arm stretch,
- dep. on the mood, a 400-500 fast-er breaststroke, or a couple of 350 or 500 sets of 2x slow breastroke - 1x fast crawl, front or back. (I've always sucked at bat so none of that, thankyouverymuch
- Diaphragm stretch.
- a couple of hundred breaststroke warm-down.
I start with a length underwater, dolphin kick in zoomers with a fast length back, and finish with a breaststroke length underwater.

It's a 25-yard pool, so it's all in yards. I normally do that 3 times a week and it takes me about 90 minutes.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Sounds a little harsh.


Bob

It took me like 2 minutes to get that!

 

[dmaziuk]