offer their suggestions on how they push their own comfort zones?
I do training for SWAT cops.
That's the shorthand description. We get to play cops and robbers with a lot of special effects.
We have put sub-miniature cameras on their helmets, we have tied heart monitors to them. Yes- you are right... when scenarios are done well it can really put a stress on the subject.
Under stress, you will always revert to your training. This training can occur under controlled supplied environments that include orchestrated scenarios, or simply you going to the pool and repeatedly threading yourself through that blue polyethylene barrel.
You can come up with your own training.
One of the single (seemingly) most useless skills that we used to teach for basic SCUBA certification was the act of breathing u/w out of a SCUBA cylinder, simply feathering the valve and sipping from the valve stem nipple.
Seemed pretty dumb, right? I mean... what's that for? Your regs go to complete negative failure and you're supposed to doff the tank, disassemble it and start sucking air out of the valve stem all the while not wanting inhale 3000 psi in one gulp?
What's the use in that?
What's the use in that or swimming through that blue poly drum? It puts you outside your comfort zone. Both are used in training for Public Safety Diver. (PSD)
Start with the basic stuff, we do this for SWAT~ stuff we learned from the military divers. Relieve the diver of his senses (what little are still remaining available underwater). How to do this?
Tape over the mask. Completely black is interesting, but also consider giving him tiny slits or pinholes. Or just fuzz it up really badly with layers of plastic bags. This simulates a couple of different things- diminished viz in the water column, also mask loss.
Task Loading You've seen
Men of Honor, right? Simulate the same assembly scenario. Better yet, get them u/w and hand them a small LEGO puzzle, new in the box. Of course it will be full of air and needs to be opened, all the while preserving the instructions. Let them find out if LEGO pieces float. The smart ones will gingerly test the physics before they commit.
Now hand them the same LEGO type toy- this time let them wear kitchen mitts.
Any u/w task, even if choreographed and well rehearsed... will take 1.5x longer under water.
My first challenge was to install a simple sacrificial anode collar to a prop shaft, Two pieces clamshell around the prop, insert the bolts, lock washer, nuts... not hard... right? Luckily I pre-visualized it and brought a canvas bucket to hang underneath the shaft to catch the stuff I dropped, to keep the parts handy, etc. Pre visualization and the mastery of it will save your behind many times to come.
For AOW divers I often utilize a Fischer Price toy ball that has slots of various shapes that correspond to different small pieces. (I have glued a penny inside each piece to make them negatively buoyant- to sink). Time it on the surface, time it at depth after 35 minutes.
There are many scenarios that you might well conjure up, but always have a standby safety diver, not just the supervising instructor. I don't know much that can't be done in 5 feet of water or less.
Stay safe.
"Train hard, for the day will come." -Ed Mohn
