Skills to brush up before certification

[bshmerlie]

Being rather portly myself let me give you some advice from my perspective. The 200 meter swim is not timed and very easy to do if you are like me and very comfortable in the water. I could have done 400 meters no problem. As far as treading water...portly people just float. I could certainly "tread" water longer than a skinny person. Those are not really the difficult skills. Try schlepping 65 pounds of gear on your back down 100 flights of stairs then walk through some surf, try to do a figure four as the waves toss you about and try to get your fins on. That's the hard part. And then let's talk about the not so graceful exits. You make it all the way back to shore and just about when your thinking you're free and clear a wave knocks you to your knees and you're 65 pounds of gear feels like about 200 at that point. Then as you get to one knee, with your fins in one hand you try to do a power lift before the next wave comes in. You finally accomplish this feat, after several curse words, only to make it to the stairs and realize there is no elevator. Yes you have to take those same 65 pounds up those 100 steps. Yes, I think more cursing was involved.

So the swimming is not the strenuous part. I would suggest walking or jogging on a tread mill to improve your overall conditioning and then work on some squats. Build up those leg muscles and also work on your flexibility for fin application. If you have a bad back this is probably not the sport for you. Your shoulders, knees and hips are also going need to be injury free or again this is probably not for you. Just my two cents from the portly perspective.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Plus one for swimming as great aerobic exercise, especially for those of us ove3r 50, actually I'm over 60. Also, confidence in the water will reduce the stress of learning to dive. You don't need to swim fast- swim at a pace where you can, ultimately, do 400 meters (or more) without stopping or breathing excessively hard. I like to do my laps with a mask and snorkel, but no fins. It's a comfort thing, getting used to the feel of the mask and the mouthpiece in your mouth. I commend that type of swimming routine to all divers and potential divers.
DivemasterDennis

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree that lots of snorkelling is a good idea. I would think the mask and breathing skills in the OW course would then be a breeze. I have only seen maybe 3 out of oh, 50-100 students I've observed actually fail the swim test. If floating in fresh water is particularly tough for you (as with me), you can "drown proof"--that is, take a breath and let the lung air float you. It's allowed--it doesn't matter if your head slips below the surface--you're still floating. For the other skills, just study the manual, e learing, a lot. There are 20 OW skills you must "master" (what's that?) and numerous videos online now that you can look at. Getting some sort of idea about how you'll have to do these skills in water should help a lot.

 

[mrperrygunite]

Thanks for all the feedback. This will definitely help me put together a plan.

I do have access to a pool for laps and mask skills, but opportunities for cross-training are a plus for times when my schedule doesn't line up. And I'm definitely going to study up on the necessary skills.

Really looking forward to this, and I'm glad to have found such a comprehensive resource here.

Thanks again.

 

[TMHeimer]

There are instances when skinny people float well and portly ones don't, though this is rare. The only true way to develop good swimming is to get your form correct, then do a lot of laps on a regular basis. Other exercising--like running, stationary bike, etc. improves your overall physique, but only helps with swimming minimumly. I did find that using arm stretches, particularly in a downward and to the back motion helps. You get 75% of your power from your arms (unlike with scuba, where power comes from the legs). When your arms are underwater "dig deep" to get power. Minimize arm height when out of water as no power comes from that. Another correct form thing is to not kick too much in relation to arm strokes. This will wear you out needlessly.

 

[Skittl1321]

As long as you are comfortable in water, I'd just go for the certification classes.


For me, snorkeling is incredibly difficult, and I've only become somewhat okay with it after getting scuba certified. For the 300 m swim, we were told to do it in snorkel gear, and I could barely make it 10 meters without freaking out because having my mask on at the surface was so uncomfortable for me. I breathe through my nose, and freak out because I can't breathe (but when I'm on SCUBA I have no issues breathing in through my mouth because underwater of course it is different). But I can easily swim 500 meters without a mask on; finally the instructors let me do it without the mask and snorkel and just swim the distance.

Since taking up diving, I'm doing much better with snorkeling. I still don't like it, but the panic attacks are gone. If I had to be a good snorkeler before I became a diver, I would have never dove.

 

[boulderjohn]

While being able to swim really well is definitely an advantage, it really sin't a requirement. Swimming 200 yards in any stroke non-stop is the requirement for the agencies you are most likely to select for your training. You have as long as it takes to do it. That is 8 lengths of a typical recreation center swimming pool. That is not so hard. If that is going to be hard for you, by all means work on it before class.

"Followed by a float" does not necessarily mean followed immediately by a float. They can even be done on different days. For me, how I do it depends upon circumstances. I have a specified amount of time in the recreation center with scuba gear, and I like to spend as much of that time as possible in scuba gear. I have the students there early, and if there are free swim lanes, I get the swim out of the way before my scheduled time. I may do it after our scheduled time. I do the same with the float. It depends upon the situation that day. I can't predict it.

As for the float, a lot of people call it the "tread," but that is not what it is. Sure, you can tread water for the entire time if you like, but you can also float on your back, swim sprints--it doesn't matter. You essentially just have to stay alive without touching anything for 10 minutes. I usually tell students that anyone who drowns fails the class with no refunds. While they are doing this, I usually at least have them tread for the first 5 minutes so I can sit at the edge of the pool by them and talk abut how the coming activities will be conducted.

I have never had a student fail to do either the swim or the float successfully.