NAUI underwater swim test question?

[SparkE79]

I'm registered for a NAUI OW course in a few weeks and I'm doing my bookwork/e-learning right now. I had a question as to how the 15m/50ft underwater swim is to be performed. I am concerned that I might be borderline in my ability to complete it. I can swim a half mile no problem, but I am overweight and really bad at holding my breath. 6'1", 270lbs, can bike 10 miles on my mountain bike, good swimmer so long as I can breathe

How is the test to be performed? Just under the surface, or several feet under? Kick-off or no kick-off? Is a weight belt allowed to compensate buoyancy, or just swim trunks? I would like to practice at my local pool to make sure I can do it.

If anyone has tips or tricks for breathing or the best stroke to use, I'm all ears. Want to make sure I can knock this one out as it's the only requirement I'm worried about.

 

[squid509]

its just under the surface

 

[g1138]

The general guidelines are:
- you have to be fully submerged
- complete distance on one breath

Some instructors will ask you to swim the whole 25m pool length on one breath. Easily doable, it's mostly mind over matter.
The trick to remember is to keep your heart rate down, this will slow your CO2 buildup which is you main cause for feeling the need to breath. That means staying calm and moving calmly.
You should do the breathstroke throughout the entire length (how ever far your instructor tells you). It's important to remember to have a gliding period between each stroke. Keep your head pointed down, looking straight at the bottom and hold a rigid streamline after each arm pull and kick. If you lift your head up to look around you'll lose your momentum and chances are your heart rate will spike which will make you feel like you need to breath NOW.

One important thing to remember, you should be at least 5ft below the surface or even touching the bottom (unless the pool is over 7ft deep). The lower you are the less resistance you'll get from the pool's surface splashing.
If you go below 5ft I would recommend clearing/equalizing your ears. At 5 ft I would just deal with the pressure as long as it's not painful in the least bit. I always found it easier to hold my breath when my ears weren't equalized.

 

[g550driver]

Is this test particular to NAUI? I just completed my OW course with SSI and my swim test was 200 yards, any style, any stroke and tread water for 10 consecutive minutes.>>

 

[Jim Lapenta]

NAUI and SEI both have the 50 ft underwater swim. No push off. One breath. The easiest way to do it is relax and try not to rush it or work hard. I have students take 3 deep breaths and on the 3rd one go. As they go under I tell them to exhale just a tiny bit. Helps to get under the water. Then use the breast stroke and whip kick or an easy scissor. When they feel like they need to breathe, exhale a little more air. This gets rid of some CO2 and delays the need to breathe. It may give them another 5 yds of distance. If you can hold your beath for 30 seconds you can do it as the swim only takes 15 seconds or so. Where people screw up on the breathhold swim is they try to hold too much air in and then have to fight to stay down. Plus they look funny as hell with their cheeks all puffed out and eyes sqeezed nearly shut.

 

[SparkE79]

Thanks for the tips guys! I will go to the pool tonight and try it out. Sitting here at my desk, if I focus on breathing beforehand, I can hold my breath for 1:20. I'm just a bit of a porker and combined with bad technique when I gave it a half-arsed try last week I could just do 15m with a kickoff. Reading this shows me I was doing some things quite wrong. I'll hit the pool tonight and see what I can do with proper breathing and better technique. Thanks!

EDIT: Just tried breath holding again and could do 1:30. Those first three deep breaths before you do it to clear out the C02 makes the difference between only 35 seconds and a minute and a half! Holy moly.

 

[SparkE79]

Well, I think I'm in trouble. I tried at the local pool this afternoon. No kickoff, good breathing, and the best I could do was maybe 10 meters. Fighting my own buoyancy seems to be a huge issue. If I float on the surface face down, keeping arms and legs in the water, I can do the 15m without too much of a problem. But trying to do it even a few feet below the surface and I just end up out of breath too early or floating up to the top and not completely submerged.

I am really upset about this. I went from 350+ pounds down to 270lbs today and scuba is something I've always wanted to do. I've had saltwater fish tanks since I was twelve. I think I am going to go feel like a loser for a bit and then maybe talk to the dive shop about it. Maybe I can get rescheduled for a later class and give myself time to work on it. Here I am trying to enjoy not being quite such a fatass anymore and it still bites me in the ass.

 

[SethMarston]

My test was a down and back in the pool one breath..I had no problem but my instructor told my classmates that were worried that it helps to exhale a little during the last 1/4 of the swim..this decreases the co2 buildup in your lungs making you feel the effects of no fresh air a little less..not sure if that is accurate but it seemed to help people

 

[smorneau]

We did our test with fins on!

 

[SparkE79]

Wait, are you saying you get fins for the NAUI underwater breath hold 15m swim test?