Mar 13 • Special Ops Swimming
Swim Workout of the Week
Each week, we devote one of the five swimming sessions to the many pool skills that military dive and rescue swimmer students will encounter during their intensive training. From drown proofing, treading, underwater swimming, knot tying, and lifesaving to just getting into swimming shape, specifically training for these skills is often something recruits do not do before joining. By not training for future challenges, you may find the learning curve too steep, leading you to either quit or fail to meet the standard. Here is a new drill and workout we created this week to help with both underwater swimming and the life-saving (or buddy tow) test:
RULE: Never swim alone or do underwater swimming without a buddy in the pool and/or lifeguard.
We made a video of the event: Life-Saving Over/Unders
Warm up with a 500m swim or a 10-minute tread – we do one or the other depending on what you need to work on most. You need to get into a condition where both of these workouts serve as your easy warmup before a swim workout.
Here is the workout built around these two skills and individual testing events.
Repeat 5 times
Rescue partner 25m
- swim underwater 25m
- switch roles
- swim underwater 25m
Follow with the drownproofing test practice – This workout is a simulation of the test. Pretend you have your hands and feet tied, but do not tie them for this workout. You will find it impossible to do this workout if you tie yourself down because the conditioning sets between drowning events will require you to swim. Basically, for each event of the drownproofing test (bounce, float, travel, front/back flip, mask retrieval) we swim 100m in between events.
Cooldown the swim workout with either a 5-minute tread or swim.
About the Actual Tests (Individually)
When you are in training, you will do Over-Under workouts and tests, depending on the dive training you are enrolled in. Typically, these are done at a strict 1:30 interval for 5 to 10 total sets. Prepare for this:
Repeat 5 – 10 times
Swim 25m underwater + 25m freestyle
- typically this takes about 50-60 seconds. You have 30-40 seconds before you need to go again.
Life-Saving Test – At SEAL training, you will “rescue” a panicked victim (BUD/S instructor) from the middle of the pool (about 10 yards) and swim him back to the edge of the pool. This test is known as an underwater wrestling match, in which the “victim” aggressively resists rescue. In the video above, we are in the first stages of rescuing a passive victim. Once we get a few weeks of preparation, we will increase the resistance of the victim being rescued to help prepare for the actual test.
Mastering these pool skills is essential for anyone preparing for military dive-and-rescue swimmer training. By practicing drills such as the Over-Under workout and life-saving tests, recruits can build confidence, improve their skills, and better prepare for the demanding challenges ahead. Remember, safety and teamwork are always the top priorities, so train smart, stay motivated, and focus on perfect technique in the pool for every event, as that will help you most.
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Swim Workout of the Week
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Veteran - Stew Smith (former Navy SEAL) helps military, law enforcement, and firefighter candidates and recruits succeed with coaching and programs.
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