In the movie The Guardian, to get into the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer program, the guys who are training for the program are required to be able to tread water for one hour. Kevin Costner makes them all get in a pool (an indoor pool) and if they touch the bottom or touch the sides, they get disqualified.
In the movie, the guys seem to have a great deal of trouble doing this, and many of them fail. And these are all ripped, in-shape, young guys.
So today I was swimming and I thought, I wonder how long I can tread water? I got in the deep end (9 feet) and told my girlfriend to time me. I was able to tread water for one hour easily, without even coming close to being exhausted enough to sink to the bottom or grab for the side of the pool. Yeah, I got tired, but not really tired. I probably could have done it for another hour if I really wanted to.
Every time my arms and legs would start to get tired, I would inflate my lungs with air fully, then float for a few seconds to rest my arms and legs. Then I could go back to treading water. I just repeated this process every two minutes or so, and I never got worn out.
Is it really that hard for most people to tread water for an hour?
I don’t know. I have access to a pool, so I suppose I could try it.
Why would you need to tread water for an hour, though? Couldn’t you just float on your back? Or are we assuming the water is too choppy for that in [insert wild scenario].
Don’t take this the wrong way, but–what were you wearing?
If you notice, the trainees in the movie were all in heavy warmups. After a few minutes in the water, those will weigh about twenty pounds at least with absorbed water. And they just … drag … you … down …
I took a deep water survival course quite a few years back. Rule one is, shed your outer clothing ASAP. You can make a nice little life preserver out of denim jeans, too, once you’re not wearing them.
We had to tread water in boot camp for ten minutes. I thought it would be a breeze, but it was tougher than it sounded: we couldn’t float or rest and our arms and legs had to be in motion the whole time. That said, ten minutes was tiring, but it wasn’t all that bad. An hour, though, sounds like it could be a stretch.
Why would the clothes weigh more being wet and in the water than they would dry and in the air. Any added weight of being wet is negated by being submersed in water.
I can see where there would be added resistance to movement that would tire someone out faster, but not weight.
I dunno, Projammer. But they do–I’ve been there. Maybe you just don’t notice the weight when you’re on solid ground … But they sure feel heavy when they get sodden under water, and you definitely will not have any luck floating on your back when fully dressed.
The “ripped, in shape” part may not be an asset. When I was at Boy Scout camp years ago some friends and I were all going for our Swimming merit badges, and one of the requirements was to float for a certain length of time. I didn’t even think about it, but my two friends had a hell of a time with this. The difference was that I was fairly pudgy, and therefore had some fat to buoy me up, while they were both rail-skinny.
So it probably takes more work to stay up when you’re trim and muscular.
Having done something similar to this in the Boy Scouts, in open ocean water, it was fairly difficult. Of course I was 15 years old and it wasn’t a problem. With a wetsuit and tanks on, I imagine it would have been much more difficult. Although you have the added buonancy of salt water, the drag of the gear could prove fatal. You have to ride the swell of the waves, failure to do so results in a dunking.
I can’t tread water for very long at all. I’m a sinker. If I lie on my back in fresh water my legs sink then my body slides in after them (yeah I do all the right things, spread eagled, head back, etc.) On the other hand, in salt water I’m fine, I’m just not very bouyant which means treading water takes a lot of work.
Edit: I once had to do a swim test for the Navy Reserves. We had to swim two lengths of a pool in whatever style we were most comfortable with and then tread water for two minutes while wearing overalls and shoes. Most people coped fine, I almost drowned but passed anyway, there were others who failed it.
The other thing to keep in mind…The fatter you are, the easier you float (which is why they test your body fat percentage by submerging you in water). Fat floats, muscle sinks. These guys have a body fat percentage of like, 5%. They aren’t getting any help from their fat, so they actually have to work harder than a person with more fat on them.
In boot camp we had to tread water for ten minutes in utilities. I was thinking no problem until about the 6 minute mark. It makes a huge difference when you are wearing heavy clothing. All of the black guys in our platoon failed the first time but after some remedial instruction they all passed. They all claimed that they could swim so my WAG is they just didn’t have access to a swimming pool all that often in civilian life.
So you just admitted that you didn’t tread water for an hour straight.
That’s like asking how anyone can have trouble running 5 miles non-stop, then trying it and each time you get tired, you walk for a few minutes. It’s not really running 5 miles non-stop then, is it?
The difference is that the point of treading water (at least to my way of thinking) is to not drown – basically to prepare yourself in case you have to tread water for an extended period. I see nothing wrong with floating when needed in that case.
To make the running anology fit, you would need to be trying to outrun lava flow.
And no, I know the point of the exercise. I’m just saying that IF the exercise does say that you cannot float to rest your muscles (for nitpicking or whatever), then it’d be cheating if you did. That’s why I specified running non-stop. I’m going with more of the physical motions exactly than what the spirit of the exercise is.
I grew up on a lake and my friends and I would go swimming off the end of the docks at night a lot. Sometimes we’d be out there splashing around, chasing each other, treading water, playing marco polo, whatever, for well over an hour without stopping or touching ground. It never seemed difficult (if it was, we wouldn’t have done it!)
Funny story: when I got a membership at a gym that had a pool I thought this experience would translate well into swimming laps. No! One lap left me exhausted when I started. Treading water or just staying afloat is nothing compared to swimming laps.
I can swim, and have in open water and in pools, for over an hour with no problems. I’ve never been able to tread water for any length of time at all. I’d totally fail that test.
