During my career in the Navy, I was usually my department or command fitness test coordinator. In the Navy (during that time) in addition to sit-ups and push-ups you had the choice of doing either a 1.5 mile run for time or the 500 yard (or 450 meter) swim for time. One test cycle, a couple of young gym rats in my department decided to try the swim for the upcoming fitness test. They were in good shape but they'd usually done the run and always passed with no problem whatsoever. They said they knew how to swim. I told them that swimming laps, for the test, is a lot different than just splashing around in the pool. They figured they were in good enough shape that they could "muscle their way through 500 yards." Well, they failed miserably. Their trace amounts of body fat made them much less buoyant and required considerable "muscle" to keep them from sinking. They didn't have the technique to swim efficiently. They were quite embarrassed when they got assigned to remedial fitness until I had the opportunity to retest them...doing the run instead.
Dan
During my career in the Navy, I was usually my department or command fitness test coordinator. In the Navy (during that time) in addition to sit-ups and push-ups you had the choice of doing either a 1.5 mile run for time or the 500 yard (or 450 meter) swim for time. One test cycle, a couple of young gym rats in my department decided to try the swim for the upcoming fitness test. They were in good shape but they'd usually done the run and always passed with no problem whatsoever. They said they knew how to swim. I told them that swimming laps, for the test, is a lot different than just splashing around in the pool. They figured they were in good enough shape that they could "muscle their way through 500 yards." Well, they failed miserably. Their trace amounts of body fat made them much less buoyant and required considerable "muscle" to keep them from sinking. They didn't have the technique to swim efficiently. They were quite embarrassed when they got assigned to remedial fitness until I had the opportunity to retest them...doing the run instead.
Dan
