Need Advice For My Son USAF

Northern Virginia is full of many excellent swim clubs. I bet most have adult swim classes or adult 1-1 swim offerings. A few weeks with an instructor would be all it takes, given he can swim already. I suggest you look up a club close by and call them for lessons.

The best thing for the surface swimming test would be one-on-one lessons with an instructor. 14 minutes is plenty of time to complete 500 meters, he just needs to learn how to swim efficiently so he can easily complete that distance without needing to stop. Second best would be to watch some videos such as Total Immersion (TI). The surface training will also help him on the underwaters. To swim far underwater you need to get the most from your effort. If you just pull and kick like crazy you'll run out of air. You need to pull, kick and then glide. Watch videos of how great breaststrokers swim underwater off the start and turns. Some of them can go 15 meters with just a single pull and two kicks.

Hello, My dad was in the USAF, so I'm an AF brat. What should he (your son) do in order to prepare to pass the 2 swimming tests? First, he should TEST his abilities in those 2 challenges, & Report back If he can meet the requirements now he should TRAIN to Maintain maybe 2 or 3 times a week till the test. If NOT, he needs to train each day to IMPROVE. & retest weekly. what are his current abilities? when are the tests? how much time does he have to prepare? If he comes up short He should find a good swimmer where he lives & work with her. 1) 2 x 20 Meter Underwater Swim Test his ability NOW, how far can he swim? is he allowed to dive? if so he should practice diving, streamlining & gliding, if not he practice pushing off & streamlining what suit is he allowed to wear? Probably the best technique for seldom swimmers is underwater breastroke pull outs & gliding, I'll post a link to a video so he can see what it looks like The best way to train for this is to 1) perfect his underwater swimming technique 2) identify his starting point see how far he can swim under water right now 3) train to go further the keys are: put on a fast suit, Breathe a big breath just before pushing off or diving in, Dive in / push off, Streamline glide, pull & glide, Swim smooth & easy, conserve energy, Stay calm, Stay relaxed, & stay under till he crosses the 20 meter line He should train until this is very easy for him & he's knows he can do it in the test. He should train by doing the test each day 1) swim 20 m underwater 2) rest 3 minutes, 3) swim 20 M underwater by the way, the best way to rest between swims is to lay face up on the surface of the water, hold a lane line & prop up his feet 2) 500 Meter Surface Swim does he need 14 min or 11 min Identify his starting point swim 500 meters for time, what is it? longer swimming requires more conditioning? this requires more conditioning he should swim with goggles & a good suit, a good suit means a tight jammer, not big baggy surf shorts. something like this 2010 Approved Mens Suits Don't need a real expensive one. Big baggy shorts slow people down. I've seen many non swimmers, show up for important swim tests in really bad suits. the key is to swim easy, smooth, & steady, turn pretty fast, push off hard & glide breathe every 2 strokes DON'T START OUT TOO HARD I really need to see him swim to see if he has any major technique issues. If he can swim 500 in the time he needs he should train 2 or 3 times a week to maintain If he can't he should train each day up to the test. Let me know Here's Swim Faster Faster it's full of swimming tips Good luck, ande PS he can call me if he has questions 512 217 2728

Ande makes a good point about the suit. Ideally he should do the test wearing a form fitting suit. It doesn't have to be a "Speedo" (i.e., briefs). Lots of swimmers wear knee length suits now known as jammers. If he's not comfortable doing that at least wear shorts that are not baggy. The suit could make a huge difference, especially to someone who isn't a great swimmer. A baggy suit will slow him down and tire him out.

The local USAF guys here give this test often during my workouts. One interesting thing is that they do not allow flip turns in the 500. They encourage the recruits to take as much of the time as possible (ie pace themselves and use the full 14 minutes). There are no extra points for finishing faster, and they need to complete a run right after. On the underwater, they can't break the surface at all, even with the tip of a toe, so it's important to practice staying deep. The guys who do it best swim breaststroke. It is from a push. I would encourage him to use whichever stroke(s) comes easiest to him and work on it until he can repeat 50s around a minute. Ten of those during the test should not be too tough with a little practice. They all wear jammers, BTW. Good luck to him! :applaud:

In fact, he's already passed the Reduced PAST (without the swimming), which was sufficient to get him his TACP AFSC. He is currently scheduled for MEPS on June 5th, and then on to BMT on June 5th. He was contacted by a Combat Controller who recommended he consider that as a career field, but that he'd have to pass the full PAST, and my son is interested in that. He'd have to really get moving on preparing for the swimming if he wanted to try and take it before MEPS, though he'd still have the opportunity to do it during Basic. At any rate, the conversation where he revealed all of this to me is what led me to you folks. Tell him to check out that website I told you about. I think the latest change to CCT training means no indoc for your son. He'd still have to fulfill all the same swimming requirements that PJs have to, only not in a few weeks, more like in months. So that gives him time to get better at swimming. Again, both awesome career fields.

In fact, he's already passed the Reduced PAST (without the swimming), which was sufficient to get him his TACP AFSC. He is currently scheduled for MEPS on June 5th, and then on to BMT on June 5th. He was contacted by a Combat Controller who recommended he consider that as a career field, but that he'd have to pass the full PAST, and my son is interested in that. He'd have to really get moving on preparing for the swimming if he wanted to try and take it before MEPS, though he'd still have the opportunity to do it during Basic. At any rate, the conversation where he revealed all of this to me is what led me to you folks.

Sir, First off, congrats on raising your son the way you did. His desire to serve his country is appreciated. I am an active-duty AF guy and have worked for a number of years with TACPs, CCTs, and PJs. They even let me work out with them a few times in the pool, which is saying something. I want to make sure your son is aware that the PAST swimming requirements are the bare minimums. By the end of his training (either in CCT or PJ), he will be required to swim a 50yard underwater. (He'll only have to do this once during training.) Also, he'll work up to I think 4000 yards and if you search the internet and find times that seem kinda quick, know that those times include fins and mask (it's a special side-stroke-like stroke that he'll learn in the indoc course. Check out specialtactics.com for the most up-to-date info from actual special tactics personnel.) That being said, getting him into good swimming condition should be his top priority. Many folks have made it through those schools as "decent" runners, but the same cannot be said about being just a decent swimmer. Some good practices for him: Pick a set, say 10 x 50 in a short pool, but get out of the pool at the "far" end and do 10 (or 20 or 30, build up) push-ups and IMMEDIATELY dive back in and swim another length, get out and do 10 (and up) flutter kicks. At indoc, this same drill will be done, but the "swims" will be 25y underwaters. That's just an example of a workout he can begin working on now. The main point is for him to be comfortable in the water. A lot of guys I talked to (including some who didn't make it through indoc) stated that it was their being uncomfortable in the water that did them in. This mostly during periods where the instructors will "helpfully" simulate waves and/or personnel who maybe don't want to be helped. This will include being pulled under, having your mask taken off, those sorts of things. Another "fun" drill is water confidence. Tread water in the deep end, then let yourself sink to the bottom, kick off, surface and breathe, and repeat. He'll have to do several minutes of this, with his hands and feet velcro'd (hands behind back). The trick to this is to be comfortable letting all your breath out (understanding that your lungs will be okay) so that you can sink properly. He'll also have to swim a certain length (can't remember...400? 1000 yards?) with his hands and feet velcro'd. Again, being comfortable in the water is the 'trick.' He'll need to be prepared for other things as well, like pull-ups AND chin-ups (there's a diff) as well as lots of running, but in my experience, that was less of a problem than water confidence. Also, in the last few years there have been changes to CCT versus PJ training...as I understand it, CCT candidates have to do the same swim requirements, but have longer to work up to them (consult the website for that). Also, understand that TACP is just as hard-core, awesome and bad-a$$ as CCT and PJ. Only thing is, you'll never get guys in these three career fields to agree with that statement! Any other questions, feel free to email me. Aim high!

Oh, and forgot to mention: PJs explained to me this procedure for doing good underwaters. Get as close to the bottom of the pool as you can w/o touching it. Good "keyhole" arm stroke and frog kick, then glide until you just about stop moving, then repeat. Do not kick or stroke like crazy...you're just using up oxygen. The analogy was take a grape between your wet thumb and forefinger. The pressure will make that grape fly. The weight of the water above you plus the slippery floor of the pool should allow you to not use as much energy as you would if you were doing your underwater in the mid-depths of the pool. Who knows, but it works for me. Now when I asked them how to do a 50 underwater, all I got from them was: "Same way, only stay under longer." ;)

Buy him a B70:)