Recently I decided to join the lifesaving course organised by NTU, it consists the Lifesaving 1/2/3, CPR and BM(Bronze Medallion). I kinda joined late, last monday 9th of Feb. I'll try to outline the training programme that I had...it's kinda shag, really.
Oh, the regular training schedule is Mon, Thurs 7.30pm to 10.30pm. I gotta make up for the lessons I missed.
9th Feb, Monday:I started off with a categorization test...basically to see if you're fit enough for the course.
- 50m breaststroke or freestyle swim under 1minute
- 5 minutes of treading water followed by
- 2 minutes of treading water without hands ( just legs)
After the treading my legs were screaming!! The tightness of wanting to cramp up and yet not cramping...and more of these to come. Zzz
Following that:
6 laps of Lifesaving Backstroke (ie: 1 hand)
4 laps of freestyle (kicking only) with kickboard+
4 laps of breaststroke (kicking only) with kickboard
(at this point my legs were so super tight...and only 5-10 seconds of rest after each lap~)
4 laps of lifesaving tow (backstroke)+
2 laps of lifesaving tow (backstroke)- supposedly side but I haven't learnt.
After that, we proceeded to the 4m diving pool to learn defensive blocking. This is to defend outself from an uncooperative victim and to keep a safety distance. Normally we will do a leg push , but that day we learnt how to do an "Arm Block" if the victim is too close for a Leg push/block. The details of how we did it...well it's too graphical to discribe in words to I'll leave it at that :). We basically did this all the way till the end.
And oh. We also learnt how to release grips if the victim managed to grab our wrists and stuff. Sorta like doing Aikido or Jujitsu, LOL!
Oh I did not mention, apparently we can't wear goggles for the test. So most of the the time we train without goggles...for the first time, I found out the degree of strain that puts on our eyes!!
And that concludes day 1...
Training #2 : 12 Feb Thurs
We spent all the time at the 4m diving pool. Did a little warm up laps, then we practiced abit of what we learnt last week. And...more Aikido/Jujitsu moves to unlock ourselves from victims that have grabbed us from the front, or the back, a bear hug.
Training was tough, because we mainly practiced in the water, having to tread water while waiting for instructions was sheer "shagness" or so I call it. We played "victim" and "rescuer". I think the funniest moments (come to think of it, quite scary) was that the instructor would pounce occasionally on unsuspecting "rescuers" and they would have to break free. Because of how sudden it was, and the size (he's kinda big..like twice, 3 times my size)...most of them couldn't get away on time and/or drink water. In fact, this course made me drink water alot..and I thought I was a decent swimmer. Zzz.
For the rest of the training, we learnt how to do EAR (Expired Air Resusitation), which is prior to CPR. The acronym is Dr.ABC which stands for
- Danger (surroundings to victim and to self)
- Response (of victim)
- Airway
- Breathing
- Circulation
Details, not too interesting. You could ask me if you are though...got some handbook hehe.
That was all. The water treading being the most tiring exercise though.
Training #3 (today): 17 Feb MonToday was by far the most tiring training yet! The swimming training (ya..at least to me la..yaya..I weak ) was basically consisting:
Warm up (appetisers):
- 2 laps freestyle
- 2 laps breaststroke
- 4 laps lifesaving backstroke ( ugh teach me sidestroke already will ya?!)
Main course:
- 50 m freestyle kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m breastroke kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m freestyle or breaststroke Hand only (with leg float) x2 = 100m
- 100 m swim any style.
- Total: 300m or 6 laps (the hand only being the MOST Tiring!~~)
At this point I was like wha...shag! But upon completion, we were told that we're going to 4 sets of that. I was like...whaa..zz cannot la. Some girl called 'mariam' or something..haha her expression was damn funny. For effects sake:
#2
- 50 m freestyle kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m breastroke kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m freestyle or breaststroke Hand only (with leg float) x2 = 100m
- 100 m swim any style.
- Total: 300m or 6 laps (the hand only being the MOST Tiring!~~)
#3
- 50 m freestyle kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m breastroke kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m freestyle or breaststroke Hand only (with leg float) x2 = 100m
- 100 m swim any style.
- Total: 300m or 6 laps (the hand only being the MOST Tiring!~~)
#4
- 50 m freestyle kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m breastroke kicking only (with kickboard)
- 50 m freestyle or breaststroke Hand only (with leg float) x2 = 100m
- 100 m swim any style.
- Total: 300m or 6 laps (the hand only being the MOST Tiring!~~)
And hardly any rest between each laps and sets we did. That's a total of....24 laps of hell~
When I finished, my eyes were VERY blurry and I was seeing rings at each light source I thought I ws going to faint or lose my sight. scary. Not forgetting my legs were screaming "cramp!" and my chest about to burst inside out.
After that, we tried a 50m swim "to victim" followed by a "50m" tow using a long sleeve shirt. it's erm. relatively easy to swim 50m without any deadweight :| We took turns...and I really had difficulty when it was my turn to tow. I mean, it's hard enough to backstroke with one hand without load..with load..well basically I went under water most of the 50m back. Maybe also...my "victim was..just too heavy" lol. (dmg:100m or 2 laps)
After that was basically learning lifesaving techniques; How to turn an unconscious face-down person up , progressively standing to while treading and then actual towing.
Then, we learnt how to place a person to the side of the pool, and get up with ONE HAND. I couldn't really do it, except in a quite UNGLAM manner..zzz
After that was really tough for me. We took turns to pull each other out of the pool, like doing laundry we dip the person to gain momentum and then pull him/her up. Again, my partner was the 80kg-ish sort, while me a puny 60. He pulled me up quite effortlessly, whereas I could only pull him up to his stomach area before losing strenght. (Oh, we had to take extra 'precaution' not to rub the family jewel - for guys, against the pool side and stuff..could be quite painful.) and...we ended there.
All in all, I'm super tired now, my eyes blurry still. But I had fun. Hope to be fitter and..heavier. Can't let my partner have such an easy time during the test: lol. 3 other guys are also 80ish. I'm in the deep end of the pool zzz.
Oh, I'm trying to keep a count of the number of laps I swim each session to give me a grand total at the end...just for the sake of keeping track haha.
Training #1: ~21 ish
Training #2: ~none..the dive pool is quite a small square but treading water ish eq tiring.
Training #3: ~34 ish
I wish they were 'regular laps' wun be so tiring. LOL.
Okie..Jon out~
