From what I have researched, yes. It's five minutes.

I used to hate it but now its my favorite part of my swim workout cause I just have to kinda keep myself afloat lol

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It's really not that bad. All you have to do is keep yourself afloat for 5 minutes. It's not as hard as it might seem.

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Yes...without question!

Just imagine yourself out in the middle of the ocean when the unthinkable occurs and you are now in the water with no life jacket on and it takes more then a few minutes for them to realize man over board, for them to get the cutter turned around and the rescue boat in the water....now imagine not so calm seas...

It would be good for one to be able to tread water a little longer then 5 minutes...

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I got a letter from boot camp that said he now knew he was getting stronger. When he was in the hotel, the night before he went to boot he could barely do 2 minutes. He was up to a good 5 minutes and he wasn't even tired! So if you can't do it now, don't worry you will be able to before you leave there!

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Proud mom of

SN Robertson, Colin

USCGC Seneca

I would for sure boost up on your treading skills. DH said that they usually did swimming as the last thing of the day so you're already tired (again companies are different but you never know) and even though DH is an excellent swimmer it was hard cause of how wore out he was.

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Cassie

any suggestions for a efficient and less-tiring way to tread water? cause when i took swim lessons as a kid all i was taught was a "scissor flip" and the "running in place" as they called it and it gets really exhausting after about a minute of so.

Not sure why, but when you are actually there doing it, it really doesn't seem that hard. I remember doing the scissor technique, but fairly slowly. Just enough to keep yourself at the top of the water. No need to use up all of your energy.

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I cannot remember who but someone highly recommend this technique...

Egg Beater

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oh sorry...i was meaning the "running" one is very tiring.and probably the dumbest and worst one ever.
I'll have to try that egg beater one....

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Use the egg beater kick while moving your arms sort of like you're flying. Also, try doing it with little as movement as possible. Remember to relax!


You can try taking swim lessons too. Im a swim instructor at the YMCA and we teach kids/adults how to tread water.

the egg beater is fairly similar to what i was taught. the way i was taught is slower but u use your upper body also. ur legs kinda make the motion of a squid but in slow mo.

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Last Edited : 8/13/2009 3:08:55 PM GMT

I haven't seen the same picture, but they could be in the shallow end doing one of the water strength training classes that they do there.  However, the water treading part is done in a similar way, where there are 4 or 5 even lines of recruits.  Can you post the picture on here?

I have been looking for it everywhere, I am trying to remember where I found it, I have been on SO many sites lol

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I taught myself how to swim at an early age and my two swimming techniques are formal ones, believe it or not. I've done the egg beaters, and the breast stoke (slightly modified) since I first started swimming.

I never really thought about learning techniques with treading water and swimming, I grew up by the sea and just always thought everyone knew how to do it lol

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lol clem are you tapping into my brain. thats what i would have said!

Okay so here is an actual question regarding this topic.

Do we need to have an actual technique down and tread a certain way or can we just tread however it feels best for ourselves?

I know with swimming they have a specific style they want you to do in the marines, does Coast Guard do it that way too?

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No, that wasn't it. Good shot though lol.

In the photo it looked like they had to keep a level of their shirt dry? You know what I mean... it probably wasn't the CG, I can't imagine them being that hard and difficult about it

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That's a pretty accurate photo of the way the treading water portion will be. And you can tread water pretty much anyway you can as long you can go for 5 minutes. They didn't even try to teach us any techniques before we jumped in.

oh thank goodness, cause i have no technique, I just...tread..

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I've always done the "Riding a bicycle while you flap your arms like you're flying" type of treading water. It always worked for me...

The best way to do is to take really really big breathes and hold it. When your lungs fill with air, you float. That is what helped me in boot.

There is no set way to tread water at boot camp. You also only have to do it one time. It is SUPER easy. If you can kick your legs and move your arms for 5 mins you can do it no problem.
They only pull you out if you look like you are struggling. The lack of swimming stuff at a nautical service boot camp is really weird. What we do swimming wise is rather pathetic in most of the recruits opinions. We actually talked about it alot because we only swam the last 2 weeks of boot camp. We swam a total of 5 times I believe. The initial test, putting on the Mustang suit, and 3 swim cycle workouts. That was it.

Every week the training schedule is the exact same for the companies. So a company today is doing the same thing a company 5 weeks ago did. It never changes.

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........ and on the seventh day Jack Bauer said, "I'll take it from here.

I am a total swimmer, knowing we don't get that much water time is sucky, but then again I'll be in/on the water for the rest of my career...

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Is the rules when treading for 5 minutes. I can stay upright straight as a needle in the water with my head above water only moving my arms when I go to breath. Would this count or do they make have to tread water a certain style such as eggbeater and ect .

Posted By Steven413 on 14 Feb 2020 08:40 AM
Is the rules when treading for 5 minutes. I can stay upright straight as a needle in the water with my head above water only moving my arms when I go to breath. Would this count or do they make have to tread water a certain style such as eggbeater and ect .

As long as you tread water for five minutes, your're fine.  Don't overthink this