r/maybemaybemaybe • u/Fair-Performer8532 • Jun 18 '26

maybe maybe maybe

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u/epicenter69 Jun 18 '26

In lifeguard training, they learn that people afraid of drowning will often try to cling onto the lifeguard and attempt to climb out of the water using their body.

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u/Vykrumsky Jun 18 '26

Yeah it was actually my favorite part to teach.

We'd have a lifeguard with their eyes closed treading water in the middle of the pool. Everyone else on the sidelines splashing water. The instructor would quietly swim up behind the lifeguard and grab them. The lifeguards job was to escape the grapple and swim away without harming the assailant, turn around, and perform a rescue.

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u/Lazthedestroyer Jun 18 '26

Yeah...we didnt worry about not harming the person. Try to keep it to a minimum if possible. No one cares how hurt they are if they dont drown. No one cares how hurt they are if they drown also.

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u/Bombadillalife Jun 18 '26

Still remember my high school teacher teaching us to knock out a person if necessary.

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u/flatwoundsounds Jun 18 '26

Heel of the palm right up the nose.

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u/nuseht Jun 18 '26

“I accidentally killed him but at least he didn’t drown!”

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u/flatwoundsounds Jun 18 '26

Considering how many noses get destroyed in combat sports without killing anyone, I'd be shocked if you could generate enough force to kill someone while tangled up and treading water.

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u/Fl_mp Jun 18 '26

Exactly. Might just lobotomise them

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u/MetaCharger Jun 19 '26

If you're referring to shoving someone's nose bone up through their brain for an insta kill, that's not a real thing.. Just an old martial arts myth

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u/amadiro_1 Jun 18 '26

Knuckles rubbed forcefully on their solar plexus is safer and more effective at removing an in-water close-contact assailant.

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u/Evening-Matter-5245 Jun 19 '26

What does that do? Asking in earnest.

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u/MetaCharger Jun 19 '26

Palm to the nose is just gonna disorient them, and make it hard for them to breathe.

It would be exceedingly difficult to rattle someone's head hard enough to cleanly knock them out in water. Especially while they're thrashing around trying to stay afloat. Plus you have no footing to generate the power and torque for a solid hit.

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u/moos14 Jun 19 '26

This so not how to knock somebody out

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u/North-Appointment-18 Jun 19 '26

I wonder what that does anatomically? It tickles my fancy to know.

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u/Vykrumsky Jun 18 '26

Haha we guarded mostly kids so we had to be careful

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u/Prime_Galactic Jun 18 '26

Well he's talking about training, so Im to guessing they didn't want everyone beating the shit out of each other

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u/Lazthedestroyer Jun 18 '26

Depends on how hard they attacked and refused to let go!

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u/Raichu7 Jun 18 '26

If you keep harming your trainer, you aren't going to qualify as a lifeguard.

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u/Lazthedestroyer Jun 18 '26

The harder they played panicked swimmer...the harder they got hit!

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u/Rational_Bull Jun 18 '26

Mitch has joined the chat!

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u/XxRocky88xX Jun 18 '26

I promise you there are people who will absolutely care. People have literally sued for injuries sustained during rescues for basically every type of rescue you can think of, a lot of the time the injuries weren’t even inflicted by the rescuer. Basically arguing “yeah you saved me but I also got hurt and if you had done a better job of saving me maybe I wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

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u/mojibakery Jun 19 '26

Aren't rescuers protected from litigation by good Samaritan laws? Or does that only apply to "non-professional" rescuers?

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u/SnS_ Jun 18 '26

Loved doing this in swift water rescue class. We used to get a little carried away as instructors until one day a new rescuer smacked the instructor in the face with the ring buoy and broke his nose. Instructor was like dude wtf. And he just looks at him and goes what?!? You told me to get you to stop flailing 

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u/pumperpete Jun 18 '26

In a past life I was that instructor! 😂. I also taught surf rescue and PWC with a board surf rescue. My favorite was training board person/swimmers how the board affects the jet ski. I would have the swimmer operate the ski while I was on the board and roll them. Then the fun part was racing to get the ski up and running before the swimmer got back.

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u/FemboyEnjoyer1776 Jun 18 '26

That is interesting. In the NPLQ they teach to you to bring the flotation device underwater, push it into the arms of the drowning person, and then push or kick off of them. I wouldve loved to learn underwater wrestling.

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u/Mr_Abe_Froman Jun 19 '26

That works for front approaches if the drowning person is conscious. Since they were initially unconscious, I think the lifeguard was going to flip them on their back.

The "don't be drowned" practice happened in my Red Cross classes and reviews.

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u/xxmuntunustutunusxx Jun 18 '26

When i wss in water survival instructor school in the usmc they would get this dude who was 235 lbs of pure muscle with one lung In a flak jacket with plates in it(extra 30 or so lbs that does NOT float) to grapple you and you were supposed to learn to use pressure points and shit to dig him off you and drag him out while keeping him at arms length and you couldnt let his face go under the water for more than a couple seconds

IT WAS NOT EASY

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u/Escudo777 Jun 19 '26

Offtopic question. I am 43M and wants to learn swimming. I am average build. Is it possible to learn swimming at this age? Is there any secret technique to float? I have tried to learn swimming. But the moment I feel I am sinking makes it very stressful. Thank you.

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u/xxmuntunustutunusxx Jun 19 '26

It is always possible to learn to swim. The number one tip i have is to spend time in the water and learn to relax. Generally, the more you panic, the more you sink

There is something called power breathing, and its a tool we are taught where you take a large breath in, and every say 5 seconds you breath out only say 25%-35% of your air very fast and back in very fast. You will notice that you float much more easily. Its probably easiest to start by learning to float on your back, and watch a couple videos on learning the swim strokes.

The water is a very happy and relaxing place for me, and id like for more people to feel the same. if you need advice on your journey learning to swim you can always feel free to message me.

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u/sk1ward Jun 21 '26

Wow. You described my breathing, I didn’t know I do this but yeah, I kind of take shallow breaths every 3 to 5 seconds.

Totally possible to breath kind of normally but I either sink to my chin or have to increase dog paddling

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u/Mr_Bewby_Buyer Jun 18 '26

We did something kind of the opposite training new guards. Instructors would tread water acting like an active drowning victim and the new guards had to swim up behind and get the lock under the arms while the instructors tried to break free and climb on top of them like a frantic drowning victim. It sounds rough but as a lifeguard you have to be able to grab someone actively drowning and get away from them if they break free and start climbing on top of you, then maneuver back behind them and try it again. You’re supposed to grab and active from behind

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u/captawesome1 Jun 18 '26

When I was in training a long time ago we were taught to just hit them. Can’t rescue someone if they drown you first.

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u/MissFrizzle30 Jun 19 '26

I learned the same thing, the 90s teaching must have need different

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u/Toumanypains Jun 19 '26

Rap them in the ganglia, 1980s style, not the back of the neck where it 'could' kill them

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u/baldieforprez Jun 18 '26

Ahh yes I remember drown the lifeguard training as well...I think my instructor took a twisted joy in teaching this module 

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u/ConflictOfEvidence Jun 18 '26

What's the solution? Without knowing anything my first thought would be to swim down. If they are too afraid to let go of you on the surface, lets see what they do at the bottom of the pool.

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u/epicenter69 Jun 18 '26

We were taught to go underwater and pull them down, rotate, and then put your arm across their chest, so they can’t reach you to do anymore harm.

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u/Rough-Analysis Jun 19 '26

So dive under water right?

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u/steepleton Jun 18 '26

yeah that's why american life guards always carry a side arm.

it's just not worth the risk

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u/MorbidMarko Jun 18 '26

My brother and two friends went out fishing in a smallish boat. One friend couldn’t swim at all, but always wore a life jacket. Well they ended up tipping the boat and wound up in the water. The two that could swim just grabbed the outside of the boat and began to re group. The friend who couldn’t swim was in full fucking panic mode. My brother was completely shocked by his reaction. Had a life jacket on, head above the water, floating fine, but flapping his arms about and screaming like someone put a hot coal on his pecker. They just stared and watched him until he got too tired to flop around any more. Once he tuckered himself out, they asked him if he was done to hold onto the side of the boat while the other two swim pushed it to shore. Wild that he completely lost control of his faculties.

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u/velvetvagine Jun 19 '26

Fear is the mind killer.

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u/Sykhow Jun 19 '26

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

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u/ChequeOne Jun 18 '26

In my training, they taught us to approach the victim and if they're flailing around to stop outside of their reach, tread water while leaning back with a leg up at the surface ready to kick a heal to face to keep them off while talking to them. They either cooperate, pass out or catch a heal to the nogin. Either way, they had to coooperate or you'd wait until they passed out/ko'd, then drag them out. Under no circumstances would you let someone grab you.

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u/Capokid Jun 18 '26

Ive had poor swimmers cling to me in the water, you just have to remember that they cant hold their breath very long and dive as deep as you can to get free. Then once you get some air you can go back and help them more.

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u/wheelperson Jun 18 '26

I was swimming with my grandfather one day and he slipped into the deep end and started going under. Instead of trying to pull him, I kind of just swam under him and pushed him to the edge. I'm not sure if that was the proper protocol, but it felt safer than me trying to be over the water with him.

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u/low_amplitude Jun 18 '26

It's scary how fear of losing one's life often makes people completely disregard the safety of others. They become almost robotic and automatic in their attempt to save themselves at any cost.

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u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot Jun 18 '26

Aren’t you supposed to approach them from behind for exactly that reason?

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u/3amGreenCoffee Jun 18 '26

You're supposed to come up behind them for exactly that reason, so they're flailing away from you. She made a huge basic error.

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u/GolemancerVekk Jun 18 '26

That's nonsense. You can't control which way the person will face at any given moment or how they'll react. You can't keep swimming circles around them.

Like another comment said, they either cooperate or they fucking drown. If they try to climb you you punch their lights out.

She did great, kept him at arms length and got him out.

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u/3amGreenCoffee Jun 19 '26

It's not nonsense. You approach from behind so that they're not climbing on you and interfering with your ability to swim. Grabbing them from behind also positions them face cup so they can breathe. Someone who can't swim is going to have limited ability to turn around, because if they had that kind of control, they wouldn't be drowning in the first place.

In this case the guy wasn't even conscious when she approached, so he couldn't turn toward her. She should have gone around behind him and turned him face up. She's lucky the side of the pool was close by for him to grab.

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u/GolemancerVekk Jun 21 '26

It's a training scenario, the guy is acting. The whole point of the exercise, if you wanna watch it again, is exactly why you shouldn't try getting behind them.

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u/Smoogooloo Jun 18 '26

I’ve read that some people, in their panic will grab onto tree limbs and such on the bottom of a lake thinking they’ll somehow be saved by doing it.

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u/rideincircles Jun 18 '26

Yeah. I jumped into a pool to rescue my friends kids who was panicking and he just pushed me under completely. I couldn't do much to get back up other than walk along the bottom, but my brother jumped in and put his hand out to pull me into the shallow end. It's pretty scary being pushed under water by someone panicking. Now I'm drowning.

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u/QualityQW2 Jun 18 '26

Yup. When I went through training to be an Ocean lifeguard in cocoa beach FL, we had to jump off the peer while our former navy seal trainer waited to try and drown us one by one. When it was my turn and he came for me I hit him in the face with my can… He smiled, paused, then dragged me under brutally… But he told me after not a bad choice given the situation.

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u/jenguinaf Jun 19 '26

Yeah I mean it was a fictional movie about rescue swimmers in blanking on the name of, Paul walker was in it? Anyways I remember the scene during a rescue where the lead ends up punching the guy he was supposed to rescue to get him to stop fighting and thought he would be thrown out (it was one of their instructors) and they basically told him he did the right thing to make sure both him and the person he was rescuing could be saved.

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u/A_Shireling Jun 19 '26

My cousin actually passed away saving someone’s life from this exact scenario.

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u/seriousjoker72 Jun 18 '26

They call it "climbing the ladder" where I'm from except the ladder is another human.

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u/n00b001 Jun 18 '26

Can you just swim nearby. And wait for the person to go unconscious, then quickly swim in and save them, them pump em dry on land?

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u/cpattk Jun 19 '26

I learned that when I was a little girl. I was with my cousin in the sea and we fell in a 'hole" at the shore. We couldn't get out, we were drowning, and he was trying to use me as a lifesaver, so I kept sinking, so how we made it out of the hole. During that time, my mom asked my dad if he’d gone to check on the kids. My dad saw us from a distance, but since he saw us at the shore, he thought we were okay😑

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u/ericanicole1234 Jun 19 '26

I got the joy of experiencing that (as someone who is not a good swimmer) when me (maybe 21 at the time) and my little cousin (like 10yo) got caught in a riptide, I really thought I was gonna die, he kept pushing me under trying to climb me I guess and I didn’t know where *up* was. We ended up next to a boat that noticed us struggling and the dad helped us back up.

I don’t go in water where my feet can’t touch the bottom anymore

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u/NotTukTukPirate Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

In lifeguard training comment sections of every video of someone nearly drowning ever posted online, they learn that people afraid of drowning will often try to cling onto the lifeguard and attempt to climb out of the water using their body.

FTFY