I did CPR training a while back, including AED use. It was fun - and sobering. The takeaway was basically: the odds of your victim surviving this is low, but any chance is better than no chance. They also drilled into us that good CPR will likely crack some ribs. Which is again preferable to, you know, being dead.

They also had us training on two mannequins. First one was the ‘nice’ dummy that’s easy to compress and teaches good form. Then they switched it out for a ‘lifelike’ dummy, which supposedly simulates the actual strength needed for good CPR. And man, that’s a workout for sure. After performing five minutes of solo CPR on that bad boy, I was about ready to need that AED myself. I’m quite a chunky individual, and even leveraging my body weight that took a bit of strength. We had a petite girl in our class who couldn’t manage it.