Breathing Tips?

rosepeppercreek

Hi guys,

I've been working out consistently for the last month. 2-3 days of intense cardio (cardio kickboxing and SoulCycle), 2-3 days of light cardio (walks mostly), 4 days of strength training. I've finally hit a place where I feel good about the exercise, and I don't feel like throwing up anymore (yay!). But the problem remains that I know I could push myself harder if I wasn't worried about my breathing.

I've always had a hard time breathing, and was diagnosed with asthma as a child. I've never had an asthma attack, per se. Just periods where my lungs feel clogged and I get short of breath. Into my teens I played softball, and always had a hard time with conditioning (long distance running especially). I find it incredibly difficult to breathe through my nose. Like impossible. Like I'm not getting enough air?

I'm trying to come up with some ways to work around this, because I'd like to spend more time doing the intense cardio...

- Go back to having an inhaler: I haven't had one in FOREVER, and even then, just when sick. Maybe I could use it just before exercise? I just don't really dig the steroids.

- Interval training: Maybe short bursts of running or more intense cardio interspersed between slower walking?

- Yoga: Doing more yoga to help increase lung strength?

But that's about all I've got. Not sure if they'd even work. What say you guys?

PatchFan

I recently discovered that I had exercise-induced asthma. I didn't even know it was a thing! Anyway, right before going to the gym, I've been taking some Albuterol, and I can say that it's helped tremendously. It takes longer for me to become short of breath, and once that occurs and I slow down, it takes me less time to regain my stamina and speed back up. I wish I'd have known about this years ago. I'd say it's definitely worth trying. If you're not interested in steroids for whatever reason, I believe there are other classes of drugs you can take that achieve the same effect. Do a little research and talk to a doctor. It'll probably be well-worth your time.

SWWIS

I developed exercise-induced asthma when I was in the best shape of my life, which was a total surprise to me, and to this day, no matter what kind of shape I'm in, it persists. The past 7 years I've learned to manage it. I take an albuterol inhaler before I start working out or playing sports and keep it nearby in case of emergency, but I almost never need to take it mid-workout as long as I manage myself well enough. As with the poster above, it also takes me less time to recover if I start feeling like I can't breathe when I take it pre-exercise than if I don't take it at all. I've learned to really focus on my breathing while doing steady-state cardio. Keeping my breaths uniform and even helps keep my blood-oxygen level high enough and keep my lungs from getting too inflamed.

It really depends on how you feel and how you are able to manage it.

_HeartsOnFire_

I would see your doctor or call them and have a conversation.

My doctor told me to use my inhaler about 30 minutes prior to any exercise.

I have always had asthma so never believed I could become a runner. Well I'm becoming a runner and I learned a breathing technique, breathe in for 4, out for 3. I still always keep my inhaler on me though.

VelveteenArabian

Sounds like exercise-induced asthma.

I was given an inhaler (albuterol) and it did NOTHING for me. Okay, I lie, it made my mouth taste like pennies, so I guess it did do something, but nothing useful. My dr put me on Singulair instead and that has worked wonderfully.

It DOES get better with training. For me, I had to figure out the highest level I could sustain for long periods of time (I would do cardio for an hour total), and try to stay there. I also found that if it got to be too much, I didn't have to stop everything (I did at first), but I could just slow down and drop my intensity for a little while, then amp it back up again. As someone with EIA, my breathing gives out well before my body does, so remaining at a level of effort that was challenging but sustainable was and is always a level that's below what my body feels like it can do.