Breathing issues doing cardio

I have breathing issues with I run/jog. Its like I can't get a full inhale. Its frustrating. I have been trying to do what they call "belly breathing" b/c other's on MFP have mentioned it. So far, not working great but I am going to keep trying. I have never heard of exercise induced asthma. Thats interesting...

I hope you can find something that works.

Have you tried yoga? Certain classes put a lot of focus on maintaining deep breaths. It has helped me!
Good luck.

I actually went to the doctor and he told me I may have exercise induced asthma. I have never had breathing problems in the past but my mother does have asthma. He gave me an inhaler and I generally use it 20 minutes before I am going to be doing intense cardio (i.e.: running, kickboxing, etc.). I notice I need it more when it is cold and I am running outside, when I am congested or when my allergies are bothering me (I live in the Georgia and the fall and spring allergies here are brutal). It may be worth talking to your doctor to see if that would help.

If I don't use it and I start having issues I usually slow my pace down and take a few big, deep breaths until I feel like I can push the pace again.

I'd been diagnosed with exercise induced asthma since I was a kid, and every checkup I'd had maintained that diagnosis. As a consequences, when I knew I was going to exercise, I took 2 pumps of a preventative inhaler before cardio, and I tried to avoid exercising on the fly.

Recently, my inhaler started causing a bad reaction on the skin on my hands to the gloves I have to wear at work, so I stopped it, and I'm not really noticing too much of a difference in my breathing....I think I won't ever have a normal lung capacity, but the inhaler made me jumpy, racing heartbeat, dry throat, nervousness, and I think it's better for me to just not use it and breathe a little more than others....

Maybe I'll try another brand at some point?

I can't comment on the asthma side of things as I've never (to my knowledge) suffered from it.

But regarding the breathing, one of the best bits of advice I have possibly received is:

"breathe as it comes naturally to you"

If that means huffing and puffing like a train so be it, if you feel that you can breathe better in time with how you run, do it that way.

This might not be scientific, and sure some people's breathing technique can be improved. But as long as you are getting oxygen into the system and carbon dioxide out, that is what matters.

I used to suffer a lot from stitches when running and I find in some cases deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth helps. And also when you start to rest, rather than double over to get breath back, try putting your hands as high up onto your rib cage as you can to get your breath back, it looks a bit odd walking around with hands under your armpits, but I find that I get my breath back much quicker like this.