Working out (or trying to work out) with asthma...

Although I have not been officially been diagnosed with Asthma (Dr feels it is adult onset cough varient) Dr is calling it Reactive Airway Disease to avoid labeling me with Asthma for insurance purposes.

I have a rescue inhaler & a Symbicort (preventative) inhaler. The Symbicort. has helped a lot. I use it am & pm daily.

I use my rescue inhaler prior to starting my exercise. The Dr recommended that. It seems to help some. I still get to coughing & some trouble breathing. When that happens I will try to continue but lower the intensity. For example I am doing 30 Day Shred & there is a cardio part called 'high knees' if I am having trouble I will march in place. Still moving but less intense.

I would ask your Dr for recommendations.

I have really bad asthma, even with daily medication and a rescue inhaler. The frustrating part is that anything that gets my blood pumping seems to give me an asthma attack. Does anyone have any suggestions for good workouts that are asthma friendly?

i have had exercise induced asthma in the past. walking and stationary bike seem to be ok for me, plus they are my favorite exercises anyway.

might try slowly working into jogging this summer and see if it still sets me off.

I've had terrible asthma since I was about 7. Had two controller meds every day, and used my rescue inhaler at least 3-4 times a week. It's not exercise-induced asthma, though I used to think it was. I used to panic about it, because I would think "If I keep going, I'm going to be out of breath, and that must be an asthma attack!" I'm pretty sure for a while I just panicked myself into an attack, because a few times when I was running cross-country, I didn't use my inhaler the entire time, and didn't even notice until I was done with my run. After a while of running regularly (more like jogging, really), my asthma actually improved a TON. Which sounds counter-intuitive, but regular cardiovascular exercise actually improves lung functions, because it improves the conditioning. But the big thing for me was not being afraid of one happening, because I've realized that if my mind is on an attack, it's going to happen, but if I relax, and don't think about, I can actually prevent it. It's so HARD, I know, because there's this feeling of "I can't breathe, I can't breathe" and it's terrifying, but try doing some yoga and really focusing on relaxing your mind and lungs. Getting in the right mindset really helps a lot.

I have "athletic onset asthma" which basically means as long as I don't run I'm fine. Some intense cardio classes and sometimes swimming will set it off. I use my inhaler BEFORE my workouts that involve cardio where my heart rate will get up too high. I've just learned my limits and know when to back off. The down side is I don't push myself as hard as a probably should. I focus on weight training so it's not too much of an issue.

I would really ask the pulmonary specialist what is best for your case, especially if it's that serious.

If the shorter minute workouts are what work for you, then go with those! There are workouts across the web that are 10 minutes max and are easily paused for a while. I had to do this starting up because of my anemia (i.e. perma-fatigue), and when I'm at the gym I take a few minutes to stretch out lightly between machines if I feel worn down. I still use my happy little 10-minute aerobic workouts at home when I don't have time to gym it (which is most of the time now), and that's good enough for me.

First of all, drinking water won't do squat for preventing an asthma attack. A coughing fit from other issues, maybe, but not a true asthma attack. Drinking something with caffeine in it will help at asthma attack, though because it opens the airways. If I can't get to my meds I grab a soda because in one of my first aid classes we were taught to give coffee while waiting for EMS for anaphalactic airway restriction if the person didn't have meds.

Also, in my classes (I just completed my bachelors in exercise physiology.) we were taught to have asthmatics take their rescue inhaler 15 minutes before exercise and to do a long (10-15 minute) warm-up before trying to do any exercise, so I personally do those things. When I'm going to teach an exercise class, I get there early so that I can warm-up on my own instead of making the whole class do a long warm-up. You can do the same with exercise videos just by doing some marching in place or other basic dance moves for a few minutes before starting their workout. As for the actual workouts, impact doesn't matter as much as intensity. You can jog but you have to work up to it by starting with walking. Then add in a sprint of 15-30 seconds of jogging followed by 2-3 minutes of walking. Slowly focus on increasing sprint times and decreasing walk times until you are jogging more and walking less. Eventually you will be able to jog the whole time. Same for bike riding or whatever. Just keep it light most of the time and add in sprints of working harder until you can work harder more and more of the time. Just don't try adding the sprints until you can do a low intensity workout (IE: walking) for at least 30 minutes without it triggering an attack.

Another suggestion I would give is to practice yoga. You don't want a vinyasa flow yoga yet. Just a basic hatha practice that focuses on breathing. Learn the breathing techniques (specifically the 5 count breath where you inhale for a count of 5 and exhale for a count of 5, but this may take some time to build up to) and start applying those breathing techniques to your cardio. That will help quite a lot in controlling your asthma.

i would say you need to use your rescue inhaler 15-30 minutes before you exercise. I specialise in chronic lung conditions and i can tell you that 90% of people take their inhalers incorrectly as they have never been taught how. I would use a spacer device for your rescue inhaler unless you have a dry powder inhaler like symbicort. You also need to be compliant with your preventers, need to take it everyday even when you are well.

I would never ever recommend a nebuliser for an asthmatic (unless they are quite brittle). Nebulisers are for emergency use only and should not be abused. If you have an excellent technique for your particular inhaler device then it works just as effectively as a nebuliser. Dont waste your money on a nebuliser. Go see your doctor/ nurse and ask them for some advice.

Lift weights. I have asthma (exercise induced) so I need an inhaler on my conditioning class days but strength training is fine and has been way more effective in dropping the pounds .