Fitness

Anyone can answer these questions for me! But it would be good if I can get some answered from those who also have Asthma.

Doctors say "You can still exercise with Asthma!" But thats hard for me to believe when I myself have asthma and can't do much.

So...to anyone.

What kind of exercise do you think a person with Asthma could do?

If you have Asthma, what kind of exercise do you do?

If you have exercise-induced Asthma, how do you exercise?

Thats pretty much all I am wondering, but if anyone has anymore to add to my questions, please answer. Thanks. =)

i have asthma (allergy induced), although when i was a teenager it seemed to be excercise induced. i still have trouble breathing sometimes and although i was given lots of medication (symbicort, flovent, ventolin), i only use the ventolin.

if you are not taking daily meds (like symbicort, flovent, advair), perhaps that is something you can talk to your doctor about. those kinds of medications are supposed to help reduce the need for a fast-acting inhaler.

my weight hovers around 300lbs, so my breathing isn't great because of that either, but i find the treadmill to be the best for me, because i can play with the incline/decline and speed as i need to. you can rev up your treadmill for a few mins, then bring the speed back down again - even to a slow walk while you catch your breath, and then bring the speed back up again.

most importantly - never, ever forget your fast-acting inhaler at home.

i think most people with asthma - especially excersice induced would agree that you can work out, but you have to pay attention to your body a little bit more closely.

hope that helps. :)

i've had asthma for a year. it's allergy and cigarrette induced. i think it got worse after i began using the inhalers. but i still exercise, and i realized that exercising has improved my asthma. i do any kind of exercise. what helps me is that i take a lot of natural medicine for asthma, and i take some especially before and after working out. i think it all depends on how bad your asthma is. i have bronchitis as well, but for most of the year, i can breathe fairly easily.

i have super bad asthma exercise and allergy induced...I used it as a reason not to exercise for years and years....

what I do is walk...i cant run and know what heart rate I can go up to before Ill need my inhaler (yay for a heart monitor)...you just have to experiment..supposedly swimming is good..but if your heart rate gets up too high, youll have issues anyways

when I walk I concentrate on my breathing...deep breaths..in through the nose and out through the mouth...that helps

I take my inhaler before hand and most of the time I dont need it afterwords..unless I work too hard.

I have/had Exercise Induced Asthma - it was at its worst in Summer (real hot & humid in FL) and when performing high impact exercise.  My doc had me take Singular daily and a puff or 2 of albuterol before and after - that was pretty much it - it took sometime for the meds to get in to full swing - I'd say about 2 weeks before I felt ok during a jog.

I have had asthma for 23 years.  It seems to flare up at times but I have just learned over the years not to panic and work through it.  I have found that exercise has made the attacks way less frequent.

I use the elliptical for 45 mins a day, or the bike depending on my mood for HIIT, (I don't do HITT the whole 45 there is a warm-up and cool down in that time)then I go to the weight machines and do upper or lower body weight training, depending on which day it is, for 45 mins. Then I hit the sauna for two 10 minute sessions with a 10 min cool down between.

I have had ONE asthma attack since Jan and it was after walking 7 flights of stairs at the gym.  I hit the track and walked it off.  But, later that day I was still feeling kinda "tight chested" so I ended up hittin the ole inhaler anyway.

i have bad asthma, and have had it since i was a child... its everything induced. i havenever ever ever let it get in the way of any activty! ive played all sports since i was young and still do today along with run and everything at the gym. when i wa syounger i guess they couldnt trust me with an inhaler so i had to go to the hospital everytime i had an "attack" but then, they gave me albuterol, and i just take a couple squirts before i excercise or durig or after when i need it. so...the point of this rant is to ay that if u think your asthma is infringing upon your ability to work out, talk to youir doctor and im sure they can prescribe some albuterol or something... they give it to people when they get bronchitis so check it out!

hi rachelynn,

i also have asthma, which is under control right now.  I find my asthma isn't as severe now that i have dropped some weight and started exercising regularly. 

I usually do pretty high intensity workouts most days of the week (e.g., kickboxing, interval cardio, rebounder, circuit training, other aerobics) and sometimes i need my puffer during or after the workout.  I have noticed that when the air quality is poor outside, if i have my window open, the inhaler always comes out.  Are you working out indoors or outdoors? 

My mom also has asthma, which can be pretty severe sometimes.  She does a lot of walking (brings her puffer) and often can't go as fast as she would like because she's wheezy. 

Just listen to your body.  If something seems to trigger your asthma then you could try something in a different enviroinment or at a lower intensity. 

hope that helps, julie

I have asthma, and a lot of allergies, it was impinging a lot more on my quality of life before I lost a lot of weight.

It was so bad I could hardly walk more than 1/2 block.  I started by walking in a mall where there are benches to sit on when I was out of breath, took about 6 months before I could walk the whole mall without sitting down.

It is now 9 months since I started walking, I now go on a treadmill, for 30 minutes every day (4mph).  I time it so that it is about 1 hour after I take my Advair inhaler.  I have no problem whatsoever, the specialist said that if a person starts slowly and listen to their body there should be no problem.  He also said it is important to do it regularly, at least 4 times a week.

The more weight I lose the easier it is to breathe.

I have asthma also and i find it hard to workout most days. When i do workout i use the treadmill for 20 minutes and i walk dont run. when i fell dizzy,faint or short of breath i stop. I'm know at the point of walking 20min., three days per week. Have not lost any weight yet but i'm not giving up.

I have asthma, including exercise-induce asthma. Here's what I have learned:

1. Find a good physician who will work with you and listen to you--and listen to him/her

2. Ask about using your rescue medication (i.e., Albuterol) about 15 minutes before you start exercising.

3. Warm up--I do cardio first (30 minutes) and take it easy for the first few minutes.

4. Cool down slowly--after I do the cardio, I do resistance circuit-style (go to another machine rather than rest between reps) for about 25 minutes. After I'm through with that, I do balancing and stretching stuff for 5-10 minutes.

5. Take a shower (helps with the cool down and keeps your breathing passages from being too dry).

This works for me. As others have mentioned, losing weight is a big help, too.

One of the things I found that really helped me to get my ashma under control was yoga.

If you can find a good instructor who will help you with breathing techniques it really helps.

At first I felt silly doing the breathing exercises, but if you can get past that I found it to really improved my ashma all around.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

I found that the best excersize for me when i was struggling with my asthma when it was at the worst was swimming i was diagnosed with excersize enduced asthma and my doctor told me ot go through swimming the best leg and arm owrk out for me in the pool was the butterfly stroke 1 lenght of it then onle lenght of frount crawl then one lenght butterfly then one of frount crawl and one of butterfly and then brest stroke then one of butterfly and then one of elementary back stroke untill i couldnt go anymore. take it easy if you havnt swam before. They are the best cario and muscular workout that i found and the moist humid air of the pool should help with the bad asthma. it helped me

CHEERS! and good luck i hope it works out for you!

Jenn

I have asthma that is excercise induced. It gets realllyy bad in the winter. My doctor told me to use my inhaler a half hour before I do any kind of excercise. Believe me I can tell the difference when I dont use it... now that i have albuterol I can run two miles no problem.  :)

hey rachelynn! ive had asthma my whole life ( im 15), and i do swimming, track, and cheerleading, and the way that i do ANY kind of workout is by using my best workout buddy :: my inhaler. if you dont have one, and you do have asthma, get one! sometime i get embarressed bc i have to use it a lot, but without it, i cant do anything! use it a little while, say 30 min before excersing, and then use it as nessecary while working out (but not too much! just one or two puffs if you feel it is nessecary). with out it, i can barely swim a lap, but when i use my inhaler i can go 2 miles running or swimming, so i really suggest talking to your doctor about getting one. it will TOTALLY change exercising for you =] good luck!

Hi. This is very helpful to read all of these responses.

I have allergy induced asthma and am especially sensitive to chemicals like paint thinner and perfume, etc. (swimming is out because of chlorine.) Three things have helped me a lot.
1.  Singulair has changed my life. If I'm exposed to scented candles or whatever for a period of time, I may have to use my inhaler then, but at least I'm no longer sick for a few days.
Singulair totally rocks.
2.  Regular vigorous exercise that challenges my lungs to work and strengthen. I did a walking program for a change and noticed that my asthma got worse after a while. So I went back to harder exercise.
3. Flonase which reduces the nasal drip that irritates my lungs. I don't use that all year but right now everything is blooming like crazy here.

Fortunately I'm not allergic to my little parrot whom I love dearly and who cuddles me and "kisses" my cheek ; )

Take care everyone.

You have to:

1) Get your allergies under control. This could be via an OTC allergy medication, or something like Zyrtec.

2) Ease into it. You have to start at very low intensity, and then slowly ramp it up during the course of your workout. This is especially important during cold weather. You may have to walk for a few minutes to get your body warmed up, then jog slowly, then run gently, and then ease into your normal pace.

3) Have an inhaler handy. If you have especially severe problems, then something like albuterol or one of its many siblings may be the ticket. You need to talk with your doctor about this.

There may also be lower-intensity, non-steroidal maintenance medications that can help prevent an asthma attack, and then you keep the inhaler with you in case you get one anyway.

I have had asthma since I was a young child. Its pretty much everything induced (allergy, exercise, irritants).

First off, get a good doctor. That is the most important part. You want someone who can tweak your medications until they are just right.

As far as exercise I am good with indoor exercises like an elliptical or bike, but I can't jog or run without some problems. Hiking and walking outside are fine for me unless the pollen count is really high. Swimming is also great. Normally I use my inhaler before any really intense exercise.

Losing weight really will help. My pulmonologist said that some people who are diagnosed with exercise induced asthma can get rid of all of their symptoms just by losing weight. Extra weight can really make things much worse.

When I was a kid, I only had exercise induced asthma.  I could roller skate and ride my bike all day, but I couldnt run for the life of me! It turned into allergy induced in my twenties. When I go to the gym, I always use my inhaler once on the way in.  It really makes a difference.  Before I learned that trick, I would get shortness of breath and feel like I had a weight pressing down on my chest.  It felt like I couldnt expand my lungs fully, which I think is what asthma is actually! lol  I also take time inbetween machines to take a few stressfree breaths. Anyway, if you have an inhaler, use it before the gym. If you dont have one and you have asthma, I would recommend seeing your doctor. They really make a difference.

Original Post by grouchyfoglady:

Hi. This is very helpful to read all of these responses.

I have allergy induced asthma and am especially sensitive to chemicals like paint thinner and perfume, etc. (swimming is out because of chlorine.) Three things have helped me a lot.
1. Singulair has changed my life. If I'm exposed to scented candles or whatever for a period of time, I may have to use my inhaler then, but at least I'm no longer sick for a few days.
Singulair totally rocks.
2. Regular vigorous exercise that challenges my lungs to work and strengthen. I did a walking program for a change and noticed that my asthma got worse after a while. So I went back to harder exercise.
3. Flonase which reduces the nasal drip that irritates my lungs. I don't use that all year but right now everything is blooming like crazy here.

Fortunately I'm not allergic to my little parrot whom I love dearly and who cuddles me and "kisses" my cheek ; )

Take care everyone.

 I am definately on board with Singulair. It allows me to be myself, push at the gym, smoke(lol I know), and other unmentionable I had a bad time with before.

I have asthma - and have always used it as an excuse for not doing intense cardio workouts. Mine is actually allergy and exercise induced asthma - so I need to be very careful.

That said, I'm now running an average of 25 - 30 miles a week....running faster than I ever did when I was younger.

I don't even use my inhalers any more - and my overall asthma (the attacks not related to exercise, the wheezing etc. etc.) has gotten much better.

Start slowly - and I mean slowly. It's taken me a year to build up to running 10 to 12 miles at a time. I started out jogging in intervals - maybe for 5 minutes at a time, walking 10 to 15 minutes in between.

I've never been able to do that whole "breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth thing". I just don't get enough air that way. So, I'm the person at the gym that's breathing heavily - from the beginning of the workout until the end. Find a breathing pattern that is comfortable for you. Forcing yourself to breath unnaturally will only make it harder for you.

Listen to your body - you know when you need to push yourself because you are feeling lazy and unmotivated and when you need to stop because you are really at your limit.

I avoid intense interval/HIIT training. Even now, I find intense bursts of speed/sprinting difficult because I can't recover adequately and end up triggering a mild attack.

Talk to your doctor about your program and your progress. You can still exercise - you just need to tailor your program a bit.

Hope this helps you out!