Update on breathing with weight lifting, being out of breath, thyroid, and all that...

[PeterPan]

So back when I had my thyroid thread people had suggested maybe my thyroid was undertreated and that's why I was needing 3-5 minute recovery breaks between sets. Then I had a thread on being out of breath, because it had gotten really bad the last few months with my return to weight lifting. I've had my asthma under control, my peak flow was going UP with the exertion, but I was completely out of breath and PANTING! 

I did get my B12 levels tested, and the were just under the middle. I'm taking some b12 now (adenosyl) just for good measure, and it seems to be good for my overall energy. 

Then I found info on VCD and exercise-induced stridor, which I realized is what I was having. I was hearing the stridor but didn't know what it was! So there's evidence that corticosteroid use weakens inspiratory muscles, which means it wasn't my imagination that after two years of repeated asthma and pneumonia and bronchitis and all the steroids that this was worse!

https://www.powerbreathe.com/plus  This is the device I'm using. They say to do 2X30 (a set of 30 twice a day), but being the nut I am I'm doing 3X40, haha. I'm making really fast progress, and at this point I've gone from level 0 on the moderate resistance to level 3. I can now exercise and maintain my breathing without extreme difficulty. Before the Powerbreathe, I could do the VCD breathing and keep it in check, but it was HARD. Now it's easy. 

And the best part? My recovery between sets with weightlifting is now 90 seconds or less, BOOM. And I have almost no fatigue the next day now. 

So I'm CRAZY excited for my progress! I think I'm safe to cancel the cardiologist, because I'm not experiencing heart pain and I'm not actually having symptoms hardly at this point. I also read Running On Air by Coates and am using his 3:2, 2:1, and 2:1:1:1 breathing to organize my approach to effort while lifting and keep oxygenated. Basically you use those patterns and then put them into power mode (deeper breaths) before moving to the next level.

It's a lot of progress for two weeks now. Really liking the Powerbreathe device... 

[Terabith]

Yay!

[moonflower]

Just wanted to say that I never comment on these because I am clueless, but I do follow it when you post and I'm happy for you 🙂

[Arctic Bunny]

1 hour ago, moonflower said:

Just wanted to say that I never comment on these because I am clueless, but I do follow it when you post and I'm happy for you 🙂

Exactly this. Yay!

[BeachGal]

Fantastic!

I was thinking of buying an inspiratory muscle training device and, lo and behold, here you are posting one. They are really cool.

Science Daily had an article about the benefits of using them recently. Reduces cardiovascular risk, improves cognitive health, helps with sleep. It’s not even much time to use. Awesome.

Quote

Five minutes daily of Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training lowers blood pressure, improves vascular health, boosts fitness and sharpens memory, according to preliminary results.

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190408161643.htm

Keep up the excellent work!

[PeterPan]

30 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

I was thinking of buying an inspiratory muscle training device and, lo and behold, here you are posting one. They are really cool.

Science Daily had an article about the benefits of using them recently. Reduces cardiovascular risk, improves cognitive health, helps with sleep. It’s not even much time to use. Awesome.

Yup, that's the article I read that got me started! They're using an upper level Powerbreathe product from their K series, but I find the plus series more affordable. https://www.powerbreathe.com/plus  There are some vendors on amazon, but I really don't know what's legit, which models they are. I think most of them are the level 2. You kinda have to read the fine print. I think I also found a US distributor which would get your shipping down. 

Coates in that Running on Air book talks about respiratory training devices and options, so you could look there too. He argues for doing *some* of your sets using upper (intercostal) muscles instead of only diagphram. His thinking is your diagphram eventually wears out and then the intercostals need to be there for you. I decided for myself I will get through the medium level device focusing on diagraphmatic breathing and then I can go BACK and start at 0 doing intercostal. That way I'm not taking the unit up and down so much, kwim? I'll be doing the 3rd level unit with the D breathing and the medium level unit with the intercostal and they can just stay that their settings. 

I don't really have any major complaints. I wish they had included extra mouthpieces or sold them online. Occasionally it will sort of "catch" internally but that's usually as you're starting. From that point on it's smooth. So I usually do a couple breaths of warm-up without the nose piece and then add the nose plug when I'm feeling confident. 

I want to get my dh to do it for his snoring, hehe...