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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
Hello all. What does it feel like to be out of breath vs having exercise induced asthma?
I am trying to figure out if I’m gassed or if I’m having some kind of asthma. I don’t think I knew there was a difference until now.
I shall save my own personal symptoms to see if they align with the responses.
Context is boxing / MMA.
Speaking subjectively, exercise-induced asthma has a sensation of “chest-tightness” to it that normally being out of breath doesn’t. I personally associate it with a panicky/anxious feeling of “I’m breathing in, but the air isn’t getting into my system” or “my chest won’t expand enough”.
Regular out-of-breath-from-exertion feeling can still suck and be similarly unpleasant, but there’s less of that “restriction”/“something is working wrong” vibe and it fades much quicker. I usually find asthmatic symptoms fade on the order of ~5-10 min, while normally recovery is on the order of ~1-2 min.
Another heuristic that can be helpful (but definitely not conclusive) is response to temperature. Cold weather can be a massive trigger for exercise-induced asthma in particular, so if you notice it varies with that, it’s more likely to be asthma. Also if you’re audibly wheezing, probably asthma.
All that being said, combat sports specifically are just BRUTAL in terms of short-term cardiovascular demand. It’s easy as hell to get gassed within a minute or two without asthma.
Your best move either way is going to be to talk to a doctor to get a rescue inhaler Rx. They’re very cheap and low-risk. If they don’t change the way you’re feeling on the mat, you’re likely quite fine; if they do, you can consider going on a daily maintenance regimen if needed/desired, or just use the inhaler on rare occasion if you’re not having issues off the mat.
Is exercise induced asthma usually felt in the throat? When I run my lungs feel fine, but my throat feels shredded. There's a correlation between me pushing myself through that and getting bronchitis or pharyngitis that lasts more than a week, but there are too many other variables for me to feel confident that it's causation.
I'm sorry if that's too complex a question. I've talked to two doctors about it and neither one gave me a straight answer. I've also looked online and that's no help.
Nope - it’s specifically a lower respiratory condition.
Must be something else then. Thank you!
I complained in the past about my lower back pain on the left side and I'm here just to update that it is still here.
I went to a physio and he did massage, accupunture, chiro, those suction cups and all that voodoo and it did nothing.
I recently found the only thing that is helping. This stretching workout. As long as I do it every day I have almost no issues. I even did weighted good mornings last week and felt no pain after.
Tomorrow is leg day and let's see if I can do it.
I went to a PT (not a physio) for something very similar. Left lower back would get really tight and sore, after leg days my left hip would be so stiff that the drive home was painful, and in the mornings putting on my shoes and socks was difficult. It started with a tweak that would improve then get worst with certain movements.
She diagnosed a spasm in a certain part of my thoracic spine as well as a lot of tightness around my right shoulder blade. Her opinion was that it was a combination of that tightness and weak hip abductors causing for compensation during squat and deadlift. The prescription was some warm up and cool down stretches and mobility exercises.
I also added weighted 45 degree hyper extensions to my program to build up my lower back more.
She did a bit of massage as well to help the acute tightness. Since then and keeping up with these movements I've remained pain free.
I've been doing banded hip abduction on my leg days. That crab walk with a band around the ankles. I think it's helping too.
It is exactly what I feel. Left lower back tight and sore after any hip hinge (back extension, deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts). It does not happen right after the workout, I usually start feeling by the end of the day (I workout in the morning).
Afrer doing the stretches and the hip abduction for a month, I finally can do light good mornings without feeling anything, but there are days that I still feel some soreness there. Specially if I bend my torso to the right.
I'll keep this routine for another month and if it does not help much I'll find another PT.
Hi my tildes fitness pals! Been a very hot minute, but I'm easing back into my workout routine. I'm aiming to do weightlifting 1-2x a week and walks throughout the week with a swim or a run to help get more cardio in. I need a new swimsuit though and they are obnoxious to shop for lol. But I've been making sure to walk at least once a week so I'm doing something even if I really, really don't feel like it. So, baby steps.
I gained weight last year due to stress and burnout and I'm at the highest I've ever been. I have a history of disordered eating, though nothing too extreme. So I don't want to calorie count or do any strict diets like keto but without structure I feel like I just have to aimlessly try my best and trust myself and the process.
I'm starting slow and trying to focus on 3 month chunks. Jan to March I'm working on: Cutting down alcohol to once a week at most. Doing yoga every day until my 30 day challenge is over, then days when I don't do weightlifting. Gym 2-3x a week and supplementing home workouts when I just can't mentally get myself there. And lastly, being kind and patient to myself, especially when it's still dark and cold. Winter is always the hardest.