Breathing

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Comments

  • Hi all,
    I have problems with my breathing when doing aerobic work and always have from being a child. It doesn't really seem to get better the more exercise i do. However, I have always been successful with anaerobic work such as 100m and gymnastics. I have since learnt that it all depends on what type of muscle fibres you have. oxidative are the best for aerobic work and glycolitic for anaerobic exercise. If your lucky enough you can have a mixture which makes you one of those people who are good at everything!!! Sadly you get what your born with. Hope it makes some sense and is not too boring!

  • i don't about anyoen else but i find if i concentrate on my breathing out rather than in, it actually regulates itself and makes running a lot easier. especially up hills!
    good luck with your huffin 'n'puffin
  • I FIND IF I KEEP MY HEAD UP CHEST OUT THAT HELPS BUT I HAVE MY OWN BREATHING PATTERN WHICH SUITS ME I SORT OF PANT 3 TIMES AND THEN TAKE A DEEPER BREATH BUT RELAXINGINGLY THEN SLOWLY BREATH OUT AND REPEAT ALL THE WAY THROUGH MY RUN THAT BREATHING PATTERN MAY NOT BE RIGHT FOR YOU BUT TRY AND CONCENTRATE ON YOUR BREATHING IN A CALMING WAY AND YOUR FIND A PATTERN THAT SUITS YOU BUT I DEFINITLY THINK FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCE KEEPING MY HEAD UP AND CHEST OUT HELPS HOPE I HAVE BEEN SOME HELP
  • I find it so difficult to breathe ( and run ) when its windy. Even moderately so. Does anyone else have this problem ?
  • i simply cannot breathe through my nose when I'm running. Is this common?
  • Yesterday I finally realised that I was going too fast. Legs had it, breath didn't. Slowed my pace down & pondered technique a little. This took my mind off my breath. However, after about 1 mile my breath felt like it was too much in my chest so I started using my diaphragm. This dropped the breath more into my abdomen and relaxed me from the chest up which helped tremendously.

    The combination of pace & breathing with a little attention to technique enabled me to run just over 5k.

    Maybe it's a good idea to forget speed until you have breath. <speaking to self also!>

    Must agree with Yorkshirelass that the out breath seems more important ;-)
  • Hi ppl, i agree with fetch i cannot breathe through my nose either,gets too blocked up!I find that on good days it takes about 10 mins for my breathing to regulate.The worse my breathing is the more anxious i get!I suffered with panic attacks for years, and thought theyd completely gone,shallow chest breathing dont help matters.Has anyone had any success from Diaphragmatic breathing techniques? wot about listening to music? I dont want to give up as i love running!
  • Hello all, ;-).

    i also have the same problem of geting out of breath & gasping, ie not breathing properly. but im not over weight though. im new to running....i tried breathing the way Fishy said last night on treadmill, ie run 1min walk 1min..repeat 10 times...and my running felt better!, its just a bit hard geting the technique right lol...

  • It's all about rhythm Charlotte :-) I tend to go for a double breath-in, then a double breath out. You should try and fit it in with your stride pattern too e.g. repeat your breathing cycle every other footfall (or whatever feels comfortable).

    As for choice of what you breath through, it's a case of whatever you feel comfortable with. As a rule, I breath through my mouth, but when I run fast, and feel like I'm getting out of breath, I throw in a few nose inhales, which seems to get a bit of extra air in, and calms me down.

    It's all a case of practise. Remember to retain control of your body i.e. take charge of your breathing before it takes charge of you.
  • hi there started running about 5-6 weeks ago i am in a beginners network and also going out 2-3 times a week with a friend. We are comfortably running 3 miles in about 35 minutes and am finding it enjoyable, able to have a conversation although i find that i am breathing out a lot. Is this okay? Ihave just recently logged on to RW and i am finding it very interesting as im sure all my friends are bored hearing about how far ive run or hong long is took!!!!
  • The breathing will come with time. When I started running, my breathing was very unco-ordinated - but now it settles into a rhythym, unless I push the pace, and then it's just a case of breathing in through every capable orifice :-)
  • I know this thread started with something that sounded far more serious than just a lack of technique, but I find it really hard to run when I can hear myself breathing. This means my mp3 player is always on when I run, but I'm not sure that is that great for me. Is there a way of weaning myself off listening to music or is it just a case of going out and practicing?
  • You could try listening to audio books - there's more gaps and less rhythym.
  • Hello everyone

    I too have problems breathing especially if i start off too fast or going up long hills. I find that i have to slow right down or walk/stop if my breathing gets too bad. It usually takes at least 2 miles to really warm up. Last night i went out with some running friends who do not have this problem and ran 7.8 miles. My legs were fine just my breathing for the last 2 miles was harder so i slowed right down yet my chest felt a bit tight for the rest of the evening. Has anyone tried powerbreathe?

    When i first started running about 18 months ago even a mile seemed a long way.

    Joanne: What beginners network do you belong to? Are you local to Essex?
  • Doing other forms of cardiovascular conditioning may help by increasing overall endurance and therefore your VO2max (the rate at which your body can utilise oxygen). Use a heart rate monitor so you have an idea of how hard you're working on the bike compared to the rower, for instance. Do shorter, faster runs on a treadmill or sprint sessions outside (interval training). So run fast for 30sec then jog 1-2 mins recovery and repeat.
  • I find that my breathing is constrained when breathing in but fine breathing out. This lasts for about the first 2 miles of my run ( ie 20mins ) and then seems to quickly clear of its own accord and I can then run for ages breathing just fine. I put it down to my body adjusting to the exercise. I have found that jogging very lightly for about 5 - 10 minutes before setting off helps.
  • Hello everyone, I am breaking my silence and putting my first post on this forum, no more lurking...

    How about trying swimming? I cross train by swimming twice a week and find it is brilliant for increasing lung capacity and teaching yourself to breathe in a constant rhythm. I am sure that my regular swimming has had a very positive impact on my running - it's the legs that give up before the lungs with me!

    Concentrating too hard on your breathing makes it more difficult to find a natural rhythm - if you relax and let your body decide how much oxygen it needs you will settle into a comfortable breathing cycle. I find that the longer I swim for the less I need to inhale, as the body becomes very economical when it can measure exactly what's required all by itself.

    Swimming also has other great benefits - perfect combination of resistance, endurance and speed training all rolled into a low impact therapeutic activity... and it's nice and warm in the pool in the winter!

    Susie
  • Susie.. you've obviously not been to my gym - the lane pool is darn freezing! Makes the hyrotherapy pool feel so much warmer though.. :)

    I normally struggle with breathing for the first 15 mins, but have learnt to take it really slowly to start with and once I've warmed up can keep going and going and going.. swimming I've also found has helped hugely and is also a great active recovery exercise too.
  • anyone tried yoga? It would help I think. It is really all about breathing awareness, effective breathing etc etc. The swimming suggestion sounds good too.
  • I always have breathing problems when running too, I feel as though my chest is closing and I can never seem to get enough air into my lungs.... I have been told to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth but I always feel as though I cannot inhale enough oxygen and end up breathing in and out of my mouth anyway.

    I have asthma slightly and tend to get wheezy so I have a puff of my asthma pump before running and this tends to help however i would rather master a breathing technique instead of relying on my inhaler...

  • I am suffering the same problems as a few people on this forum too so reading through everyone's advice is really helpful.

    My problem: I am a 29 yr old complete beginner doing no other kinds of sports at the moment, am about 2 stone overweight (but 6ft tall and broad shouldered) and am training for the London Marathon (ironically for Asthma UK!) with objective of turning 30 with an overall better state of health. I don't smoke and only drink once or twice a month but just 1 mile into my 3 mile runs (if could sort out my breathing I'm sure I could run further) I get terribly short of breath, breathing very loud and quickly forcing me to slow to a walk.  This is affecting my motivation big time so I am not going running as often as I should.  I have a 4K booked for mid Dec and a 10k for the end and so badly want to run all the way for both of them.  I will also be returning to Kick Boxing in Dec (I'm working away at the moment) which I know will help me greatly.

    The answer it seems: Stage 1) Concentrate on breathing deeper, slower and longer, head up, shoulders back and not running too fast, Stage 2) Try to get my breathing in a rhythm with my pace.

    With this new strategy, I can't wait for the end of the day to go out and give it a try...is there anything else I should be focusing on?  How long will it be before I expect to see a noticeable difference? Appreciate any advice!

  • Trust me and try this:

    As you are running, breathe out for two steps and in for two steps.  So you are literally breathing "out out in in" as you run - a breath a step!

    I was a smoker for many years, but used to do triathlons and my coach at the time taught us to breathe like this.  I have never ever again had a problem with shortness of breath - regardless on how fast I run!  Even if I am running way above 80% of my heart rate!!

    The best thing is that that is how I breathe if I am running up stairs, walking fast or just running.  It becomes a part of my rhythm...

  • Quick addition to the above: 

    The reason the inhale 2, exhale 2 works is that you are literally inhaling as much as possible on the 2 "in in" and then exhaling everything on the 2 "out out"'s.

    When I first started listening to music while running, I found I got more stitches than I had had since I started running.  The only thing I can put this down to is that my (now) natural breathing technique had started getting confused with the beat of the music and my "steps".  I had to concentrate to be able to listen to music and seperate the music beats from the running beats!  When I do that, I don't get stitches anymore

  • This thread has been really useful and I look forward to putting the advice into practice.

    I was told by the Personal Trainer in the gym to breath in through the nose and out through the mouth - but like others I felt like I wasn't getting enough in through my nose! I have only tried it once though so I will perservere and see how I get on.

    I think the idea of swimming is a great one - onve I learnt how to breathe properly whilst swimming I found I could go for so much longer. I'll definitely add swimming to my programme.

    It's interesting someone mentioned getting stitches from poor breathing - I have been getting stitchesa couple of minutes into my runs but then I've been able to shake them off by slowing down a little. I thought it had something to do with when I'd eaten (even though it was approx 2 hours earlier). I'm off to read the thread on stitches now!

    Great site by th eway, and good to 'meet' all of you in the forum.

  • Hi Guys, I hope Im writing to the right place, Ill get straight on with it,

     I have basically never run in my life, even as a kid I dodged gym class and all that. Recently Ive become more motivated than ever to get into shape; and about a year ago I lost about 40-50 pounds by using the X.Trainer in the gym, but have since not bothered with exercise. Today I literally went for my first run ever, overall I feel it went pretty bad, I ran about 50 metres then had to stop and walk for like 3-400 metres just so I could get my breath back and did this for a route of 2.6 miles. I tried running very slowly and I just seem to be getting severely out of breath anyway, when I got home I was coughing and hiccupping a lot. Im currently about 240 pounds and I want to reach around 200-210 pounds. Please give me any advice you can (and sorry for such detail, I just thought Id give you all the things I think you need to consider what I should do lol)

     Thanks and I look forward to your reply

     Chuck (lol)

  • joddlyjoddly ✭✭✭

    Welcome, and congratulations on your first run!

    There's a lot of advice around her, though where breathing's concerned I think the best thing to do is not to think about it. 

    You might try starting with brisk walking - if that makes you puffed, then it's doing you good. Then add in short periods (say, one minute) of REALLY  slow jogging - you may need a companion to help convince yourself how slow you should go, and start walking again before the breathlessness gets too bad. Very gentle progression is needed at the start, but do write it all down in a log, as even after a few weeks you'll be impressed how far you've come.

     Good Luck!

  • Thanks a lot, Ill get out again as soon as I can, and Ill let u know how im getting on.

    Cheers! 

  • I'm having breathing issues as well and am new to running.  I do have asthma though it's controlled with treatment.  What's confusing to me is I seem to have no isses swimming laps or biking at a strong pace for 20mi but even at a slow pace I start to hyperventilate and become breathless within a few minutes of starting a run, to the point that I have to stop and walk for a bit.  I know my running form isn't the best (the sports I used to play involved short sprints....never any type of distance) but I have to believe there's just something simple I'm not doing or am doing that's causing this.  Any thoughts or suggestions?
  • Hi I'm new to runnersworld and to outdoor running.  I'm 48, think I'm relatively fit, having exercised all my life, howeversince leaving school all exercise has been based indoors, kick boxing, karate, aerobics, step-aerobics and for the past 8 years twice weekly circuit training and 1 hr long gym session per week mixing cardio with weights.  I can easily run 5k in 25mins on a treadmill, my 24 year old daughter has (thoughtfully) entered us both into a 5k run in May which I thought would be easy, I started running outdoors last week, I Iive on the edge of Snowdonia & it's fair to say I ain't got nowhere to go but uphill when I head out.  Last night sunny but  not too warm I found my throat was practically closing on me going uphill, I had to stop and walk, it's a very steep hill & I recovered afterwards and ran the rest of the route which was then flat(ish) & downhill for 6.5km, any ideas what caused that feeling in my throat, it was really painful.  Also compared to running on a treadmill though I'm really slow, my outdoor 5km time is around 38mins, any tips welcome... I can't let my 'half my age' daughter go zooming past me image)
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