Exercising with asthma? Getting back into fitness

I’m similar - same disc and asthma. I did have surgery and it helped loads, about 50% decrease in pain. I find the gym really helped, the local council ones offer cheap medical referrals or disabled memberships here plus expert trainers who help people recovery from injury/stroke etc. Asthma was ok as it wasn’t high on cardio, mostly weights and the bike with a chair type seat.

I lost weight with diet over the last two years (less than two stone so not much) and took up running last summer. When it got colder I got a new inhaler and stayed indoors on the treadmill. Losing weight has helped with fitness, less weight to lug around I guess.

I’m now thinking about trying Pilates/Yoga etc but know, even with being fit and strong now it won’t be possible to do all the moves. So forget the classes, unless physio led, see if you can get a gym referral and start from there. Keep the cardio on the low side as you build fitness and you may feel better by summer when it’s warmer.

Are you feeling any better Pookie?

Asthmatic here too, my peak flow is usually around 300 (not great I know) and exercise is one of my triggers. I used to do more exercise but I've found weight lifting and long distance alternating slow with brisk walking every couple of minutes is the best way for me to exercise and swimming if I can get to the beach or somewhere with a chlorine free pool.

Poor you
prednisolone always makes me feel rubbish - it sets you up on a bit of a high and then when you stop your mood plummets. They used to put you on a ‘reducing dose’ so you came off it slowly to try to stop this but they don’t do that anymore.
Good you have an asthma review though - hopefully they can help with advice about the exercising

Poor you . Set up an appointment for a fitness chat while you're there, then relax and get better! Then you'll feel you've done something positive.

Is there any way you could walk further? Could you walk for an hour at a good speed? Or work up to it?

Do you have any fitness apps? There is a free version of MapMyRun, but you can change the settings to walking, cycling etc. You can input your stats and get some idea of calorie burn.

Sorry, I went to bed. Is your asthma well controlled or do you get wheezy and tight ? You should be able to get out of breath without getting wheezy. I spent last year really suffering because the clinic decided to change my preventer and the new one didn’t work nearly as well! I couldn’t run on the new regime as the asthma was completely out of control - I couldn’t even run for the bus without getting tight and wheezy and having to resort to lots of ventolin. The clinic has as put me back onto my old preventer now and I am much better and have just started back running - but very slowly and warily - so I take lots of walking breaks and slow jog rather than go full out.
If your asthma is well controlled I think the burning sensation will settle down once you are used to the exercise.

Cold air triggers me too so I do the same with a scarf when I’m walking (I walk at lunchtimes when I’m at work and walk 2.5 miles back to the station everyday). When I run I have a zipped top with a hood that I can zip up over my mouth. Couch to 5k apps are free - that’s how I started running again after a long break. It leads you in slowly with short (2 min) runs interspersed with walks. Something like that might help you work into it slowly so be more able to manage your breathing.

PookieDo that was my major motivation! Plus not having to show my fat body to anyone else. The only equipment they use are a mat and handweights - theirs are some v fancy dumbbells but I can barely lift anything and started out with a pair of 0.5kg weights - the shame!

I've slowly moved up -2kg! but they also have a lot of workouts that are no equipment at all.

That is frustrating. Is it a Local Authority pool? Is it only used for lessons in the evenings?

Yes all the videos are free! The couple running it are great.

You pay for the videos being put together into a focussed programme e/g abs or upper body or fit but all the cost goes into running the site.

I picked it as I really needed low impact and everything else is HIT which I can't do, and they have an adaptation for everything and talk through things v calmly.

I am fit - run half marathons, about 20-25 miles a week. I developed asthma recently and it hasn't stopped me.

To begin with, I didn't know how to manage it, so took too much blue inhaler. Now I have a brown one daily, I barely use blue, though I always take it with on a run.

Part of the breathing thing for me is that I worry if I forget it on a run, which of course affects my breathing! So I am not sure what is really happening.

At my recent asthma check the nurse said they want to see a 430 peak flow; it was actually 480.

So, don't panic, do build fitness up slowly and do take blue inhaler when you need it.

I too have asthma and prolapser discs and arthritis in shoulder. Swimming has been a game changer for me. It has meant I no longer need my preventer as lung capacity has increased so much.