Fitness/yoga/ question. Please please advice.

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I have Asthma. My lung capacity is awful. I literally can't walk round the block without being breathless. Is there a gentle starting exercise or yoga routine I could use to increase my lung capacity and then my fitness? I really need advice here so please help. Thanks.

On YouTube Yoga With Adriene is a great place to start, she has some very gentle routines that focus on breathing and videos for beginners too. With your asthma please also get advice from your doctor. Good luck!

Absolutely. I have just recommended to one of my (very unfit) friends, Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. Ignore the 'senior' part in the title, something like this would be a good place to start... you can build up gradually from here and then add in some gentle, v light weight bearing exercises using small water bottles or cans (again, check out YouTube for these)...it's amazing how quickly the body reacts to exercise and before you know it you will be able to go for a gentle jog around the park....good luck

www.yogawithadriene.com/yoga-for-seniors-slow-and-gentle-yoga

You should be ok doing yoga. But it's a good idea to have two puffs of your blue inhaler twenty minutes before exercise just to prevent any attacks.

Yoga is pretty calm in terms of breathing, so it doesn't trigger attacks for me, generally.

Thank you all so much. My GP suggested exercise but was unable to advise any further so this advice is amazing thank you xx

HI, I am also asthmatic and always avoided cardio exercise because the very feeling of being out of breath made me feel panicky.

Not sure how bad your asthma is but I found it useful to help me get started years ago, to get a heart rate watch (fitbit/ apple, whatever) and work out your max heart rate (age minus 20) this really reassured me that if I was out of breath it was normal, if within in my healthy BPM. Obviously if you start wheezing, ease off a bit. always have inhaler with you for peace of mind too.

I can now run 5k no problem and enjoy pushing myself and am very fit. but I started by walking/ jogging (0-5k app) and at a RIDICULOUS slow pace, I must have looked very silly.

But you should and will be out of breath if you are unfit, if you're not wheezing it's probably not the asthma, just that you're out of shape. Walking and building up to intermittent gentle jogging will improve your cardio fitness.

Thank you. That's good idea re heart rate. I will look at that. Thanks.