Breathlessness

**Geese** · Posted On: 9/13/2011 10:30am

I've just noticed something during training.

During the warm up sometimes I'm really out of breath. I feel a bit light headed and dizzy. But as the training night goes on even if we're doing hard drills and Kaeleientics (spelling sucks sorry) I feel alright.

The opening warm up really rocks me out of comfort.

Now of course during hard exercises and sparring I feel out of breath but not dizzy or light headed.

Any idea what's happening to me?

**Sri Hanuman** · Posted On: 9/13/2011 11:13am

Cardio?
Try working on that.

Speaking as someone with asthma, it can be a pain in the ass. Try jump rope, maybe jogging. That winds the **** out of me, but at least it's a good way to work on my endurance.

Also, something called PowerLung. It really helped me with my breathing capacity for whatever good that does.

**thorthe power** · Posted On: 9/13/2011 11:20am

I wouldn't think you should be getting light headed and dizzy during warm-ups...I would consult with a doctor about this if I were you, and maybe even have then perform some cardiac diagnostic exams; EKG, Stress Echo...ect. Just to make sure it's just you being out of shape and not something more serious.

**W. Rabbit** · Posted On: 9/13/2011 11:28am

Depending on your lung capacity (smoker? asthma? polluted city?) you may not be conditioned or even physically able to take in as much oxygen as you need during heavy exercise, leading to the light-headedness or even to syncope (passing out).

I have had exercise-induced asthma (EIA) my whole life. My lung capacity is about 80% with medicines, but I'm able to do most exercises because I've trained myself to breathe properly. Still, I find that skipping breaths or OVERHEATING (breathing helps remove heat from the body, especially the heart) can cause the issues you're describing. In fact cardiac arrest commonly occurs whenever the lungs can't operate efficiently enough to cool the heart (can happen with asthma, flu, pneumonia, emphysema, etc)

I find the following help... Get tested for asthma and if so, get on maintenance medication like Advair. Almost 1 in 10 adults have some form of asthma and it's going up all the time.

- Stretch before warmups to help circulation.

- Breathe from your diaphragm instead of your upper body (wood and brass instrument musicians have to do this in order to maximize their air during performances...I used to get dizzy playing the trumpet until I learned to do this).

- Breathe in through your nose as much as possible, and out through your mouth as much as possible.

- Don't gulp air.

- Remember to keep breathing regular...it's easy to "forget" to breathe when performing moderate to heavy aerobics or calisthenics because you are focused on the physical toll.

Training to breathe correctly is the staple of endurance in every martial art I can think of.

**Sri Hanuman** · Posted On: 9/13/2011 11:39am

^^^ Dead on, I think.

**Geese** · Posted On: 9/14/2011 3:55am

cheers guys

I know my cardio is a bit crap but I try to do some sort of cardio work min once a week.

If I was out of breath for the whole class I'd be worried i had asthma. But as i said it's only the first part of the class... the warmup.

During sparring/rolling i'm probably better than most of the guys in my club as cardio goes.

I was talking to my coach about it he said it might be that I'm coming in from a day of work and my body is adapting to training mode. Another coach said to me it could be my body is burning all the quick sugar during the warmup and the side effect is feeling dizzy.

**Prince Vlad** · Posted On: 9/14/2011 4:45am

I felt like this for the first month or two of BJJ. The warm ups were killer so my heart rate would go from resting to max bpm very quickly. I noticed that all of the regular and advanced guys would arrive and spend about 5 minutes running up and down the mats (knee ups, knees to ass, side steps etc). This easing into the hard stuff really helped me because I would be nicely warmed up by the time the serious warm up started. The more you train the fitter you'll get and after a few weeks the problem should be gone completely. I try to run at least twice per week for at least 3 miles per session (running as opposed to jogging) too, I found that really helped with my cardio in BJJ. Of course, if you are worried about it then you should see a doctor. In my case I got over it by doing the above.

**Bare graves** · Posted On: 9/14/2011 9:16am

yeah i have the same thing Geese. the first 10-15 minuts is hell and im dizzy and out of breath but after that i can crack on with padwork/drills while everyone else has to take a breather. i just assume my heart and lungs just need to catch up with the sudden intensity. try cycling to class or doing some light stuff as a pre warm up, it seems to of helped decrease the sensation and difficutly.

**Geese** · Posted On: 9/14/2011 1:26pm

Originally Posted by Bare graves

yeah i have the same thing Geese. the first 10-15 minuts is hell and im dizzy and out of breath but after that i can crack on with padwork/drills while everyone else has to take a breather. i just assume my heart and lungs just need to catch up with the sudden intensity. try cycling to class or doing some light stuff as a pre warm up, it seems to of helped decrease the sensation and difficutly.

That's exactly it. Last time i did cycle to class (about 20mins) but i think waiting around for another 20 mins dropped my heart rate. Next time I'll try to warm up pre-warm up :)