Conditioning The Heart

Remember the feeling of being out of breath? Or possibly even becoming dizzy from getting up or down? Well theres essentially a couple parts that play into these occurrences.

The feeling of having a loss of breath in a general sense is both a lack of oxygen and being deconditioned. A sudden spurt of intense movement could hinder an average person with a lack of breath and possibly an asthma attack if they have asthma. You're probably asking two questions right now. How do I improve this? And what happens if Im not average and am conditioned?

Well for an average person say a beginner to fitness or even someone who is sedentary, the best way to improve this increased work load is to start by introducing aerobic base work or a.k.a. a metcon. This long duration of constant moving and low intense work will gradually build up a tolerance to stress applied to the body. For a beginner after 2 to 4 weeks, aerobic intervals can be introduced. Thus consisting of durations between 4 to 10 minutes. Rest should be minimum. Exercises such as just rowing, biking, jogging, and swimming can be utilized as well for this type of training.

Now for the other question… what if I am already conditioned? Well at this point breathing techniques should be applied. This will determine your loss of breath. Starting with inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Filling up the stomach before the chest with deep breaths of air. Also figuring out when to breath during an exercise. Take thrusters for example. Breath in when the weight is overhead and exhale when rise out of the bottom of the squat. This advanced technique of holding the breath while going through the eccentric portion of the movement will in return reinforce the lumbar spine. This is called intra-abdominal pressure. If you test this holding of the breath technique, start with low reps and a light-mid weight range to reduce the chance of dizziness. With practice this skill will improve not only your lifts, but it will also help in other power movements as well.

Now on the topic of dizziness. This can be caused by a change in elevation. Possibly from  standing up out of a prone position. This motion especially if not done regularly will cause dizziness and possibly nausea. Again common most in those who are deconditioned/sedentary. The way how to improve this is called Peripheral Heart Action which means training in various controlled angles of the body. From standing, to leaning, to prone, and to even inverted. The position of the heart in relation to the ground will cause it to work in various ways. Again one's training should consist of safe and controlled movements. This can be helped with the aid of a coach as well.

In the winter you may experience a lack of oxygen as well as having difficulties breathing because of the temperature. If you are training in the winter take the extra time to stretch and warm up before starting your workout. This will prepare you and warm up your muscles for the work ahead.