Building lung strength

[Leonidas]

I need some advice on how to build lung strength, you know improve capacity. I already asked around and so far i got wrestling, yoga, general cardiovascular excercise (swimming, running, aerobics, doing forms etc) and my mom suggested learning how to play the trombone? I need some more suggestions, maybe a book on breathing excercises......anything. I have plans. My goal is to eventually be able to spar for 2 hours. I can barely do 10 minutes. My cardio' is obviously bad. Added to that i have a bit of an asthma problem so my lungs are really weak from that too.

[NPMantis]

For lung strength I would highly recommend swimming, you have pressure against your lungs when you breath making it very good.

For CV fitness I would recommend running but you could do just about everything - why not just spar for one or two minutes longer each time and build it up, practice doing strike drills for 20-30 mins, cycling or do yourself a cross-training plan?

[Justa Man]

swimming is great. i'd also just do alot of deep breathing.
sit and do 10 minutes of breathing healthy air through the nose and slowly exhaling dirty air through the mouth, then do 10 minutes of deep breathing in and out through the nose. the exhale on both should be slow and last longet than the inhale. and the inhale and exhale should be done to their fullest capacity.

i remember us having a similar conversation about asthma and breathing. after doing these exercises, sit for a minute and feel like your lungs are healthier, cleaner and stronger from doing these exercises. belief goes a looong way.

"...i keep it tighter than my asthma when i'm losing my breath..."

[Silumkid]

Here's a suggestion you may want to try...interval training is good for building up your VO2 max. You'll need a stopwatch.

Start out with a 2 - 5 minute jog to get warmed up and get your rhythm down. Then sprint immedaitely afterwards....time listed here will be in seconds, each one has a 30 second jog between them.

Warm up, then sprints, 30-45-45-60-60-60-45-45-30. Then 2 minute recovery, active (continue jog). Run this three times max effort and you will likely be burnt totally or puke. You can train this way maybe twice a week....say Monday and Friday. Do lower intensity cardio in between. You'll probably also notice a reduction of body fat this way.

[Sharky]

AFAIK; working moderate pace for longer periods helps you burn fat etc, if you want to get stronger lungs, work really hard at a fast pace, the interval training silum kid gave you sound sweet. And by sweet i mean totally sweet. Ahem.

Yeah so shorter periods of high intensity CV work. Build up time that you can keep it up. The "high intensity CV work" that is, you filthy animal.

[Serpent]

And lay off the bongs. ;)

[Sharky]

Oh yeah.

[Leonidas]

Ha ha ha....way ahead of ya. My lungs still feel like a chimney. Thanx for the help, i'm gonna gradually start doing that this week. I'm gonna sign up for swimming too.

What effect does weight lifting have on the lungs?

[diego]

plus i think he was a smoker, and one day he was doing pushups, & popped a lung(ouch:( )

[Arhat of Fury]

I agree with sharky and silum kid, I find when I go and play Basketball for a couple of hours and I am playing at a pace way above my target heart rate it will really expand my lungs.



AOF

[Leonidas]

Did you say pop a lung :eek:. I didn't even know that was possible, i've heard of a puncture of course but never that. Must be one of the worst feelings in the world :( Did he survive???

[diego]

and hes longdistance without a phone so i cant fully verify, but what i get, if you have been a heavy smoker and you already have starting to rip lunwalls, i can see it especially for ma'ists doing harsh KIA'S, one day it goes pop:( .
I also read a few times to be exact about martial masters fairly prominent as fighters, one day waking up couhging blood, from consistent tearing, plus those guys were heavy opium smokers, and such?!. ****ing really scary as i smoked heavily since i was 14 but have been into it since elemenatary, finally heavily cut out, xept on occasion, and i'm scared:cool:
like you smoked as a youth hardcore, then you clean up your life , by the time your thirty heavily into training you pop a lung cuz of childish ignorance.....SAD REALLY:)

[BSH]

Lo Han Quo. Especially if you are or were a smoker. Make a tea from the dried fruit and drink it. Then train.

You will see the difference quickly.

Most herbalist sell it. It should be easy to find.

[Merryprankster]

Box.

Or train like one.

Typical boxing session for me:

20 minute warm up including two 3 minute rounds shadow boxing, five minutes static stretches, running forwards and backwards throwing punches (not super hard stuff, just trying to get loose) and a footwork drill of sorts (you just lateral, slip reverse, lateral for awhile, slip, reverse)

6-8 three minute rounds of boxing work:

maybe 4 rounds on the heavy bag,
2 rounds of focus mitt work (miserable... just miserable... constantly moving and throwing punches.)
a round or two on the double end bag.

My trainer likes the "5-10-15 second" drill, where you throw punches for five seconds as fast/hard as you can, rest for five, throw for ten, rest for ten, throw for 15, rest for 15, throw for ten, etc, and the 5 sec drill (same-same) we usually do one or two of those.

Then, three rounds of jump rope. Then we do calisthenics, but those don't have much to do with wind....

[diego]

Lo Han Quo. Especially if you are or were a smoker. Make a tea from the dried fruit and drink it. Then train.

What is this a actual fruit, or plant?, i'm vegan so i cant be boiling no deernut's n such
:)

[NPMantis]

Hey,

I'm going to try that routine it looks pretty good.

Thanks mate!