out of breath

[wangsizhong]

i'm at high altitude and can't get through my regular forms at regular speed (doing jow gar forms at tai ji speed). what can i do to increase lung capacity?

Wang Si Zhong

[sean_stonehart]

Not much. When I was in Tibet last June, it took about 4 days before I could get thru Yang 24 without feeling like I'd just run a marathon. We had an herbal tea that helped with altitude sickness, but it didn't do anything for the lack of o2 in the body.

[Water Dragon]

Run, skip rope, do calisthenics, spar, mix it up. Pull one posture out of your form and repeat it until you lose your mind, then do it some moer. Repeat as necesary

[Paul]

It takes a few days for your body to adjust to the altitude.

[Qi dup]

To my knowledge there isn't a whole lot you can do. It can take around two months to adjust to a higher altitude. the plus side is it will feel like you have tons of air when you go back down to a lower altitude. I'm not sure how long that will last, I think you will stay really charged for around ten days. This is all from memory, I took a class on it about 3 or 4 years ago. If your going up to a substantialy higher altitude remember to drink lot of water and avoid alchohol for atleast the first day. People who live in high altitudes are actually 76% more likely to get high altitude sickness on returning to a high altitude after an extended visit to some places a great deal lower. A lot of people don't even notice the altitude sickness, a lot of times it's just a headache, although it can be serious for some people. so basically, it's just going to take time. What altutide are you at and how long have you been there? I'm around 10,000 ft. here.

[Sho]

Jogging and swimming help very much when dealing with breath and lung capacity. Good way is to go jog in a place with clean air, maybe a track located in a forest.

[bearpaw]

As everyone else pointed out, you are having a lung problem not a capacity problem. Thou more capacity could help be bringing in more total oxygen. this is what we did in marching band in high school to increase lung capacity.

Breath in for 1-2-3-4
Breath out for 1-2-3-4

Breath in 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Breath out 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8


does this over and over and keep increasing for breath in count by 8 and keep your breaths out the same. NOTE: every breath in should completely fill your lungs and every breath out should completely empty your lungs.

When you reach your max ( at my prime I could do a 128 count in) start working your way down the same way ...