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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    How can I increase my lung capacity as a runner?

    Related Topic
    Fitness and Sports Medicine
    I am a beginner to running but have already begun training for a few short-distance races. One thing I struggle with is breathing… I find that I am unable to keep up with the rest of my running group because after a few minutes I am already out of breath. How can I increase my lung capacity?
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    John Toomey

    Exercise Physiologist

    I have a fairly unique set of skills in Wellness, Preventative Health, Longevity and Life Education, having authored Australia's first Wellness Leadership Course in 2001.  … View Profile

    The challenge with running is doing enough training and not doing too much. Sometimes, the training required to take you to the next level of respiratory capacity can place a great deal of load on the skeletal and joint structures of your legs.

    A good way to supplement your training is some high intensity inteval swimming, or high intensity interval training ona  stationary bike. Using these modalities, you can take yourself to a point of high respiratory overload without “breaking yourself down”.

    The intervals you would do may depend on your skill level as a swimmer. But doing 50 or 100 metre intervals, swimming hard, with short rest periods is very effective.

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    Ben Francis

    Personal Trainer

    Hi, I'm the owner of a health and fitness business called Opportunity Fitness. We are based in coogee and conduct fitness training in parks around … View Profile

    Hi, Lung Capacity is generally predetermined in each individual. Provided you are not asthmatic the breathlessness you experience is due to your fitness level and not your lung capacity.
     
    When exercising aerobically (continuously) your body requires oxygen, this leads to the increase in your breathing rate you experience. At high levels of aerobic exercise the amount of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) also builds up, one of the bodies solutions is to this is to increase breathing rate to remove this excess.
     
    Improving your fitness level will ensure the oxygen is delivered to your muscles more efficiently and that the build up of CO2 will be reduced, preventing this excessive increase rate of breathing. The muscles involved in breathing will also adapt, making running easier.
     
    High intensity Aerobic Training for 20-45 minutes 3 days per week, should see you improve your aerobic fitness immediately. These improvements will plateau over time and you may need to introduce more advanced training methods such as interval training to keep improving your fitness.

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