Podcast - How to relieve asthma symptoms - The 3 Best Breathing Techniques
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[00:00:00] Today on the show, I'm going to share with you how to relieve your asthma symptoms with the three best breathing techniques that I have personally used to become an ultra athlete with asthma who doesn't rely on his inhaler. Now, I always bring my inhaler with me and I have since I was prescribed. my inhaler as a child.
However, early on in my life, I was advised by multiple alternative medical doctors to use my inhaler less. With that being said, I have a disclaimer in the description below. I am not a medical doctor. I am not a healthcare professional. I am an athlete with asthma who teaches based on my [00:01:00] experience.
Everything I share with you on this podcast and on my YouTube channel is based on my own experience. So always make sure that you consult your medical professional before integrating any of these techniques into your It all started when I was four years old. I was told by a doctor that I wouldn't be able to play soccer.
I wouldn't be able to be a runner and that I would have to heavily. rely on my inhaler if I was even going to attempt to do any of these exercises. Well, my parents advised me differently. Remember I'm four years old. I'm not really making any decisions for myself at this point. So they sought other advice.
for me. And what I learned is that instead of relying on my inhaler, I could start integrating different breathing techniques [00:02:00] into my workout. So at that point, playing on the playground, Just running around with my friends or my favorite sport at the time playing soccer. So instead of immediately using my inhaler before a game, before a practice, before going out on the playground and running around during recess, I would have my inhaler on me and instead focus on different breathing techniques.
At the time, as a kid, I wasn't going to be counting. There's a lot of breathing techniques out there talking about four counts in hold For accounts, hold for accounts out, et cetera. And some of these techniques work really well, but let's be honest as a four year old really going to take the time to count.
Welcome to the athlete with asthma show. I'm your host, Johnny Havey, an ultra runner endurance [00:03:00] athlete. And yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer, nor run a marathon, let alone 100 K ultra. I proved them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
Are you going to take the time to count when you're running your marathon? Maybe, but why not simplify it even more? So the first breathing technique I want to share with you is what I call, The long [00:04:00] or extended exhale. So instead of focusing on counting your inhale, then counting your hold, and then counting your exhale, I invite you to just Just count your exhale, or don't even worry about counting your exhale.
Just extend your exhale. What happens when you extend your exhale is you are going to automatically extend your inhale, which is going to ultimately allow you to calm down your nervous system. and increase the amount of oxygen that you are integrating into your body. So as a four year old, this was a lot easier for me to conceptualize than, okay, I just learned how to count and now I have to count my breath in, hold my breath and then count it out.
That was really difficult. So to this day, instead of [00:05:00] the counting technique, I just focus on long extended exhales. Now, what did this do for me? Well, as a child, this allowed me to go from having to rely on my inhaler to even get on the soccer field to ultimately being able to play an entire 90 minute game once we were playing 90 minute games.
So this is more when I'm like 10, 11 now and playing multiple 90 minute soccer games in one day without ever touching My inhaler yet again, I always had it with me, but as I got deeper and deeper into a soccer game, and I actually played every position in my life. Now, when I was 10 or 11 years old, I was playing a lot of midfield.
Well, if you've ever played soccer before the midfield position runs the most on the field. So I not only was playing entire [00:06:00] games, I was playing the most running or cardio intensive position in soccer. And how I did it was I would always focus on my exhale. So after a long sprint to go after the ball or to go and score a goal.
I would focus on long exhales and to make sure I was exhaling, I made the exhale very loud. And this is a tip I have for you. So instead of just focusing on push out your exhale with power, let people hear it. If you were in a workout class. Let your neighbor hear it. If you're taking a run, let the biker that is passing you, or maybe you're passing a biker because you're so fast, let them hear it.
Maybe you're passing another runner. Let them hear it. [00:07:00] Maybe it will inspire them to focus on their breath even more. Now this brings me to the second breathing technique that I use almost every single day while working out. Now, when I was a kid, I didn't use this as much because all I wanted to focus on was breathing.
These extended exhales. But as I got older, I really started taking cycling, road biking slash cycling seriously, because it's what my dad loved to do. So it was a way for my dad and I to on the weekends during high school, during college, after college. To really connect, get a workout together and do something that we both really enjoy.
And just like my dad, who in his thirties and forties really got into multi day cycling rides, completing rides yearly, like the courage classic and ride the Rockies. I started to take road biking really [00:08:00] seriously as well. And more specifically, I fell in love with climbing. A lot of people love going downhill.
I'm still to this day terrified of going downhill fast on any type of bike, car, whatever. But uphill? I absolutely love and my dad absolutely loves going uphill as well. I remember the first time I climbed lookout mountain with him, a mountain just outside of golden Colorado with about a thousand to 1500 feet of elevation gain in just.
four to six miles, depending on where you start the ride. Well, the first time going up this thing, my asthma started flaring up. The lactic acid started filling my muscles. My breathing got really shallow. I even started wheezing. I hadn't had this happen [00:09:00] in a long time, especially because over the years I've built my lungs up.
I've strengthened them by using my inhaler less. and focusing on my breath more. Well, on this particular day, I was going up, look out mountain. This is probably 10, 15 years ago at this point. And I was focusing on my exhale, focusing on a loud exhale. Well, what I found out on this day is the next step from focusing on your exhale.
is to make the exhale as loud as possible, but also get into a sequence. What do I mean by this? Well, instead of focusing on how long your exhale is, focus on [00:10:00] the cadence of your exhale. I don't know if you're a cyclist, but you know, when you're moving the pedals, that's cadence. What's the cadence that you're moving the pedals while cycling?
If you're a runner, what's the cadence? that your legs are turning over, that your feet are turning over. How fast are you spinning the wheels? How fast are you moving your feet? If you're doing burpees, how many burpees are you doing in a minute? So basically, what I invite you to do is start focusing on the cadence.
Of your extended exhales. An easy way to do this is to actually put on some music, put on your favorite song. If you want an amazing song that you can use to dictate your cadence of breath, I highly recommend seven nation army by the white stripes. Any version of it will do. There's so many [00:11:00] different versions of it.
I use some variation of that song almost daily. Thank you. To not only pump me up in workouts, but to help me with my breath cadence, especially while climbing. Because when I climb, even to this day, I start feeling asthma symptoms. And I am able to remedy this with what I call locomotive breathing. This is technique number two.
Locomotive breathing is when you focus on that loud extended exhale. and cadence. So it can go like this.[00:12:00]
It gets really fun. And as the beat picks up you can choose what beat you're gonna breathe on.
What's cool here is you not only start taking control of your breath, you're going to start zoning into the song so much that your brain is going to start relaxing. You're going to start getting pumped up. At least this is what happens to me. And you can do this with any song that has a beat that you can follow.
Now, when I was climbing lookout mountain this day, I was not listening to music. I don't [00:13:00] particularly listen to music while road biking, especially at that time, because Bluetooth headphones weren't really a thing. And if they were, not many people had them. I definitely did not have them. I had the wired headphones.
And the problem with wearing wired headphones while cycling is if they fall out of your ears, they're going to most likely somehow find their way into your wheel. into your pedal, it can be very dangerous. So back then, when I started doing these intense rides, these 80 mile rides and doing 100 plus mile ride with 10, 000 vertical feet, climbing up 14, 000 foot mountains with paved roads to the top on my bicycle, There was no way I was going to wear headphones and listen to music.
And in these organized rides, you were banned from using headphones, rightfully so. So in that case, what you need to do [00:14:00] is figure out a cadence based on what you're doing. Now, it could be as simple as
naturally coming up with the cadence. By doing that exhale, letting your brain do the inhale on its own, and then forcing out the next exhale. That is the simplest way to do it without music. You could also match it to your stride if you're running, or you can match it to the cadence of your feet while you're biking.
One way I do this while I'm climbing, because my cadence slows down, is I'll pick one of my down strokes. Either my right leg or my left leg. And I may not hit my breath on every down stroke, but maybe every other down stroke of my right leg or down pedal. So my left knee comes up, right foot goes down breath.
You can do this in hit [00:15:00] classes. Okay. You do this with doing reps. So if you have, if you're doing bicep curls. Literally, it's shh, shh, shh. But the point here is to take the thinking out of breathing. When an asthma attack happens, at least when an asthma attack happens, for me, I panic. I get very, very scared.
I lose control of my breathing. But by focusing on the sound of my exhale and the cadence of my exhale, the tone of my exhale, the sound of my exhale, my brain gets zoned in and everything calms down. Now if this doesn't work for you, make sure you have your inhaler. Always have your inhaler. Because our inhalers are our fail safe.
Inhalers keep people alive. Thanks. So make sure you have your inhaler with you at all times and don't be afraid to [00:16:00] use it right away. Now after I became a pretty serious cyclist, specifically climbing hills, I was introduced to hiking 14, 000 foot mountains.
Hey friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy living that everything changed.
So I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely anywhere. free by clicking the link in [00:17:00] the description. This guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life to start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to Athlete with asthma dot com forward slash healthy dash living dash guide to grab your free copy.
Now, let's get back to the rest of the show. Now as a child, my parents would take me hiking.
And for whatever reason, I just did not like it. I don't know why because I love hiking today, but I did not like it as a child Well all of that changed back in 2015 or 2016 when a very good friend of mine steven introduced 14 or hiking to [00:18:00] me or 14 or climbing. What is this? It's when you climb up a 14, 000 foot mountain.
Now in Colorado, we have anywhere between 52 foot mountains, depending on what list you look on. The government defines a 14, 000 foot mountain based on different things. And there's a bunch of other random lists as well. But the point is there's between 52 and 58 of these things in Colorado, and they are the largest.
Mountains in Colorado. Now we also have over 600, 13, 000 foot mountains in Colorado, 600. It's crazy. Now, every doctor that I've talked to over the years has told me that the higher the elevation, the more risk to me as someone with asthma, it makes sense. Right? The higher elevation you are. Theoretically, the less oxygen available in [00:19:00] the air.
Which means the harder your body has to work to take the oxygen in the air and use it. Okay. So you may even find that if you live at sea level and you fly into Denver, Colorado, you may not do any hiking at all, but your asthma flares up. It makes sense. It's science. There's less oxygen, the higher up you are.
Well, now picture going from a mile above sea level, which is 5, 000 plus feet, going all the way up to 14, 000 feet, 9, 000 foot difference. I live at a mile high and I'm hiking to almost three miles [00:20:00] high. Asthma is going to play a role. If you like it or not, the point is I always, no matter what activity I'm doing, want to figure out how to do it without my inhaler.
So that first time, yes, I used it. I actually used it on our second hike as well, when we climbed Mount Albert. So the first 14 or I ever did was graze peak. Then we did Torrey's Peak, because it's right next to Graze. I did not need my inhaler for Torrey's because I already had the albuterol in my system.
Things calmed down. I started to adjust. My body started making more red blood cells to take in and transport the oxygen. And I was good to go, but I still had it with me. The next 14, 000 foot mountain I hiked was Mount Albert, which is the highest peak in Colorado. More than 14, 400 feet. TORREY'S PEAK Yet again, I [00:21:00] brought my inhaler.
I actually, there were multiple people on that hike that had asthma and we all had our inhalers. Now, the third 14er hike I did was Mount Evans, which you can see from Denver. It actually has been renamed in the past few years to Mount Blue Sky. Why did they rename it? Well, that's another story that I'm not going to share with you today.
You can just Google it. Mount Evans, Mount Blue Sky, name change. Why? Anyway, on this third 14, 000 foot hike that I did, I brought my inhaler. I did not use it. And it's because on the previous 14, 000 foot hikes that I did, I integrated locomotive breathing, especially as things got tough. And especially as we got over 13, 000 feet to this day, when I hit 13, 500 feet on foot, on a [00:22:00] bike, whatever, if we drive up to the top of Mount Evans, that is when the altitude and the elevation really starts to hit me.
Now, today my asthma doesn't flare up as much. It's more of a mental sensation that I feel, but that's because I use locomotive breathing. I've gotten really good at it and I've trained my system to be extremely efficient with oxygen. Now, like I said, I live at one mile above sea level, so my body just innately has more red blood cells than someone who lives at sea level.
Now, someone that lives at 9, 000 feet, almost 2 miles above sea level, has more red blood cells than me, because our bodies adapt. So what also happened this summer, back in 2016, is This was the third 14, 000 foot hike I did. So my [00:23:00] body had started to adapt. It had started to know, Oh, he's gaining 9, 000 feet of elevation today.
We should probably be prepared for that. And I share that with you because at the beginning of any season or any year of hiking and hiking at these 13, 000 foot and 14, 000 foot heights, the first hike is a tough. So if you're only doing one of these hikes a year, plan on it being tough every single year.
It just is going to be and be okay with it. It's okay. If you need to use your inhaler at the beginning of the season, by the end of the season, you don't need it because you got locomotive breathing, working, you got these exhales going, you're good to go, but just know that elevation plays a huge role in your asthma management.
And if you're like me and you live A [00:24:00] mile above sea level and then you go down to sea level You're gonna find that your asthma feels a lot better at sea level. At least it does for me Maybe it's different for you because at sea level, especially if you're by the sea by the ocean It can be very humid and that can have a role with asthma as well Steam comes in the lungs, opens things up, makes me feel real good.
So, that's another thing to know. Colorado is very dry. It's very dry when we get above tree line, which is approximately 12, 000 feet, going up to 14, 000 feet. So, be mindful there. Always have your inhaler with you. So, the next technique that I've started to use on hiking, but I mainly use it while trail running now, Now, how did I get in the trail running?
Well, I did not like running as a kid. I was told not to run as a kid. Four years old. Yeah, you probably shouldn't be a runner. [00:25:00] You have asthma. It's not good for you. You're not going to be good at it. But I have the fun run coming up for charity and I'm going to be running around the circle, doc. Oh, you know, you can do that.
But Be careful, you might only get a couple laughs in. Oh, okay. Anyway, I've always thought about that in my life, and even though early on I did not like running, because running on roads was boring, also I was a kid. Running as a kid, you're just like, what is this? Why would I run for fun? Well, how I got into running is, at first when we were climbing 13, peaks, everyone was doing it.
It was a cool thing to do. But three, four, five years go by and now there's only like two of us doing it. And it's like, okay, we don't have to wait for the whole group anymore. Why don't we do this faster? Also, we're building endurance. Our lungs are [00:26:00] getting used to the fact that I guess this is part of our life every year We're gonna have to suck it up and get ready to climb a 14 000 foot mountain So what did we start doing?
We started trail running. Me and my friends, Derek and Davis, would literally climb up these things and then trail run them down. We eventually got to the point where we'd even trail run parts of them on the way up. The flatter parts, you know, when it's like this steep, you're not gonna really necessarily run.
Unless you're David Goggins or Scott Burek. But even then, they're probably just power hiking up these things. So anyway, I got into trail running as a way to hike 14, 000 foot mountains faster. In addition, I ended up getting a dog. And instead of teaching my dog, Sniktau named after a 13, 000 foot mountain, by the way, how to run alongside my road bike or my mountain [00:27:00] bike, During COVID, I got really into mountain biking because I want to stay away from people and there were a lot less people on the mountain bike trails than on the road.
At first I was like, oh, I could train her to follow my bike or run alongside the bike. But I eventually got to the point where I'm like, there's no way I'm training her to do this. I don't even try to do it, but like leading up to getting a dog, I'm like, oh, I'm going to train her how to mountain bike with me.
It's like, no, got the dog and I'm just going to run with her. And fell in love with it because I was running trails. So at this point, biking just wasn't a thing for me anymore. Running trails was. And what I noticed, especially when I first started running, seriously, I was very slow. I'm still a lot slower today than I want to be.
And a big part of that is because of asthma. Because when I'm running, my asthma is fine. If I'm running a 12 minute mile, my [00:28:00] asthma is fine. If I'm running a 10, 10 and a half minute mile, my asthma is okay. When I start running a nine minute mile, when I start running an eight minute mile, and for a long period of time, I start feeling my asthma.
I start feeling the shortness of breath. My lungs are trying to keep up with my oxygen intake. So I'm doing a lot of training right now to increase my lung capacity at these faster clips. I can run a sub six minute mile in Chicago. Fine. Am I going to do that for 20 miles? Not yet, but I can run a six, six and a half minute mile for a 5k at sea level.
No problem. When you add a mile of elevation to that, I lose about two minutes. And that's when my asthma starts hitting me. So what I've learned within the past [00:29:00] year is the next step up from locomotive breathing. Remember we started with focus on your exhales to focus on the cadence of your loud exhales,
adding a double exhale. The double exhale combined with locomotive breathing allows you to extend your exhale even more, which in turn allows you to extend your inhale, which in turn causes you to take in more oxygen. So here's what it sounds like.
So what's the difference between the double exhale and the single exhale? Well, the single exhale, you'll feel it. So you can take your hand, place it on your diaphragm right here [00:30:00] and do the single exhale. Feel that? Feel your core engage? With the double exhale, when you take your hand and place it on your diaphragm, you're going to feel it engage multiple times.
It's going to push twice, which allows you to expel more CO2, more carbon dioxide, which in turn makes more room in your lungs for fresh air, fresh oxygen. So when I started doing this technique at these higher speeds while I'm running, while I'm hiking 14 years faster, while I'm doing burpees in a HIIT class or yoga sculpt class, the power I get within my body increases dramatically.
My brain calms down even more. And ultimately, scientifically, Your body [00:31:00] becomes more efficient with energy. The double exhale increases. Your body's efficiency, not only with oxygen and breath, but with energy. So I invite you the next time you do any sort of workout to try out the double exhale. Now we can combine this with locomotive breathing and use our music to do it.
So here's locomotive breathing.
Now we're going to add the double exhale. So
you're adding that second exhale, you're engaging your core, your diaphragm to expel that carbon dioxide and open your [00:32:00] lungs up for oxygen. So I just started using this technique within the past year. And some of you may know that I ran my first 50 mile race back in September 2023. Now, as an athlete with asthma and an ultra runner with asthma, at that point I had done 250k's about eight marathons.
And this was my first really big ultra 50 miles. My goal at that point was to finish. That was it. I just wanted to finish the race. Being an athlete with asthma, finishing a 50 mile run in and of itself is an amazing accomplishment, especially when you're told at four years old, you're never going to be a runner.
Now, I also finished the 50 mile race without using my inhaler. It took me over 13 hours to do so. And I did use locomotive breathing throughout the race. But I also walked a lot during this 50 [00:33:00] mile race, which is fine. It's an ultra marathon. You are expected to walk Run/walking is really the only way to become an ultra athlete at some point.
You are going to walk even the best ultra runners in the world, learn how to power walk and power hike because they're doing these races where there's 40, 000 vertical 50, 000 vertical over countless miles, 100 miles, 50 miles, 150 miles, 200 miles. You're gonna walk. Well fast forward a year after learning how to integrate the double x tail into my life in addition to putting another 2, 500 miles not only on my feet But on my lunch, hiring a trainer, having an amazing team and preparation, I tackled a hundred K run.
A hundred K is 62. 2 miles. This is 12. 2 miles [00:34:00] more than the 50 mile race I did last year. A year prior back in September, 2023, September, 2024, I ran the same race. It's right here, the bear chase, but this time I ran the bear chase hundred K, which is the longest variation of the race that they offer. I not only beat my 50 mile time by three and a half hours, I beat my 50 mile overall time by one hour.
And I ran 12 more miles. Well, a big part of this is I was able to train my lungs even more over the past year. I did not use my inhaler once, by the way, during training. Except when I had COVID. I had COVID during training. And whenever I get sick, I need my inhaler. And I definitely, as I was getting over COVID, took a couple of runs and yeah, I had my inhaler.
I mean, it's COVID and I'm running. I should probably take my inhaler. Now I always run with it. Now I always run with my inhaler. Okay, [00:35:00] here we go. But one of the techniques I integrated heavily into my training and into race day was the double exhale
combined with locomotive breathing. This allowed me and empowered me to walk less. I walked a fraction of the time that I walked. one year prior. I also was able to hold a much faster pace during the 62 miles. I was also able to take less breaks and shorter breaks. Cumulatively, I'm pretty sure I only took about 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes tops of breaks in my hundred K run.
And that includes exchanges at the start finish line 12 and a half mile loop did it five times and all of the aid stations using the bathroom filling up water [00:36:00] all of that it only took about 30 to 45 minutes over a 12 hour span a year prior i'm pretty sure it was more like an hour to two hours of resting.
So I was able to decrease that. And a big part of that was mastering my breath. Mastering the extended exhale. Mastering locomotive breathing.
Mastering the double exhale.
And I ultimately was able to win the race. So I went from just finishing the 50 mile race, getting 29th out of 50 finishers. To winning the 100k race, getting first overall male, second overall, and inspiring me to see how far I can take this. As an ultra [00:37:00] athlete with asthma, my running journey has had its ups and downs back in December 2022.
I was about 40 pounds overweight and I ran the Honolulu Marathon. I finished it in five hours, which was half an hour longer than it took me to finish the Colfax Marathon in Colorado. 5, 000 feet higher above sea level than the Honolulu Marathon. I completed the Colfax Marathon about a year prior. I weighed less.
I was probably only about 10 or 20 pounds overweight at that point. But I was crushed. When I finished the Honolulu marathon, I finished it, but it was brutal. I was at sea level and it took me 30 minutes longer than it did when I was a mile above sea level. So what did I do? I looked at my life and I'm like, I'm eating really healthy.
I'm running all the time, but I'm overweight. I weighed just under 200 pounds at the time. And I told myself [00:38:00] at 5ft 9 in Google tells me that I am overweight. If I weigh more than 160 pounds. And the 5ft 9 in runners that I saw really excelling probably weighed more like 130 or 140 pounds. It was this day, December, 2022, that I told myself, if I'm going to run 50 miles, I'm going to do it at a lighter weight at my ideal weight.
So what did I do? I integrated the three pillars of healthy living. At the time I was integrating one of the three pillars. Movement. I've always been really good at moving because when the doctor told me at four years old that I shouldn't move, I was like, I'm going to move all the time. I'm not listening to you.
And throughout my life, I've always done some sort of movement, either in exercise and social activities, mowing the [00:39:00] lawn, doing chores, whatever it is. I've always enjoyed moving, but there's two other pillars. that I discuss in my free healthy living guide, which I have linked in the description below this video.
You can also grab it at www. athletewithasthma. com forward slash healthy slash living slash guide. Go grab your copy of my healthy living guide, how I lost two pounds a week, even though I have asthma and learn the three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life today without drastically changing your diet and without drastically changing your lifestyle.
Today, depending on my training and when my next race is, I weigh anywhere between 150 and 160 pounds. Before my 100K race, I weighed 152 pounds. Today, I weigh [00:40:00] 157 pounds. But I'm able to manage my weight and live a healthier lifestyle by integrating these three pillars of healthy living into my life. And, by the way, weight loss has improved my asthma even more.
So I highly recommend you grab my healthy living guide linked in the description below. If you're watching on YouTube, it is in the show notes. If you're listening to the podcast and you can go to the URL, athlete with asthma. com forward slash healthy dash living dash guide to grab it. Thank you for watching and listening.
I'll see you in the next one.
Thanks for tuning in to the athlete with asthma show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It's about progress. So [00:41:00] I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals. And if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.