Ever since I've gotten bigger ...

[eps]

Ever since I've gotten bigger, I noticed I am breathing more heavily. In fact, some of my friends pointed out to me that I snore (and I never snored in my life!) Also my energy is pretty low throughout the day.

What gives? My body can't support my weight? It's been about 2 years and I bulked from 125 lbs to 195 lbs.

Any clue what's going on? I was thinking about getting ephedrine to aid in my breathing.

Thanks in advance,

-Eps

[Spartan936]

How tall are you? Do you have a small bone structure? High bodyfat? Asthma? Allergies?

Of course, I have to say that you should see a doc.

[ShockBoxer]

Tacking on 60 pounds over about a decades time certainly did a number on MY breathing. When I mentioned this to a doctor years ago he said 'you're overweight and in poor shape. Everything is harder for your body to do. Lose weight and exercise.'

Not that I listened for another three years and 20 pounds...

So how is your cardio and BF?

[Teh BDK]

Bodyweight is bodyweight. The most important factor in your breathing is your cardiovascular health. If you gain a substantial amount of muscle mass it has a like effect to being overfat.

I don't know how tall you are, but I'm assuming that you're on the short end of the spectrum because of the weight at which you are experiencing problems. I am 5'6" and I usually start getting circulation problems and heavier breathing around 195-200 pounds.

[d'Anconia]

Yeah eps what is your bodyfat % at?

You gained a lot of weight in little time so your body MIGHT have problems with the added weight. Needless to say if it was all fat that you gained your body would have a lot more of a problem than if it were mostly muscle. If it were mostly muscle I'd think you'd be healthier than normal.

[Beast]

Fat = snoring.

[Wannabelean]

I am a fat **** and I snore like a wild beast. How chunkadelic are you?

[squat it all!]

Fat = snoring.

there's something to this.... i read something about bb'ers thick necks putting pressure on their throats as they sleep, causing sleep apnea. whether it's fat or muscle or a combination. i'm 5'6" and DEFINITELY need to lose BF. i didn't use to snore either until about 20 lbs ago...

[JustinASU]

When I started lifting in 2001 I weighed 145 lbs. Today I weigh in at 245 lbs. I have ALL sorts of problems due to the extra weight. For a while I snored heavily but that appears to have stopped according to the fiance. I get heat rashes between my legs from them rubbing together and I sweat more. Sometimes the soles of my feet hurt during a heavy bulk because of the extra weight. I have a very small bone structure so that's part of the problem. I still have a touch of sleep apnea--which sucks, but I deal with it. These things can happen when adding tremendous amounts of bodyweight to ones frame.

[eps]

Sorry I took long to reply. My bodyfat went from about 11% to 16%. I'm 5'11''. My snoring is very light, but it's there for sure.

I've had no previous breathing problems in my life. My cardio is on and off... I do 20 minutes on a treadmill about every 2 weeks ... the light cardio was so I could bulk quicker -- I figured lifting weights would have been enough to work out my heart.. heh

[sCaRz*Of*PaiN]

I do 20 minutes on a treadmill about every 2 weeks

That doesn't sound like nearly enough cardiovascular exercise.

[Bruise Brubaker]

Your muscles are stronger, you are bigger, yet your heart is barely stronger as it was not trained much.

[ShockBoxer]

I don't do cardio at all and weights alone have dropped my blood pressure and resting heart rate substancially. My breathing is a lot better, too... I've been told I no longer snore by my (grateful) fiance.

That said I've been 180+ for years... so being 180 and healthy would be better than being 180 and not. The OP went the other direction....

[JustinASU]

I don't do cardio. Try supersetting heavy rows/bench and talk to me about cardio.

[REFLUX]

Just a quick note in regards to cardio, your body is a balanced system.
Increase an aspect of another, you must increase other aspects to give the previous its required support.

Example:
You get bigger muscles, those muscles need blood, more muscles = more blood, more blood = stronger heart

if you have a weak heart but lots of muscles, the heart will work overtime to provide those muscles with their needed blood

sometimes I wonder about the term "Body Building" since so many people only do their skeletal muscles, with little to no focus on cardiac muscles, maybe we should change the term to "Muscle Building" instead.

The term "body" refers to an entire whole, not just what you see on the outside (bulking & cutting but no cardio support)


JustinASU:
I'm quite the newbie when it comes to bulking but to me, doing weights just doesn't equate to cardio fitness.
I guess I can use what I learnt from this website to illustrate my point.
Assuming I have a fairly accurate, albeit basic, grasp of this article:
http://www.wannabebig.com/article.php?articleid=224
It is my understanding that muscular endurance is achieved by placing those muscles under prolonged TUT.

Now, combine this with Biology from high school in that cardiac & skeletal muscles grow/become stronger thru similar methods, one can conclude that placing your heart under a longer TUT results in greater muscular endurance.

Since our hearts aren't lifting any amount of weight, rather it is doing a repetitious movement (just as running is relatively repetitious), muscular endurance is the goal we should be aiming for when "working out our hearts."

So the original poster is saying that he is breathing much more heavily, meaning his body is low on oxygen, that enough oxygen isn't being delivered to his body soon enough. A way to cure this is to increase the efficiency of your cardiovascular system.

In other words, to "work out your heart."
How do we do that? By doing cardio, relatively low intensity but long duration exercises.

IMO, lifting supersets & having your heart ready to jump out of your chest for maybe 10 minutes doesn't count as long duration, so ultimately it can not be considered "cardio." At least it is not an efficient manner to achieve cardiovascular fitness.


Hopefully that helped a bit, I just don't want to see someone with so much dedication get into trouble because they focused too much on skeletal muscles & not enough on cardiac.

[Canadian Crippler]

HIIT has been proven to be just as effective as long duration cardio, actually.

[REFLUX]

HIIT has been proven to be just as effective as long duration cardio, actually.

Has it?

Well I guess I can't say I'm surprised to hear of this but it really would be great if you could provide a link to the studies you got this information from.

Haven't taken a Bio course in so long, my brain must be outdated


EDIT:
Right, after several attempts at Google to find some information that says, "HIIT = stronger heart," the more I looked the more questions your comment raised.

1) I don't understand how HIIT will make your heart stronger. All I found was that HIIT will burn more fat than long duration cardio. We aren't talking about fat burning but rather cardiovascular fitness (at least that's what I'm talking about).

2) How does maxing out your heart rate for 20 minutes make your heart better at endurance (read: day to day activities)?
Don't you kind of train for the activity you're going to do?
So if you want to lift XXXlbs worth of weight, naturally you would go and Lift Weights.
Therefore, if you want to have a heart that will beat stronger for long periods of time (read: all day long, walking, sitting, sleeping, etc), wouldn't you train your heart under conditions of longer duration?

[largelegsbuthot]

Fat = snoring.

Why do more men snore then women?
Aren't there more fat women then men?

[Shao-LiN]

HIIT is a different beast than long duration cardio. Steady state cardio is more or less a calorie burner, while HIIT has implications in mobilizing fatty acid stores into the bloodstream.

[REFLUX]

Shao-Lin:
Ok so HIIT is primarily meant for "FAT BURNING" and NOT "Endurance"?

Then for the original poster, what can he do to help his body cope with the added weight? He is breathing heavily & feels low on energy.

So far, I am still convinced that doing cardiovascular exercises will help him with his breathlessness.

[J.C.]

Shao-Lin:

So far, I am still convinced that doing cardiovascular exercises will help him with his breathlessness.

Of course it will; that's what cardiovascular fitness is - your ability to transport air (oxygen) around your body more effectively. Good long sessions of cardio a few times a week will increase your lung capacity and strengthen your heart. This will equal easier breathing over time.

Also,

HIIT has been proven to be just as effective as long duration cardio, actually.

"Just as effective" at what exactly? They are two different types of exercise. They have different effects. Its that simple. If the two were the same then athletes would only ever train in one way because they would be "just as effective", which is of course ridiculous.

In this case I think Long-duration cardio would be a better option because that is the most effective way of training for endurance and therefore bettering the guy's breathing problems.

It will take time for new alveolae to form in the lung though so don't expect to suddenly double your lung capacity in a week. Just do some more cardio exercise and give it time; you're body will adapt eventually.

[PizDoff]

I think he means effective as in effective in increasing cardiovascular capacity.


I had this problem too, I increased cardio and it helped.
I absolutely hate cardio, though I used to be a distance runner, so an activity such as soccer or some type of martial arts will help increase cardiovascular capacity.

[Garrix]

Ever since I've gotten bigger, I noticed I am breathing more heavily. In fact, some of my friends pointed out to me that I snore (and I never snored in my life!) Also my energy is pretty low throughout the day.

It may not be the size thats making you snore, it may just be natural as you age. For example, Sleep apnea (sp?) is something that runs in my family. I never used to snore, but as gotten older i snore now. I can almost feel the change in the back of my throat (or maybe thats my imagination) and i know this is not due to any weight change, as it began before i started lifting. It may be Apnea of some sort. (?) hope that helps.

[eps]

It may not be the size thats making you snore, it may just be natural as you age. For example, Sleep apnea (sp?) is something that runs in my family. I never used to snore, but as gotten older i snore now. I can almost feel the change in the back of my throat (or maybe thats my imagination) and i know this is not due to any weight change, as it began before i started lifting. It may be Apnea of some sort. (?) hope that helps.

Well, I'm only 21, I don't think that is the case? (or not??). Nonetheless, I decided I should suck it up and go into my first cut. I was hoping to reach 225+ lbs, but if I have no energy for the day, then I have a bigger problem on my hands than gaining more weight. Hopefully I'll get cut around 175 lbs and start on my bulking cycle again.

[ILL_Mitch]

I'm a skinny bitch yet I snore like a mofo