Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

November marks COPD Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a condition affecting millions worldwide. COPD is a chronic lung disease that makes it hard for air to move in and out of the lungs, making it hard to breathe. With COPD, everyday tasks can feel challenging, leaving many breathless and less motivated to stay active. While COPD is irreversible, regular exercise can help manage symptoms and improve quality of life.

How Exercise Helps People with COPD

You might wonder, "How can exercise help me when breathing itself is already hard?", and that is a valid question! But here’s why exercise is essential for COPD management:

1. Improved Oxygen Efficiency
   Aerobic exercises (like walking, swimming, and cycling) help your body use oxygen more efficiently. The COPD Foundation states that although exercise won't increase lung capacity, it will strengthen the cardiovascular system and muscles, helping reduce shortness of breath and making daily activities easier.
2. Stronger Breathing Muscles
   Exercise strengthens the muscles you use for breathing, including the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles. With stronger muscles, your body doesn’t have to work as hard to draw in oxygen, making breathing less of a strain (American Lung Association).
3. Increased Endurance
   Regular aerobic and strength training exercises can boost your stamina, helping you perform tasks like walking, climbing stairs, or doing household chores with less fatigue. Over time, you'll find that you're able to exercise longer without feeling out of breath.

Top Exercises for COPD

• Aerobic Exercise
  Swimming, walking and biking are great ways to improve your cardiovascular health and reduce the strain on your lungs.
• Strength Training
  Resistance exercises (using light weights, resistance bands, or bodyweight exercises) help build muscle strength, which make daily activities easier, and improve posture which can also help to make breathing easier.
• Breathing Exercises
  Practicing breathing exercises and can help reduce shortness of breath and improve your exercise tolerance. These exercises slow down your breathing and make it easier to exhale fully (American Lung Association).

While exercise is beneficial, it's important to exercise safely. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Consult with a healthcare professional before starting any exercise program, especially if you have severe COPD or other health conditions.
• Start slow and gradually increase the intensity.
• Use your prescribed medications.
• Stay hydrated and avoid exercising in extreme weather conditions like high heat or cold, which can aggravate COPD symptoms.

Living with COPD can feel challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. NIFS group fitness classes offer a variety of ways to help you stay active safely and effectively, with options designed to strengthen your body, improve your endurance, and help you breathe easier. Join us to discover a supportive environment where you can manage your health and find renewed energy for the things you enjoy. Start your journey to better breathing and a fuller life today—let NIFS help you take that first step.

It has often been thought that core strength can only to be achieved through sit ups, crunches, and planks but in recent years there has been a lot more discussion about the way we breathe and how it effects our core. If you participate in 1-1 training or group fitness, you have probably heard your trainer tell you to breathe and brace your core through a particular exercise. What does it mean to effectively brace your core and why is it important? Is it to see your abdominals, provide you strength or to help with your posture? In all reality, we use our core for many daily tasks such as standing tall, getting up off a chair, or even walking. Learning how to brace your core is fundamental in creating a strong foundation for all movements and can also help to aide in injury prevention.

As you may know, your core is not merely just a sheet of muscle. In fact, there are several muscles that work together to brace your core and support your spine. These muscles include rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, erector spinae, and your quadratus lumborum (also known as the QL muscle). These mighty muscles work together to keep your spine stabilized and upright. If there is weakness in one or a few of these muscles, it can lead to lower back pain, hip pain, or injury. Knowing this foundation, it can help us know how to engage these muscles for them to work altogether.

When it comes to your core, breathing is an excellent tactic to get those muscles working! What you can start with is a deep breathing exercise. Take a moment to breathe. Start by inhaling through the nose, really feeling your ribs expand. The next step is to brace the core muscles. Tighten your midsection by pulling your navel to the spine, think of this as bracing for impact – you will feel your ribs flare downwards as you do this movement. Of course, do not forget to exhale and expend the air being held in the lungs during the bracing. Some exercises can also be done to help brace the core such as squats, bird dogs, planks, and the list goes on and on.

At the end of the day, it is important to understand the proper breathing technique that coincides with bracing your core. Take a moment to think of your favorite exercise. Is it a squat or a bicep curl? Whatever it may be, there are two main stages in the lift that correlate with the proper breathing and core bracing technique.

Let’s start with a squat and keep these steps in bind for breathing and bracing.

1. When you are standing, try to keep your shoulders rolled back and down, allowing optimal space for your lungs to expand.
2. As you go down into the squat, gravity is helping you get lower, this is the key motion to allow yourself to take a deep breath in.
3. When you are ready to stand from the squatting position, this is where bracing your core is the most effective. As you push to stand, let out a breath through your mouth and brace your core.

The push of the air coming out of your lungs will help to contract your core muscles and make the movement much smoother.

Now, here is a challenge for you! Think of any movement you do daily and try to practice it at least one time each day. When gravity is assisting, that is the time to breathe in, when you are pushing up against gravity, brace that core and exhale! Learning to brace your core takes time and a lot of practice. Bracing your core can be done as you’re completing your daily tasks. Take time to practice, and watch it help you in your day to day!