Winded playing tennis

[Sherry]

Hi, All. I've really been exercising hard (or relatively hard) since November. I'm swimming laps three times per week or so and am trying to get back into tennis since I played in high school. There's a tennicize class on Sunday nights in which we all play King of the Court and other cool games for an hour. Quite a workout with the short sprints involved with playing tennis, plus when you and your partner win the point, you both run over to the other side of the court and take on the challengers. Anyway, I've been getting extremely winded each Sunday when I play. That doesn't really happen to me when I'm walking or when I swim. Am I expecting too much too fast? My GP does have me on Advair for asthma-like symptoms. (I just developed this a few years ago.) Any insight from other tennis players or just other athletes in general? I am going to bring it up with my GP next week.

 

[Emgil]

Resuming at the health club

Resuming at the health club

I've found that whereas I was comfortable doing 20-30 mins on the starionary bicycle and rowing machine, when I returned to the treadmill I was significantly more exhausted. The older we are the longer it takes to get back into some stuff. I confess to dreaming that I can still do what I did when I was younger with or without heart valve surgery. Unfortunately, it ain't so. However, I think the nature of walking/jogging/running, etc makes it more difficult to resume than the other stuff I tried. Years ago when I played tennis I found it more physically demanding than other sports. I would give myself time to slowly recapture my wind and not despair as long as there are no other symptoms and the medical condition is okay. I've heard it takes 13 days to lose it and 13 weeks to get it back.

 

[MarkU]

Hi Sherry,
I think you are experiencing the differences between aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Your swimming and walking are aerobic exercises where your breathing can support the level of oxygen required. The short sprints you do during your tennis workouts are anaerobic, where you go into oxygen debt and get winded. It's like the difference between running a marathon and a 100yd dash.
Overall conditioning helps, but whenever I am doing anything anaerobic I find that a thorough warm-up that gets my heart & breathing rate up helps a lot.

Mark

 

[Sherry]

Thanks for the replies, Mark and Emgil. Having the anaerobic and aerobic exercise explained to me makes sense. I'll give it a little more time. It's amazing -- agewise, I'm always on the younger end at 41. There are a few young ones, but most of the participants are club players who are in their 40s and 50s. We even have one lady who comes out every Sunday who is pushing 80. I'm going to try again this Sunday and see if things get any better, and if they don't, I'll mention it to my GP on Monday.

 

[Randy'38]

Hi, All. I've really been exercising hard (or relatively hard) since November... Anyway, I've been getting extremely winded each Sunday when I play. That doesn't really happen to me when I'm walking or when I swim. Am I expecting too much too fast?... Any insight from other tennis players or just other athletes in general?

Hi Sherry:

I'm a 66-year old avid tennis player. I had MIAVR last July and have been playing tennis singles 4-5 times per week at 1-1/2 to 2 hours since last November. I also exercise for about an hour with weights and Lifecycle 3 times a week. The bicycle exercise doesn't bother me at all wind-wise (Level 8 hill climb for 12 minutes), but I still find myself getting winded after long points in tennis, but recover quickly. My heart seems to pound pretty strongly during the first 15-20 minutes, but then adjusts to the increased activity. My resting pulse is 50-55 BPM. It's still better than what I experienced prior to my surgery. There definitely is a difference between types of exercise.

 

[Sherry]

Randy,
Thanks for your insight. It's so frustrating when you finally find what you really like doing and find yourself gasping for breath after long points. I'm pretty competitive and try not to miss any shots which involves (as you know) running those short sprints to get balls just clearing the net. I'm going to continue playing, but I'm still going to bring it up with my doc on Monday.

 

[Granbonny]

Sherry

Sherry

Our tennis courts are right behind our pool..where I hang out during the summer. I look at the people playing tennis. I think their average age is 70..Floridians who play all year in the winter..and come here for the summer. They have summer homes here to excape the heat in Florida....The women still wear little, short skirts..and really chase those balls. We also have a lady that plays golf everyday..and she is age 80.. I was out at the local golf course before Xmas to buy my S/I/L a gift certificate..saw her pulling her clubs. Not riding in a cart. Sometimes, she comes to the pool with her family and has on full make-up and red lipstick. Never too old for what they enjoy. Bonnie

 

[Phyllis]

Dick, 72, has mainly 80 something tennis partners here in FL. He is the baby of the courts and they all give him a good game,not as good as the fellows at home who are younger than he is, but still good. He also enjoys golf here once a week, but rues the fact that in FL you must use a cart to keep all those 80 year olds moving- he would prefer to walk. I'm not nearly as athletic, but I do swim 40 lengths of the pool every day and although I hate to admit it as I am not sports oriented, I know that Dick's daily tennis game and golf have kept him in the condition that allowed him to sail through his AVR so easily. By the way, I asked him if he is getting winded while playing tennis and he said "no, not down here in doubles with the 80 year olds or at home with the 50 and 60 year olds.", but that could be because he is playing doubles, although he doesn't have a problem when playing singles against our son either.

 

[Sherry]

Well, I saw my GP this past Monday and complained about the breathlessness on the tennis court. He had me do a spirometer, and my lung output was terribly low; in fact, it was lower than when he checked it back in October and put me on Advair to begin with. He put me on Advair 500 and is sending me to a pulmonologist to have further testing done. Geez...will it ever end? I just want to play tennis

 

[MelissaM]

Jeeez. . .. sorry to hear of more issues, but glad you went to the doc and got it checked out - yikes!

My doc (head of cardiology - good guy) shared one other fun fact related to the whole aerobic/anaerobic issue. Normal hearts expand to accomodate a sudden influx in blood associated with anaerobic movement (sudden sprinting. etc) and the an increased heart rate. Since our valves (in my case, the annuloplasty ring) are sewn in and made of non-expansive material, our valves cannot expand as they normally would to accomodate this sudden influx.

The cardiologist indicated that this can lead to a feeling of shortness of breath until the heart can adjust to its new situation. Made sense to me, as I can do a lot of lower-level aerobic activity, but struggle with intense bursts of movement.

Melissa

 

[Randy'38]

Makes sense

Makes sense

Thanks for the info, Melissa. Makes sense to me. My first few minutes on the court are the most demanding aerobics-wise. After that I can keep going a couple of hours without a problem -- until my low blood sugar kicks in -- but that's another story!

Randy

 

[ericaj]

Sherry

Sherry

I can surely empathize with you Sherry - the craziest things make me short of breath that never used to - and epsecially when I am tired (lately an always) I have a hard time breathing I think i unconsciouslky forget to breathe normally due probably in part to the restrictive lung disease and sleep problems and then find myself struggling to "get back in sync".

Looking fwd to talking to you again SOON! Hope we get to meet up later in March!!

Erica