Having breathing troubles on these CFTs... Help!

Hey guys first post here, looking for some advice. Joined the TA a few weeks ago and I'm enjoying it.

Unfortunately my progress has ground to a halt, as I'm having big trouble with my breathing during these CFT's with full weight . I've never had any before and I dont have asthma. And I never have them with normal running or anything... so I'm 99.9% sure its down to this weight thats down on me (55 pounds is it). I get to around 2.5 miles and its just killing me, I feel really short of breath and I cant get enough oxygen inside me and the medic ends up dragging me off every time. I'm pretty small and not that strong as it is, so its a little extra effort to keep up with all these lanky guys around me as it is .

Erm I'm just looking for advice on how I could build up my upper body strength to handle it and take some pressure off me thats stopping me breathing. Or is there another reason for it? I can handle the pain and stuff but when it comes to the breathing I just cant carry on, and like I said, the medic drags me off before I faint or worse haha

Any advice please

 

Smoker? BMI? Height /weight, age. There are many factors affecting your problem. Care to elaborate and I'm sure you'll get a better response.

 

If you only joined a few weeks ago you should NOT be doing ANY kind of CFT, certainly not with 25kg on your back. The PTI running this should be well aware of this; if not, he is breaching his duty of care and if you come a cropper he and his chain of command will be in a world of pooh..

Training is incremental.

 

I have had similar problem on CFTs a couple of times before. Both times it was due to incorrectly adjusted straps.

I have a bit of a habit of adjusting the straps on top of the shoulder straps so that the top part of the bergan sits snugly on my shoulders, this is also a good way of ensuring that your lungs can't expand properly.

Simply loosening the straps solved the problem for me.

Hope this helps.

Regards
T_T

 

This is the sort of simple advice that I like. This sounds just what I need to cure my drink problem.

(At drink stops, the gag reflex kicks in with the result that I don't take on water and can't breathe either).

 

Dont smoke, not sure what BMI is , erm I'm about 5,7, ten stone ish and age 18 in two months (woo)

And I might have been a little unclear, I've been in for like 12 weeks now

First CFT was 2 miles, which I found quite hard but I got through it with no breathing troubles, but the 4 miles I got to 2.5 and I'd had it...

Thanks for the advice so far anyone have any other ideas.

 

Whats your PFT time like? (thats the 1.5 miler in case you didn't know ,being new and all )

If you're unfit, then you're just unfit, and need to work on it! If its an issue with the weight, try weight distribution. Rather than just stuffing 25kg in your pack, think about what is going where, for instance, putting 5 kg of sleeping bags in one rocket pouch and a 15kg sandbag in the other, with 5kg of bricks in the centre pouch is going to cause a bad day at the office! Having more weight on one shoulder will surely restrict breathing to a degree, as it will have the effect that Tartan_Terrier alluded to earlier, of an effective tightening of the straps.

Failing that, see your Doctor, just to make sure you havn't got any underlying problems, but then they should have been picked up in the medical you had upon joining.

You could also try training for tabbing, by doing a CFT pace over 4 miles with say, 10kg in a daysack, and then slowly increasing it until you do a full blown practice CFT. it may simply be a fitness issue, I don't know, which is why I asked for your PFT time .

I'm rambling, so i'll shut up, but to summarise......

1) Look at weight distribution
2) Look at straps, and setup of Bergan
3) Look at your fitness
4) Speak to your PTI and medic about your problem
5) If nessecary, see doctor

Hope that helped!

Prae

 

Yeah I'm going to make an appointment with the doc to see if I have any issues. And I never need to add any bricks or anything to my bergen... its all about right with my webbing and rifle. I generally pack my respirator, helmet and any other gear on the bottom or in my rocket sacks and then have my sleeping bag on top of that, is that the right way to go about it? Erm my webbing I have my mags on my left, cleaning kit on the right, and then my water on my back right and mess tins on my back left.

I did my PFT in just over 10 minutes I think it was.

 

Is your Bergan resting on your webbing too much, therefore taking weight off of the bergan straps and putting double the strain on the webbing straps?

 

I'm not sure, I'll have to do some administration when I next get my kit out. But Tartan terrier said it might be better if I slackened my straps, so surely the weight would need to rest on the webbing?

 

Sleeping bag on the bottom other crap on the top - might not help your breathing but stops you getting a bad back!

Tabbing is a very different kind of fitness to running as with running you can control your speed as in if you get out of breath you ease off a bit then pick up the pace. with tabbing you don't get chance to do this as you are workking to a set pace. it might help to work on your endurance training.

Another thing is you need to really work on your lower body strength for tabbing not upper plus abs and back muscles - as at any one point you will have all your body weight plus kit balanced on one leg, if you got weedy leg muscles they and you are gonna get knackered pretty quickly. If you increase your upper body too much you're just lugging around more useless weight!

 

Ah I see, well its clear I need to work on my fitness, I'll have to start tabbing on my own and get some weight on my back through the week and build it up.

 

So what time is your 1.5?

 

You just have to train and train when you become fitter you will become less out of breath. At the mo I have being training for P Company and I felt the benefits a week ago and saw my performance against others, it was good. To be the fastest up the road when we had being bugged out was cool. But yes I was out of breath and I know what you mean about the shortness of breath I used to get it, but then I started running in webbing and daysack and now its fine. Get out in your spare time and get used to webbing and bergen, it may well be because the extra weight pulls more on your chest but I dont know about that, Im not a scientest. Just go out and get fitter.

 

I would certainly have a good play with the bergen straps and try some long walks on your own (try 5 or 10 miles but at a comfortable pace). It takes time to get used to walking with weight and learning how to adjust the straps in order to effectivly distribute the load is a personal choice. Personally I try to get as much support as I can from the hip straps, then as much as I can from the chest, and let the shoulders take the remainder. Other guys like most of the weight on the shoulders and waist, its about what is comfortable for you. Sounds like having the weight resting on your chest is making it hard for you to breathe.

Being 5'7" shouldnt be a problem, I am 5'8" and can march and climb with weight, it just takes time to develop the right muscles. Where do you live? I gurantee walking trips in the Lake District, Highlands, Dartmoor etc will help.

J.