“Does running at high speed on the treadmill weaken the lungs?”
Can running at high speed on the treadmill cause an unreasonable amount of pressure on my lungs? Typically I run at an average of 8-9 mph.
1 Answer
The lungs have tremendous capacity to increase or decrease ventilation to meet the body’s oxygen demands. But the small airways and alveoli are also fragile, so too much ventilation can cause turbulent air flow that can traumatize those sensitive structures. Chest pain, cough, or coughing up blood suggests that one should slow down a bit. Monitoring your heart rate during exercise can also help you to know if you are overdoing it. In general you should to cardiovascular exercise about 60-80% of your maximum possible heart rate. A simple way to calculate maximum heart rate is 220-current age. So a 20 year old’s max heart rate is about 200 beats per minute. A good training zone for the heart rate is 120-160 beats per minute.
