How a stay-at-home dad kickstarted his healthy and active lifestyle

November 9, 2021

Aaron is a 41 year-old, stay-at-home dad, who has two active, playful kids and he is currently expecting the third one together with his loving wife. Aaron always enjoyed being active, and spending lots of time with his kids was an essential part of his life. But one day, something went wrong:

“Every day I spend a lot of time chasing my kids and doing stuff around the house. And some time ago, I found myself out of breath every time I was trying to follow my kids and being as active just like they are…

That experience was very stressful for me and very unexpected because I worked out regularly and had a relatively healthy diet. I felt that my well-being was weakened, and I needed to do something about it.”

The profile

Name: Aaron
Sex: Male
Age: 41
Condition: Shortness of breath during activity
Profession: Stay-at-home dad

For 20 years Aaron worked in manufacturing. And for the last four or five years while he was still working, he noticed that his breathing was becoming laboured at work, while being exposed to a lot of different things that were in the environment.

“I was taking my condition seriously and was trying to do a little better as far as breathing is concerned for the last 3-4 years.Because I felt that it was laboured and just felt like something needed to change…”

Aaron started trying to work out and do other things that would help him, as keeping himself in a good healthy shape and having healthy breathing was vital for him. He tried cardio first with the hope of regaining his breath. But besides losing weight, he wasn’t getting the results that he thought he should get.Aaron was also trying to do yoga. And a lot of times while practicing yoga, he would forget to focus and clear his mind and would not be breathing consciously. All in all, after all his efforts Aaron was still having a hard timekeeping his breath.

Aaron’s Airofit journey

Some years ago two members of Aaron’s family suffered from a collapse of the lungs. They had to go through a respiratory therapist and experience the severe respiratory devices and technologies to restore their lungs’ function. It was a challenging experience.

Remembering that, Aaron was very excited to see Airofit for the first time.

“For me it was very important to find out that the company was founded by professionals in health technologies, including the breathing instructors on board. That was interesting for me as I felt that the health needs of the Airofit customers were taken seriously.

And as well, I really liked the compact size and the device – it was amazing that the device which I can hold in my hand can completely change my life and get better lungs results.”

When Aaron had his first session with Airofit, he was completely out of breath and totally wiped out. Making the first lung test also was quite difficult for him, but Aaron was optimistic, didn’t give up and decided to move on with his daily training as he really wanted to be in a better condition and not to miss out on anything in his life.

Already after one week of exercising with Airofit Aaron felt that tiredness during the training started to disappear and he started to feel overall better.

“It was almost like a block that had been removed from my air passages!”

He felt he could do his workout without actually losing his breath.Whereas afterwards he felt a lot better. He didn’t feel that he had to stand up straight and breathe to get ready for the next exercise.He felt that he could just go and do his workout. And he was also much more relaxed and was experiencing less stress because he started to feel that he was in control of his body and overall well-being.

Throughout the training process, Aaron was always following Airofit’s app suggestions regarding his next workout based on his lung test and previous performance. He also liked to play golf, so therefore he used the golf module as well as part of his training.

He usually trained once a day. In the beginning he was training with Airofit for around 10 minutes a day while following his regular workout plan of training five days a week and having two days of rest.

After a couple of months of regular training with Airofit Aaron felt much more comfortable and decided to increase the duration of his daily breathing exercise up to 20-25 minutes.

As the aim was not to over-stress his body during the training, therefore he decided to keep the breathing training at the beginner level and continue doing one minute per exercise while regularly doing his lung test.

“I should say that exercising with Airofit is a lot more than you think it’s going to be. It does an excellent job exercising you, and you feel great.”

“I continue experiencing the benefits of Airofit, especially towards my well-being. I feel a lot better. I do feel energized. And I think the biggest thing for me is clarity of thought, which helps me to have a better focus in my everyday life. For example, when I am working out, I feel that I have more power. And I can also say that I became better in terms of managing daily stress and anxiety.”

Just like any other muscle group, respiratory muscles can become stronger, faster, and more efficient, which directly correlates to abetter O2 uptake, increased vital lung capacity, and decreased metabolic reflex, therefore improving physical performance and overall wellbeing.

At Airofit we are focusing on the person’s accessible vital lung capacity on a given day. The accessible vital lung capacity measures the maximal volume of air that one’s lungs can inhale/exhale in one breath. It is recommended to take the lung test at the same time of the day and before the main meals.

The results

Aaron’s Accessible Vital Lung Capacity (AVLC) test result show a positive trend throughout his respiratory training journey from May to July. In May Aaron’s AVLC was at 3.5 liters. By July he had already reached 4.5 liters – an increase of more than 28%!

Apart from accessible lung capacity, Airofit also measures the strength of people’s respiratory muscles. Numerous studies show that physical performance can be improved through inspiratory muscle training. Aaron is another example of that – he managed to improve his maximum inspiratory pressure by 25%!

The same applies to Aaron’s exhale muscles – his maximum expiratory pressure has increased by 28%.

Summary

This article is an example of a user who trained his breathing without athletic purposes and yet significantly improved the quality of his life. Being able to take an active part in the life of his family as well as getting back to his healthy and active lifestyle was crucial for Aaron, and with the help of Airofit he claimed he managed to do so:

“I can actually enjoy my life much more now. I can spend my time with my kids with no obstacles. I can carry them while I’m running with them. It is absolutely great! My wife made a comment to me the other day about how much energy I have. I am so happy now with these opportunities!”