Returning to Exercise after having Covid or Isolating
(Without f*#cking yourself up!)
For many of you, this might have been the first time you have had 10 days away from exercise for a while, for others you may have had a very disrupted 6 mths to 2 years with lots of interruptions to your training.
Whatever your situation the following will be applicable to you. Athletes / Anyone returning to exercise after a break is at the highest risk of either putting themselves into a world of hurt (massive DOMS) or worse injuring themselves.
Obviously, you will need to get back into exercise and you can’t avoid it forever so being smart about how you get back into it will drastically reduce your risk of injury and pain.
It’s likely that 2 things happened over your isolation period.
- You didn’t exercise and if you did it wasn’t nearly as intense
- You didn’t eat as well as you normally do
There is nothing wrong with either of the above happening, you were sick, when you’re sick the last thing you need to worry about is exercise, but now you are ready to get back into training you need to be smart about it and manage your expectations.
Your mindset is going to be the most important part of your journey back to fitness, here is our guide for returning to training:
You’re not going to get all your fitness back in one session
I know this sounds logical but often people when they return from a break try to go from zero-100 to “make up for lost time”
You want to gradually build that intensity back up.
So more like Zero to 60 – 75 – 90 – then finally 100 again.
I don’t know who needs to hear it but we see it after every lockdown.
Remember you haven’t actually lost your strength or fitness you just feel weak and your lungs aren’t open.
Your overall fitness would not have drastically dropped from not training for 10 days but you will feel unfit.
What’s the difference?
When you are training regularly your CNS (Central nervous system) is primed and your muscles are active, your lungs are firing from the other workouts you have completed. This is the state you are used to.
When you haven’t exercised for 10 days your CNS is generally left a little “sleepy” which will make weights feel heavy AF and when you start a conditioning workout you will feel like someone has sucked the air out of you.
But don’t worry, it’s not going to take 6 months to get it back, it will take a couple of sessions, your body will adapt pretty quickly to any stimulus thrown at it and you’ll have your lungs back in no time.
Start doing something on your last days of Iso
When you are no longer symptomatic (hopefully your last 40-50% of iso depending on how rough you got it, this is a good opportunity to start moving again and a low intensity.
Don’t get caught up in the mindset of “It’s not 100% intensity so what’s the point” or “I don’t have equipment so what’s the point, literally going through some bodyweight exercises and moving for 20+ mins will do you the world of good.
Reach out to us to get access to our Free at-home program for both with equipment and without.
It doesn’t need to be perfect, just move!
EAT ENOUGH
At this point you will need all the help you can get, even if you have weight loss goals its probably not a great idea to put yourself in a calorie deficit, you have your whole life to lose that bit of weight you may or may not have gained during Iso, why does it have to be in the next week?
You want there to be a good balance of the food (energy) you are putting in and the energy you are burning especially while you are getting back into it,
There is a strong correlation between not eating enough and injuries, so for safety’s sake have that extra serving of rice or kumara and chuck an extra protein shake in there for good measure!
Being fueled properly will do the world of good for your body and your mindset so don’t cut yourself short.
