Returning to Exercise post-Covid?
Have you had COVID-19? Are you worried about when and how to return to your regular classes?
EVO’s Head of Ride, Tina A, a CAWS Rebuild* Coach, shares some of her professional knowledge on how to return to exercise after having COVID-19.
What is COVID-19?
COVID is a nasty virus. It destructs cells in the airways, travels through the body in the blood, physically alters our pathology and causes systemic damage. Much of this damage is invisible, long-lasting, and accompanied with chronic fatigue. The longer you have symptoms, the more damage that has been done.
When should I return to exercise?
Everyone is different in terms of the damage that has been caused and the speed of recovery. Working under the guidance of a certified coach will help you to rehabilitate and re-establish your fitness in an intelligent and progressive way. Too much too soon and you can delay recovery and possibly cause further damage. Too little movement and you lack the tissue perfusion required to help restore and rehabilitate. It’s all about finding that Goldilocks amount.
How should I rebuild?
If you had an ‘acute’ bout of COVID, then you should wait 10-14 days before returning to classes. During this time, focus on good nutrition, activities of daily living, and walking.
Then, the priority should be to rebuild aerobic capacity. Your cardiovascular fitness is vital to human performance and even more vital in COVID rehab. Your cardiovascular system allows you to exist and gives you the opportunity to function and perform optimally.
At first, it needs to be well within your capacity to cope. Low intensity walking/jogging or gentle cycling are ideal exercises at first. About 10-15% below what you think you are capable of. Any higher will trigger a rise in cortisol and inflammation, causing fatigue and a reduction in immune response. The exercise MUST NOT leave you unable to cope with your activities of daily living. If you are disproportionately fatigued from your efforts, then you have done too much and need to back off.
Gradually increase your duration of exercise before increasing any intensity. High intensity exercise introduced too quickly will add to the already inflamed tissues and will delay recovery.
What about strength training?
Strength training is not recommended in the initial stages of COVID rehab. However, perfecting your accuracy of movement is advised. Spend the initial few weeks working on body weight movements. Aim for good quality movement patterns. These will lay the foundation to being more functionally resilient when you return to more weight-based programming.
How long will it take me to return to fitness?
There is no exact answer to this question. As a guide, it is suggested that for every day you have symptoms, it takes 3-4 to rehabilitate. A week of symptoms is therefore 3-4 weeks of rehabilitation. However, too much or too little will impact on this, as will your age and any underlying health conditions.
You cannot out smart your pathology. Be sensible and moderate your recovery.
Further support
Contact us here for further support on returning to exercise after COVID.
Our trainers are available to:
· Help you establish a healthy and long-term relationship with exercise, through intelligent and progressive programming and support
· Measure aerobic capacity, physical resilience and functional ability, and to prescribe multi-dimensional training to progress safely and effectively
· Offer support and advice on nutrition and other lifestyle recovery methods to aid physical and mental resilience and restoration
*CAWS Rebuild is a specialist certification focusing entirely on restoration and supported rehabilitation from COVID-19 and long COVID