Should you exercise when you have Covid?
Should you exercise during a mild case of Covid?
how is best to return to exercise once you’re better?
🧐 Find out in this article.
Image by WebTechExperts from pixabay
22nd January, 2022
TLDR; Basically, NO. You should wait until you’re better than ease yourself back in gradually.
There are many benefits to exercise and physical activity. Whilst we don’t want to prevent people from being physically active, there is still a lot we don’t know about the longer term implications of having been mildly infected with the Covid19 virus. Therefore it’s best to be cautious with your return to exercise.
The British Medical Journal suggests the following phased return to exercise:
Wait a minimum of 7 days from the main symptoms ending and testing negative (if testing).
Gradually increase activity starting with 2 weeks of easy movement (entirely individual depending on your fitness levels pre-Covid).
Monitor your energy and progress daily.
There's more detail in the BMJ's article here, it’s free to access.
Initial and easy movement for one person might involve doing day to day activities like carrying shopping bags into the house, walking up stairs or walking around the block. However for others who are fitter it could look like cycling, yoga or gentle body weight exercises in the house. Choose what is applicable to you and your fitness level and gradually build on that.
Following on from 2 weeks of easy movement you might consider heading back to the gym. Starting with shorter, less intense sessions with longer rest periods. You might even want to avoid larger compound exercises that are more taxing, and opt for exercises where you're not going from lying to standing very quickly.
Whilst I can help guide you with a phased return to exercise I am not a doctor, and this article is very generalised advice... if you are worried about your symptoms or they are prolonged, you’ve had a severe case of Covid, or a history of cardiac disease you should speak to your doctor for further assessment.
Taking a break from training may leave a temporary void in your life, fill it with something else, focus your energy elsewhere and keep your brain occupied (the first time I had Covid, all I could do was sleep for two weeks lol). As well as getting plenty of rest, maybe you could see it as an opportunity to finish that essay, learn how to knit, start journaling, watch your favourite Netflix series, start an online course, do some baking etc... the possibilities are endless.
And if you're lucky enough to have a coach 😉 *ahem* keep them in the loop so you can work together to ease back into exercise appropriately.
References:
Returning to physical activity after Covid - https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.m4721