The coronavirus pandemic has blocked the world of sports. Athletes from different ?branches? of sports cannot train the same way they used to do. This might affect their long-term performance. Returning to exercise after recovering from COVID-19 is even more challenging than pausing your physical training due to lockdown.
This is because for a few days, your body is going to experience a whole new level of tiredness, and you might find it really difficult to regain your strength. If you miss your former sports form that once made you famous, here are some ways to come as close as possible to your peak performance in no time.
Setting a bedtime routine
The first step is to have a well-rested body to start working out on. Returning to exercise after recovering from COVID-19 is going to come in the form of a significant stressor to your entire system. This is why you have to prepare it correctly. An average adult needs up to 8 hours of proper sleep per night to satisfy the bodily needs for adequate rest. Not lacking sleep is one of the best ways to stay healthy physically and emotionally.
For you to have a better understanding of what happens while you sleep, imagine that your sleep is a puzzle game. If every piece falls into place, it means that you have passed through all the stages of sleep. This way, you will get to see the complete picture easily. But once you fail to complete one of the cycles, imagine that the pieces are broken into half, and you will need twice as much time to complete it, as your body will need to compensate for the lack of sleep it has experienced.
REM sleep is the one contributing to brain development in infants.
The first stage of sleep is called quiet sleep, and it lasts for 1.5 hours. After completing it, there come 4-5 cycles of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, with cycles becoming longer and longer. Each cycle also lasts 90 minutes. REM sleep contributes to brain development in infants, and it works wonders for adults as well.
It is said to facilitate the learning process, strengthen immunity, and even improve your mood by constantly relieving the reactive stress accumulated during the day. This is why a lack of REM sleep can harm emotional health. So, in case you plan on returning to exercise after recovering from COVID-19, you should avoid chronic fatigue by getting enough rest. In order to improve immune function, you should always aim for at least 7 hours and a half (5 cycles of 90 minutes) of uninterrupted sleep every night.
Healthy eating ? lifetime habit
Healthy eating nourishes the body and supplies the sustained energy you will need to be mentally and physically active. It is also possible to increase your body’s immune system with superfoods. Take, for instance, the fruit and vegetables which have the highest concentration of Vitamin C of them all.
These are kiwi, bell pepper, citrus fruits, pineapple, and all of the berry family fruits. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient with antioxidant roles, which helps to reverse all the cellular damage caused by the free radicals in your body. It boosts collagen production, keeping your skin healthy.
The bell pepper is one of the superfoods which has a high concentration of Vitamin C.
Going ?back to business?
The correct way of returning to exercise after recovering from COVID-19 is by adopting the “baby steps” principle. Start exercising in the form of a few thousand steps each day while slowly progressing to some moderate cardio. Eventually, you can jump to some HIIT (high-intensity interval training).
The benefits of aerobic exercises are countless. They are ideal for your cardiovascular conditioning by lowering blood pressure and helping with sugar regulation. This also implies some weight loss and strengthening of the immune system. It will also aid sleep and improve your overall mood.
Aerobic exercises are also the best remedy for chronic pains. The best examples are swimming and exercise performed underwater (the same ones that are also recommended for pregnant women).
Once you start feeling comfortable with aerobic exercises, it’s time to progressively start with anaerobic exercises and hit the weight training that you missed so much. A considerable amount of scientific evidence exists to support the overall benefits of strength training.
It has been proven that muscles can improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Having more muscles is said to even help with weight loss while inactive because it also increases your basal metabolic rate. This is equivalent to the number of calories your body uses as fuel during periods of inactivity. In other words, your body needs to use supplementary energy to maintain the muscles you have, which results in more burned calories.
Aerobic or anaerobic exercise will strenghten the immune system and reduce inflammation.
If you feel like this is too much for you to handle alone, don’t hesitate to reach out to a personal trainer. Trainers like those from dubaipt.com can help you reach your goals without risking injury or harm. If you prefer to work out at home, you can always contact a trainer and set up a session right there.
Is the pain really worth it?
Returning to exercise after recovering from COVID-19 is definitely not the easiest task, especially after this severe break you were forcefully put through. All the days feel like heaven when you’re in your cozy bed under the comfy bedsheets, with apparently no reason to get up.
This is actually the critical phase, the phase that puts you face to face with a choice. Sometimes you will lack motivation, and your choice might not be the most inspired one. This is why you should always remember to be disciplined. Discipline beats motivation any hour of the day. While motivation is a variable, discipline is a constant. So make sure you always make the right choice by simply remembering why you started doing it in the first place.
When going back to the gym after recovering from COVID-19, you need to pay a little extra caution.
Keep in mind that this is a life principle universally valid in every field of activity. Excessive discipline might pay off and work wonders, so be ready to embrace these ?side-effects?.
