How to get back in shape quickly after being infected with coronavirus and not harm yourself?

How to get back in shape quickly after being infected with coronavirus and not harm yourself?

It is important to train gradually and follow some rules.

Recovering from coronavirus, especially if the disease was severe, is not easy. Athletes long for training and worry about how to quickly rush into action and resume training.

But sports rehabilitation should be approached wisely. The main thing in this matter is not to harm yourself.

Elena Ryabinkova

Candidate of Medical Sciences, sports doctor, rector of Ben Vader College of Fitness and Bodybuilding.

Tells us how to train after COVID-19 infection.

First steps

First you need to determine the loss of body quality: whether muscle mass has decreased, how physical qualities, strength, endurance have changed. What has suffered the most should be worked on first.

Two weeks of inactivity, if you used to train regularly, will not lead to significant exhaustion. But if this period lasted more than four weeks, there will be difficulties.

After such a long period without training, athletes experience a 25-30% decrease in endurance, strength and flexibility. This is very noticeable for them.

And if you have recently started fitness and have been training irregularly, then get ready to start from scratch after the illness.

The benefit in this case will bring absolutely any exercise.

Prepare the body

Before you start complex training, you should try to do something simple.

1. Take more walks, Nordic walking or cross-country walking. Start with 15-20 minutes, your heart rate should be no higher than 130-140 beats per minute. You can start by walking 1.6 kilometers. And if bored, try an interval: walking 2 minutes, running 30 seconds. Speed, distance and running time can be gradually increased.
2. Include in your daily activity jumps, hops, swings, running, simple rolls from toe to heel. Even if you have a swing or a hammock in your dacha – the lymphatic drainage effect is ensured. And in a fitness club, choose bungee fitness, yoga in hammocks, swimming, trampolines.
3. Prepare your joints and ligaments for work. Perform partial amplitude, static exercises. For example, performing exercises with a barbell on the biceps, it is necessary to fully bend your arms at the elbows and hold the barbell for 15-20 seconds, then lower the barbell to half the trajectory of movement and again hold it for 15-20 seconds. Completing the exercise, straighten your arms and almost completely bend them at the elbow (but without blocking the joint!), also hold the barbell for 15-20 seconds. The second variant of this exercise – by incomplete amplitude. It is necessary to fully bend the arms at the elbow with the barbell and then slowly lower them to half the trajectory of the movement. Without interrupting the movement, bend the arms again. The weight is selected so that you can do 10-12 repetitions. In the same way you can work all joints, strengthen ligaments and tendons, auxiliary apparatus of muscles, with the help of dumbbells, barbells and other weights.
4. Restore lung function.

Exercises to improve lung function

Simply breathing deeply at different counts, with and without breath-holding, using breathing practices, will not be enough. The following exercises can help the lungs recover:

1. Exercise on rolls or with an espander, stretching, myofascial release – will help improve chest mobility.
2. Pullover, barbell press, crossover arm curls and other exercises that involve muscles attached to the ribs will increase the strength of the intercostal muscles. When performing them, it is necessary to monitor the mobility of the shoulder joint.
3. Yoga, qigong, vin chun, tai chi and other breathing practices will help to activate the work of all parts of the lungs.

Two exercises for morning exercise

Ben Vader College instructor Vladimir Vasiliev recommends that coronavirus survivors include two simple exercises in their exercise routine:

1. Cross-joint exercises. Movements are performed with the hand and the opposite leg: for example, you can perform rotations with the left wrist and the right ankle. Then vice versa. Next, you bend your right elbow and left knee, and vice versa. Finish the exercise by rotating your right shoulder and left hip, then vice versa. Do 10 approaches each.

1. EX-pattern. Starting position – lying on your back, legs bent at the knees and slightly apart. Arms bent at the elbows and pressed against the body. While resting on the right elbow and left foot, straighten the left arm and right leg, simultaneously raising the pelvis. The movement is performed on the inhale, and on the exhale return to the starting position. The entire cycle is performed for four slow counts. This exercise is also useful for restoring respiratory function.

X-pattern develops the coordinated work of the muscle groups responsible for flexion and extension of the limbs. This exercise is also useful for stimulating the work of certain parts of the brain.