Exercising after Covid-19: Don't rush back to your workout routine
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Loading... - Akinari Sato
- 05 Apr 2022
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It has been over a month since digital forensics investigator Corstiaan Stofregen recovered from Covid-19, but he is still struggling to get back his stamina.
The 29-year-old, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Feb 13. He had high fever, cough and bodyache and felt fatigued for a week before he tested negative on Feb 19.
Mr Stofregen, who used to exercise three to four times a week, was eager to start working out.
Two weeks after he recovered, he returned to exercising by walking on a treadmill and cycling on a stationary bike, but felt breathless within a minute.
"My heart rate would go up to 170 to 180 beats per minute when it would normally be about 130 beats per minute during simple exercises," he recounts.
He cut the frequency of his workouts and worked with his personal trainer to slow the pace and intensity of his exercise routine.
"I now catch my breath less in between sets of exercises. I'm slowly improving and I'm careful not to push my body too hard," he says.
Administrative manager Madeline Lee, 42, also had to ease back into exercising after recovering from Covid-19 on Feb 28.
A week later, she began jogging and doing exercises such as push-ups and planking, but felt very lethargic and unfit.
Says Ms Lee: "I knew I wasn't ready to exercise because I felt too tired too quickly. So I rested for another 1 1/2 weeks before trying again at a lower intensity."
She took it slow before progressing to higher-intensity exercises like using the skipping rope and climbing stairs.
While people who have recovered from Covid-19 may hope to get back to their fitness routines as soon as they can, experts warn that they should do so at a low intensity before gradually increasing the frequency and intensity of exercise according to their tolerance.
Dr Alan Cheung, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the International Orthopaedic Clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, says people with mild Covid-19 should rest for at least two weeks after they have completely recovered before exercising.
"I advise them to start with short-duration and low-intensity exercises, such as brisk walking and stationary cycling, for a week before increasing the length and intensity of training gradually over the next two weeks, until they can resume their usual training activities," he says.
For example, people can do gentle exercises such as walking and light resistance training like leg lifts and knee push-ups for 15 to 30 minutes, for as many as three sessions in the first week, before stepping things up, he says.
Dr Shauna Sim, a registrar at the Sports & Exercise Medicine Centre at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, says those who have recovered from a mild case of Covid-19 can resume exercise slowly after 10 days, if they can complete their daily activities and walk 500m on flat ground in about six minutes without feeling too tired or breathless.
A mild case of Covid-19, in this instance, means no symptoms, or mild symptoms such as loss of smell or taste, headache, runny nose, sore throat, cough and nausea.
Dr Sim says those with such symptoms should start with low- intensity aerobic exercise such as walking, light jogging or cycling on a stationary bike before progressing to more challenging activities like light resistance and body-weight exercises such as half-squats and calf raises.
"If you experience excessive fatigue, muscle soreness or poor sleep quality when returning to exercise, it may be a sign of insufficient recovery and that you are returning to exercise too quickly," says Dr Sim. Read More…
