The Journey Back to Fitness: Overcoming Illness Through Exercise

Returning to exercise after illness can be challenging, but it’s often the most effective path to recovery. In a recent fitness session, one determined individual shared their experience of getting back to exercise after feeling sick for several days.

“I have been feeling sick for some days, I have not really exercised and I did not do any good for my sister,” they explained. “Not exercising did not help me, but made my body to be stiff. I tried to stretch, even the back of my legs, my nails, my toes, everything pained me because of lack of exercise.”

The Importance of Pushing Through

Despite still experiencing symptoms—”I still feel my neck, my head is aching me, my nose is growing”—they emphasized the importance of getting moving again. The session demonstrated how quickly the body can respond positively to renewed activity.

“It is very hard to dress as nice, but very easy to get weight. Very hard to lose weight. Very easy to get weight,” they noted, highlighting a common fitness frustration many people experience.

Mind Over Matter

The key message from the session focused on mental discipline: “All you need to do is to push your body. You force it. Not letting your body control you. Control your body. Control your mouth.”

This approach proved effective, as energy levels visibly improved throughout the workout. “If it was yesterday, I cannot sustain this jogging for five minutes. No stop five minutes jogging. If it was two days ago, that was the worst of them.”

Starting Small

For those looking to begin their fitness journey, the advice was clear: start where you are. “You must not lift 100 pounds. Just start by lifting 10 pounds, 5 pounds. If you cannot lift 10 pounds, just little by little, we are going to be fine.”

Using a treadmill with various settings, they demonstrated how to adjust intensity based on current fitness levels. “The treadmill has timer, has calories, has a number of steps, the incline, and it has also the speed limit.”

While once able to run at higher speeds (“I used to put up to 9”), current fitness levels meant a more moderate approach (“now, I can do up to 7, but not 10, not 11, not 12”).

Visible Progress

By the end of the short 20-minute session, the transformation was evident. “I was cold now but now I’m sweating… Almost into 100 calories. Good. My energy level is coming back.”

This real-world example shows how even a brief workout can help jumpstart recovery from illness and begin rebuilding fitness levels that may have declined during periods of inactivity.