The Importance of Exercise After Illness: A Personal Journey to Recovery

After several days of feeling sick and neglecting exercise, the return to physical activity can be challenging but crucial for recovery. This was recently demonstrated by an individual who shared their experience of how inactivity had negatively impacted their body during illness.

“I have been feeling sick for some days, I have not really exercised, and that did not help me at all,” 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.”

Getting Back on Track

Despite still experiencing symptoms including headache and congestion, they made the decision to push through and restart their exercise routine with a short 20-minute workout session. This determination highlights an important approach to recovery – not allowing illness to completely derail fitness progress.

“No more lying down. I got up. I shake my body. No more sickness. No more headache,” they shared, describing their mindset toward recovery.

The Challenge of Weight Management

The individual also touched on the challenges of weight management, noting that “It is very hard to dress as nice, but very easy to get weight. Very hard to lose weight. Very easy to get weight.”

Their approach to this challenge emphasizes 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… Control your belly.”

Starting Small for Sustainable Progress

An important message shared during the session was that exercise doesn’t need to be extreme to be effective. “We must not be professional as well. We must not lift 100 pounds. Just start by lifting 10 pounds, 5 pounds. If we cannot lift 10 pounds, just little by little, we are going to be fine.”

This gradual approach to fitness is particularly relevant when recovering from illness or beginning a new fitness journey.

Tracking Progress

The workout session included monitoring various metrics like calories burned and speed levels on a treadmill. The individual noted how their capabilities had changed over time: “I used to put up to seven. Before, I used to put up to nine. But now, I can do up to seven, but not 10, not 11, not 12.”

This type of self-awareness and adjustment is key to maintaining a sustainable exercise routine.

The Connection Between Health and Achievement

Perhaps most importantly, the session emphasized the fundamental connection between health and the ability to achieve one’s goals: “Your health is what? When you are in good health, you can achieve. It’s only when you cannot do certain things that you cannot achieve your goals.”

This perspective serves as a powerful reminder of why maintaining physical health through regular exercise should be a priority, especially following periods of illness.

As demonstrated by this personal journey, returning to exercise after being sick may be challenging, but taking that first step – even with a short, manageable workout – can be the beginning of reclaiming both physical health and personal goals.