The Struggle and Importance of Exercise After Illness: A Personal Journey
Returning to exercise after illness can be challenging but necessary for recovery. This was the experience shared in a recent workout livestream where the individual described their journey back to fitness after several days of sickness.
“I have been feeling sick for some days, I have not really exercised and I did not do any good for my system,” they explained. The lack of physical activity had noticeable negative effects: “That did not help me at all. 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 Challenge of Getting Back on Track
Despite still experiencing symptoms like neck pain, headache, and nasal congestion, they pushed themselves to begin exercising again. The session was intentionally kept short – about 20 minutes of light jogging – to ease back into physical activity.
The individual highlighted a truth many fitness enthusiasts understand: “It is very hard to exercise, but very easy to get weight. Very hard to lose weight, very easy to get weight.”
Mental Discipline in Fitness
A significant portion of the workout focused on the mental aspect of maintaining fitness. The importance of self-discipline was emphasized: “All you need to do is to push your body, you force it, not let your body control you… control your mouth. That’s why when you feel like eating a snack, you say no.”
This mental fortitude appears to be a key component of their fitness philosophy – acknowledging that exercise isn’t always easy but remains necessary.
Measuring Progress
The session included monitoring various metrics including time, calories burned, and treadmill settings. They mentioned currently using speeds between 3-7 on their treadmill, noting that before gaining weight, they could handle higher speeds: “When I lose weight, I’ll start running 10… I used to put up to nine. But now, I can do up to seven, but not 10, not 11, not 12. 12 is the highest.”
The Importance of Health for Achievement
Perhaps most poignantly, they connected physical health to broader life success: “Your health is what? When you are in good health, you can achieve. Oh, it’s only when you cannot do certain things that you cannot achieve your goals. That is why we need to run, we need to exercise.”
They also offered encouragement for beginners, suggesting that exercise doesn’t need to be professional-level to be beneficial: “You must not lift 100 pounds. Just start by lifting 10 pounds, 5 pounds… little by little, we are going to be fine.”
This personal account serves as a reminder of how quickly our bodies can decondition during illness, and the importance of gradually reintroducing exercise as part of the recovery process.