The Struggle and Triumph of Returning to Exercise After Illness

Returning to exercise after being sick can be a challenging journey, as one fitness enthusiast recently discovered. After several days of illness that left their body stiff and achy, they made the decision to push through and restart their fitness routine.

“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 during a recent workout session. “Not exercising did not help me at all, 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 including neck pain, headache, and nasal congestion, they emphasized the importance of getting back to physical activity. The 20-minute workout session represented a significant step in their recovery journey.

“No more lying down. I got up. I shake my body. No more lying down. No more sickness. No more headache,” they declared with determination. This marks a notable improvement from the previous day when they couldn’t sustain even five minutes of jogging.

Weight Management Requires Discipline

During the session, they also shared insights about weight management, highlighting the disparity between gaining and losing weight:

“It is very hard to lose weight. Very easy to get weight. All you need to do is to push your body. You force it. Not letting your body control you. Control your mouth. That’s why you feel like eating a snack, you say no. I will not eat today’s snack. I will exercise. Just go ahead. Control your mouth. Control your belly. Control everything. And then force your body to move. Force it. It’s not easy. But you’re gonna force it.”

Health as a Foundation for Achievement

The session emphasized the fundamental connection between health and accomplishment: “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. That is why we need to run. We need to exercise anyhow.”

For beginners, they offered encouraging advice about starting small: “We must not be professional. You must not lift 100 pounds. Just start by lifting 10 pounds. Five pounds. So we cannot lift 10 pounds. Because later by later we are going to be fine.”

By the end of the session, visible progress was evident as they noted, “I am sweating. I am sweating. My energy level is coming back.” This transformation within a single workout demonstrates how quickly the body can begin to respond to renewed physical activity, even when recovering from illness.