5 Tips to Get in Shape after the Quarantine

Alfredo Valdés 8 min. of reading Running Leave a comment

Today, I am giving you 5 tops to go back to training after the Quarantine and to get in shape while avoiding injuries.

Some of you have probably gone out these days. Many countries are starting to set some conditions in order to do physical exercise outdoors during the crisis caused by COVID-19. Actually, I have noticed that:

My previous marks are now nothing but memories… I am out of shape!

What now? I just went for a 20 minute run and my whole body aches!

Do not fret about it! I am going to give you 5 tips so that you will safely get in shape once again.

Index

1 You are out of shape, accept it and move on
2 Plan your workouts and measure your process
3 Make the most of your time
4 Do alternate sessions
5 Follow the safety measures
6 Extra Tip
7 Bibliography
8 Related Entries

You are out of shape, accept it and move on

Yes, I know that is not what you wanted to hear, but spending 2 months in lockdown has its consequences.

The physiological disadaptations that regulate aerobic performance start taking place a few days after you stop training. But these disadaptations are acute and can be fixed quickly.

However, after 4 weeks without training (approximately) these adaptations become “chronic” or “long-term” issues. Getting back on track is a longer and more tedious process.

There are cardiorespiratory, metabolic and muscle disadaptations in this process. I will give you some evident examples to illustrate this point:

Chronic cardiorespiratory disadaptations

Less ability to consume oxygen.
Higher heart rate peak.
Lower systolic volume (the heart pumps less blood per heartbeat).
Lower respiratory quotient.

Metabolic disadaptations

Higher accumulation of lactate at a specific intensity.
Lower VT1 and VT2 thresholds (our organism does not deal well with the intensity it was able to handle before).

Muscle disadaptations

Lower capillary density (less blood vessels irrigate the muscle).
Less Dif. A-V O2 (worse oxygen utilization in the muscle fibers)
Less muscle mass, strength, potency and fiber size. (Mujika and Padilla, 2000).

Stop! Calm down, we will be back to where we were before. Above all, you just have to give a useful stimulus to your body so that it will readapt to the demands.

Plan your workouts and measure your process

I know what you are thinking:

“…I am going to do twice as much exercise, I will run for 2 hours…”

Despite producing adaptations, a drastic increase of the energy requirements will not be better than a reduced workout volume. In fact, the result can be even worse (Parra et al., 2000; Hatle et al., 2014).

Physical exercise (and adaptations) can be pictured as an hormetic curve.

Control your workout volume

Be patient, Rome was not built in a day.

Let’s start with a simple premise: be active once again.

I know it may sound stupid, you who have climbed all the mountains from your city and who have never said no to a bike ride.

But let’s be realistic, how many steps have you walked in the last two months? 2000? 3000? 5000 in the best case?

We have already talked about the importance of NEAT on this article.

Therefore, “step by step” is the best mindset we can have. For now, let’s make sure that we follow the advice from the World Health Organization:

Do at least 150 minutes of moderate physical exercise a week (3-6 METs / subjective intensity 5-6 over 10).
Or do 75 minutes of intense physical exercise a week (>6METs / subjective intensity 7-8 over 10).

Jogging or walking?

If you were if a good physical shape before, jogging can be a good activity to get in shape after the quarantine. However, if that is not the case, it would be better to walk fast or ride your bike a good pace.

Then, increase the intensity little by little until you double the weekly volume.

Make the most of your time

According to what I mentioned previously, you should make the most of your time to reduce your exposure to the virus.

Bear in mind that the risk of infection increases significantly when you do physical exercise outdoors. That is why the populations with a higher risk of morbimortality have been separated from the rest in different times frames.

Try doing intense physical exercise with SIT systems at least twice a week.

Low volume SIT systems consist of doing a moderate number of efforts at a high intensity with interval rest periods.

Basically, they are ALL-OUT HIITs, which means that the exercise is extremely intense.

However, despite being a workout system that requires much less time, it seems that the following adaptations:

Capillary density.
Mitochondrial biogenesis.
Muscle strength.
Maximal and medium oxygen consumption.
Systolic volume and blood volume.

Are the same or even better than using more extensive protocols.

I am not going to talk more about this topic because there is a fantastic review by MacInnis and Gibala (2017). If you want to read more I will leave it at the end in the bibliography.

Above all, what I mean is that you should reduce your exposure as much as possible. In fact, HIIT/SIT sessions are much more efficient, increase them progressively as you get used to them instead of doing MICT/LISS.

Do alternate sessions

The WHO recommends doing exercise with weights at least twice a week. In fact, that exercise counts as intense physical exercise.

I know some of you may be able to go outside but, have you completed our home workout? Take a look.

This type of training has many benefits for the cardiometabolic, muscle and bone health for athletes. Do not miss out your strength workouts!

If everyone goes out at the same time, no one will be able to exercise outdoors. Do exercise at home at least a couple of days a week.

Follow the safety measures

If you go out to do exercise and there is a lot of people running and walking:

Go somewhere else.
Go out at another time.
Find an alternative activity.

It is important to respect the safety distance. Even though it is said to keep two meters, this distance is being actually criticized by many.

In fact, bodily fluids can travel up to 20 meters back depending on the physical activity and the diameter of the particles.

Even though the conditions of the study may not completely applicable to real life, it is a way to transmit that we should stay as far away as possible from each other. Therefore:

Do exercise individually, if you go for a walk, you can go with a person that lives with you.
Avoid public spaces to do exercise: no bars, parks, etc.
Avoid direct contact with people. I know it has been a while since you have seen your friends, but you should keep your distance.