After a month and a half of confinement due to COVID-19, as of May 2, people will be able to go out to the street to exercise for one hour a day, maintaining safety and distancing measures.
The regular practice of physical exercise is a recommendation for the health of the population. However, after almost two months of confinement, even if many people have practiced sport at home, some mistakes may occur when returning to physical activity in the street.
For this reason, it is important to restart the practice of sport progressively, following a series of guidelines such as the following.
How to resume physical activity?
After a month and a half without outdoor sports, physical activity should be resumed gradually and adapted to the age of each person. There are differences between the activity that a 45 year old person with various pathologies can develop and the one that a 22 year old person, student and without any pathology, can develop.
As far as possible, it is advisable to contact the specialist doctor to consult the type of activity that can or cannot be done, depending on each particular case. If the doctor deems it appropriate and refers the patient to physiotherapy, it would be optimal to have the patient’s medical history in order to prescribe an adapted physical exercise, both aerobic exercise and weight training.
In any case, it is important not to resume physical activity in the same way as before confinement, as there is a serious risk of injury. It is common for patients to suffer some muscle rupture and, in the worst case, tendon rupture may occur. Everything must be progressive and according to the physical condition of each person. In the same way that a person cannot start climbing stairs if he/she has never done any type of activity, because he/she could suffer a severe injury, it is important not to make great physical efforts if they have not been done before.
Stretching and warm-ups to avoid injuries
The stretching and warm-ups that should be done to avoid injuries always depend on the exercise to be done. For the population that does not do professional sports, it is advisable to perform a small battery of stretches before and, above all, after training.
Before exercise, it is beneficial to perform a simple warm-up to optimize performance. This warm-up should be slow and progressive and then start the exercise.
Recommended physical activities
After a month and a half of confinement, it is advisable to perform moderate physical activity, three or four days a week, combining aerobic and bodybuilding exercise. The ideal is to combine each day a certain field: cycling, stretching, light to moderate upper body weight training, squats, sit-ups, etc.
In any case, these activities, which can be done outdoors, can be combined with other activities at home to have a complete physical exercise program.