Exercise, The Immune System, and Getting Back into Shape after COVID

It has long been studied and concluded that exercise - if done at the appropriate intensity, durations and frequency - can be very beneficial for overall immunity function. All three of these aspects (intensity, duration, frequency) play a role, though. Please, read on.

What is the immune system and “immunity” anyway?
The immune system is a network of cells/proteins that help defend the body from infection, including viruses, and is a major contributor in overall recovery from "musculoskeletal loading/micro trauma" (working out) and in turn, overall muscle and performance. With that, there is a correlation between overall muscle mass and immune function. The better your muscle mass, the larger the pool of proteins for the immune system to use when needed. The cardiovascular system has a large role in immune function as well. With a better stroke volume (the volume of blood pumped in and out of the system) and strong overall efficiency of the cardiovascular system means that more healthy, oxygen-rich blood is getting pumped into the immune system network...which means your body is better able to properly fight off infections or foreign irritants.

Another way to think about this is as you increase your stroke volume, then you decrease your resting heart rate (becoming more efficient). This basically means that those that follow a properly structured workout program focused on building stronger, larger, and more resilient muscle while also implementing frequent cardiovasculartraining likely have a more efficient and reliable immune system. Those people are better equipped to fight things like viruses away, exactly what we needed in 2020 right?In regards to training, there are three primary factors to building a program that aid in building stronger immune function (the body's ability to recover), and they're the same three mentioned above: Intensity, Duration, and Frequency.

Too much of a good thing (working out) can have the opposite effect. Keeping stress on the body (in this case,working out) high for too long or too often keeps the body from recovering, which it needs to do in order to build up your immunity systems.

Intensity is probably the most critical piece to this puzzle, because it's really easy to "over-do" it, especially when coming back from a global pandemic. It's also the largest contributor to immunity-boosting, as it can be easily manipulated within each individual workout and can be driven by how good one feels during the workout.

Duration and frequency are pretty straightforward, with frequency playing the larger in how the body adapts when frequently exposed to a stimulus (workouts). Ask yourself:Do you workout every day no matter what? Then you're probably not recovering properly. Do you take every set to the max and find that you're constantly sore after your workouts? Then you're probably not recovering properly.Are you working out twice a day? Two hours a day? Then you're probably not recovering properly!

Exercise is simply a stimulus that the body finds a way to respond to, recover from, and adapt to. That's what allows your body to take on more "stress" over time, and recovery plays a major role in that. "Deload” weeks, off weeks, or a vacation can actually increase your results in the gym (and your health overall). This act of "resting" is also known as supercompensation, or a period of time where recovery is fully optimized allowing capacity for higher performance and/or growth increases prior to the program. But too much rest and recovery leads to just the opposite…deconditioning and adaptation to a weaker stimulus. This "deconditioning" is precisely what many of us are facing after this COVID shutdown period. Even if workouts have been continued while at home, chances are the intensity is reduced,  the duration is probably shorter, and the frequency is inconsistent. After a longer break from your routine, it's easy to think you can pick up right where you left off. Wrong! It is important to keep the ego in check of “what you used to do” and take it slow, checking in on where you are before diving feet first. Remember the immunity benefits from above? This is more important than ever as we start to open everything back up from the virus shutdown. We want to reap the benefits of a strong immune system to fend off any introductions of unwanted viruses, so make sure you do the following to keep your body recovering properly.

#1 Gauge your Intensity
This is by far the most important factor. Both for maintaining proper recovery for progress in the gym and for dictating the other two factors, all driving towards keeping your immunity in good shape. The nervous system, ligaments/tendons, and your muscles have been on a break, and they are NOT primed for a max test. So start slowly to bring in intensity and give your over-rested body a chance to figure out what’s going on; then your body can re-adapt. On a scale of 1-10, try to keep your intensity at about a 5-7 for the first week or so, slowly starting to build in more challenging sets within individual workouts. Even if you have been working out at home, just the simple move of going from a bodyweight (maybe bands/light weights) to a barbell or machine-loaded program is a significant jump in intensity. Proceed cautiously.

# 2 FrequencyFrequency goes hand-in-hand with intensity. Since you're starting with lower intensity coming back, increase your frequency just a little higher (3-4x week is a great starting point) to encourage adaptation and recovery. For immunity boosts, you need frequent workouts! So keep it to at least 3x a week here.

#3 Duration
Base duration off of what you have been doing through the shelter-in-place. For example, if you have been going on 20-40 minute walks or doing a living room workout for half an hour, try to keep your gym workouts the same (or maybe just a slight increase). You can definitely push duration some as long as you keep the intensity in check. Allow yourself to increase the duration of your workouts weekly, until you get to about 60-minutes where cortisol rises and starts to diminish progress, pushing the body into a needed recovery period. Try to keep it at around 60-minutes! That's all you need.

First Month Back Smart Immunity Protocol

• Week 1-2: Keep intensity at about a 5-7 out of a 10 scale. Focus on total body movements, and keep weight in that 5-7 intensity range (whatever rep ranges you prefer) and no max-outs. Shoot for working out 3-5x each week, and keep your workouts to about 30-50 minutes.

• Week 3-4: Push it a little. Get up into the 8 on the scale and maybe throw in an extra set or two in a workout to push the limits. With the increased intensity, don't do any increases on frequency (still 3-5x/week) and duration.

• Week 5+: Get back to your regularly scheduled programming! Remember that intensity is the driving factor for immunity-boosting, so if you go through a very intense program, then double down on recovery and decrease at least one (if not both) duration and frequency. This ensures the body has plenty of time to recover and take on the demands of each workout.

Look, I'm not telling you to be a wimp and to tip-toe around your workouts. But we all need to realize that this virus was a really big deal, and one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and our communities is to build a program that not only gets us into shape, but to STAY HEALTHY (and keep training)! So get out there, train smart, and keep your ego in check. Build a program that continues to be successful. If you need help with any of that, please, reach out.