COVID training / COVID recommendations?

[bikesandcars]

Interesting article: "What to do if you get covid" What to Do If You Get COVID - from an ER Doctor & Former Special Forces Medic - GORUCK News & Stories

I've seen articles recommending light exercise / cardio vs strength training as intense training "can compromise the immune system"

I was going to train normally right up until I get Covid, is that foolish?

Is there any info on strength training and how it may impact our immune system / immune response?

Is it a good idea to dial it back slightly until this thing blows over?

Posting text below:

My name is Dr. Richard Angel, an ER Doctor & Former Special Forces Medic. I’m 50 years old and I want to help as many people as possible get through having Coronavirus and keep them well enough to stay out of the hospital. I have Coronavirus and am recovering after 2 weeks of symptoms. Here is what I have done to stay relatively well and recommend these measures to you.

Dr. Angel’s Coronavirus Care:

1. Hydration: drink plenty of fluids, water, tea, warm beverages. Especially important for the elderly who are often dehydrated. This flushes the kidneys of toxins, keeps plenty of fluid in the body to keep secretions as liquid as possible – not allowing thick mucous to fill the lungs. An occasional toddy or hot herb tea with honey and lemon is great. (If unable to take much, sip small amounts of regular Gatorade or sports drinks and water. This will give you potassium, sodium and glucose, vital nutrients.)

2. Immune support: I like Zicam zinc throat lozenges 4 x a day, especially at night before going to bed to keep viral loads low. Also maybe Emergen-C, other supplements like Vitamin D 5000 U per day, perhaps some immune supporting mushrooms. Gargle and drink diluted apple cider vinegar may help, you may warm and add honey if needed.

3. Diet: Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and quality proteins. Oranges daily are great! Lemons and honey for your tea. This is not a time for a minimal diet: you want to be well fed with nutritious foods to prepare your body for potential loss of appetite. If you get sick enough to require hospital respiratory support, your body needs to be fueled up to “run a marathon”.

4. Medications: Zicam lozenges for prevention and treatment of symptoms. Plenty of cough drops. Vicks Vaporub is excellent and a must have item to decrease cough, open and soothe bronchial passages. Delsym 12 hr dextromethorphan extended release (the flat bottle) is a great baseline cough suppressant. You may add day and night cold and cough medicines, Tylenol (acetaminophen) as needed. NyQuil is good to help sleep with Vaporub and warm tea. Afrin or neti pot may help clear your nose as will over the counter sinus medications. There is an excellent old cough syrup that you can generally take with other medications, it is like liquid menthol, called “Buckley’s Original Mixture”. I highly recommend having some available—can be found on Amazon.

5. Equipment: Vaporizer machine and Vaposteam. Get the old school one that heats up not cool mist. This is a lifesaver. I would also recommend a simple nebulizer machine ($50) and saline ampules (the pink ones). These are available on Amazon. You may need an albuterol ampule prescription as well. In addition to a thermometer, a fingertip pulse oximeter can be very useful. A general “cutoff” for being sick is about 94%—below this you may need to see a doctor. Shortness of breath and work of breathing are signs you are getting sicker and need to see a physician. (Or call in!)

[[Note: this is only intended for at home use while in quarantine. The use of these products might contribute to greater risk of infection for those around you. More info here.]]

6. Exercise: sunshine, light walking if you are ill is always great. If not symptomatic, keep workouts relatively light. Now is not a great time to suppress your immune system using energy recovering from a hardcore workout. However keeping fitness—especially cardiovascular at optimum levels which may pay big dividends if you get really sick.

7. Hot baths: hot tub soaks for 15 minutes twice a day may help with an “artificially induced fever” that makes you a less hospitable host for the virus among other benefits.

8. Hygiene: Shower/bath daily with clean clothes daily, brush teeth, etc. This cannot be underestimated—decreases the virus and the morale boost is very important.

9.[Update] Tylenol, NOT Ibuprofen: For pain and fever, acetaminophen (Tylenol) is preferred. For now it is probably best to avoid NSAID’s (non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) like ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), aspirin. Studies and information are inconclusive about the safety of NSAID’s at this point but that may change in the near future. GORUCK will keep you posted.

In summary, the goal is to keep your body and immune system functioning at optimal levels, stay hydrated and make yourself unattractive to the virus!

So make some homemade chicken soup, do all the right things to avoid spread and we will get through this difficult time.

Wishing all of you good health and a speedy recovery. Thanks to Jason and the GORUCK Team for their support!

Rich Angel

[Robert Santana]

Diet and training adaptations happen over a longer time course. So it won't happen overnight but could happen over months, perhaps years. Oranges are not a great source of vitamin C because it oxidizes as soon as it hits the air. Red bell peppers are the best source so mix those in. I'm going to throw this in the general Q&A since it's not limited to diet.

[jfsully]

These are good recommendations, although the stated reasoning behind them is a combination of evidence and folklore. But not bad advice overall.

I do not believe that lifting heavy will compromise your immune system in the short term. If you are fortunate enough to be able to train normally right now, that is best. It will probably not prevent you from contracting the virus in the first place, but will be the best preparation for enduring it.

It seems that the “training hard impairs your immune system” line of thought comes from some evidence of short-term changes in serum white blood cell count after training, which is not actually a good indicator of overall “immune system function.”

Empirically, if training hard compromised the immune system, these boards would be full of reports of people getting colds and flus constantly. I think we see the opposite.

[John Brothers]

I've heard conflicting accounts on the idea that working out significantly compromises your immune system. How "hardcore" would a workout need to be to make you significantly more susceptible to contracting something?

And is there any evidence cardiovascular training would pay bigger dividends than strength training if you do get sick?

[Matt James]

Completely anecdotal, so take it for what it's worth: I have only been "sick" twice in the past year plus since I started training. Both times were mild: fever for a day or so, followed by what seemed like it was going to be the usual 3 week cough, but instead it just went away within a day. At the same times, other members of my household were sick for several days. I suppose it's true that heavy training can temporarily suppress the immune system, but I suspect that a high protein diet has the opposite effect. Perhaps the hormonal responses to heavy training help too (pure speculation, of course). At any rate, this is the healthiest I've been since having kids. Again, take it for what it's worth.

My opinion is firmly that if you're healthy, and can train, you should train.

[CommanderFun]

Yeah, anecdotally I've found I often get over illnesses much better than others. Maybe if I didn't train and just dieted like I was that'd be even better. But just training and dieting appropriately seems to put me leaps and bounds ahead of the average person when it comes to health. Got my first physical in a while recently and they seemed pretty impressed by my blood pressure and heart rate. Didn't even give me any sass about my BMI or needing to "do cardio". If you're worried about training leaving you weaker in the immune system, remember the principles of Minimum Effective Dose vs Maximum Tolerable Dose. Try to keep to the former and I doubt you'll have issues.

[bikesandcars]

I like anecdotal advice, at least it comes from our experiences.

I've seen no observed difference in me getting sick during periods of training training vs periods of my life where I wasn't in shape.

I've had plenty of days where I felt a little tired from lifting, but I've rarely been sick. I don't remember the last time I had the flu or anything more than an annoying chest cold. Worst I've had in the past few years is self-induced hangovers and I generally bounce back by noon.

Maybe a person's first week with Covid isn't the best time to start thier NLP, but for people that have been lifting for a while our bodies should be pretty well adapted to the stress/recovery/adaptation cycle right?

[John Brothers]

If we're just talking anecdotes, I'll throw a couple out there.

I've never gotten sick as a result of working out. If I was already a little under the weather (for example, minor sinus issues after commercial flight), then cardio work would make me feel a little worse for a little while. That's it.

I have seen a few examples online of "marathon runners" ending up in the hospital due to COVID, with one of these people dying. I haven't seen any stories of strength athletes, or even CrossFit-esque athletes, getting whooped by COVID. I have heard one story of a strength athlete contracting COVID and getting fairly ill for a few days, but he recuperated at home.