When and How to resume training after COVID Pneumonia?

[nate.snavely]

So my wife and I and our three teenagers delt with COVID. They fended it off fine but I ended up in the ER with COVID Pneumonia and have been oxygen at home for two weeks. Over the last few days, I finally turned the corner.

I can take short walks and do some small chores and today was my first day back to work after 3+ weeks.

My fear is that it will take several months to regain any sense of normalcy.

My question is when and how do I resume training?

I started NLP November of 2020 – as a supplement to 50-mile weeks as a an ultrarunner. After a serious bout with Lyme’s disease in June after three trail ultra’s earlier this year, I started to get serious about my strength and health and I’ve left the game of ultrarunning.

My wife also joined me in lifting late June and we both dug into the NLP based on our reading of the blue book and the SS youtube channel.

I am 44, raced at 147 lbs, averaged 155 lbs and boosted my weight to 180lbs during this time. Lifts went from essentially just the bar to Squat 290, Bench 220, OP 143, and DL 355. (I have lost 12 hard-earned lbs during this COVID fight.)

It was a fulfilling and exciting time for me, little injuries went away, and I was starting to sense some of my lifts were nearing the intermediate transition (Bench / OP) and I bought the Barbell Prescription and just started studying before ending up flat on my back with COVID.

However, we hit a very stressful time, COVID not-withstanding. A COVID death in the family, a whirl-wind east coast to west coast flight and funeral over 3 days, significant work challenges and others. I still felt weakened from my bout with Lyme’s. I struggled with a sense of something feeling off for 2 weeks – and then the fevers wrecked me. Then I couldn’t breath which led to the ER. I have now missed 3 weeks of work, but have turned a very dark corner, and now I’m fighting to get my lungs back. My oxygen levels are 90-92 without oxygen – I still supplement as I feel higher levels will help with my healing lungs. I can drop back into the mid to low 80’s with a bit of physical activity.

I read a great article on the site called, The Reset, yet my situation is outside its scope, I’m afraid.

But I promise this: I’m coming back. Even if it takes a year. And it might. I’m so ready to start even if my body is not. I’m just trying to figure out a game plan and to shape my expectations.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Did you take any ivermectin?

[nate.snavely]

Yes, to include a full suit of additional supplements through Frontline doctors and others. For whatever reason, it still wrecked me. And many felt I was a most unlikely candidate to be wrecked.

[Nikola Blagojevic]

This is only tangentially applicable to your situation, but I'll say it anyway. I ended up in the hospital for a few days with blood clots in both lungs after my adventure with the virus a year ago. When I had the virus I had just about every symptom, but the pneumonia wasn't nearly as serious as yours. A few days after I recovered I started coughing up blood, which brought me to the ER with the aforementioned bilateral pulmonary embolism.

I spent two months doing some moderate walking and biking (I thought some cardio activity might help manage the scarring without causing a lot of stress) and then re-started NLP as a new trainee without regard for my previous training history. That approach was pretty successful.

[nate.snavely]

Did you take any ivermectin?

No, I attempted to obtain using America’s Frontline Doctors. However, I was prescribed Hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic which I was advised was in the same vein as Ivermectin along with high doses of Vit C, D, Zync and others.

(Ironically, by the time I started their protocol, I think I already had COVID).

In the ER, I was dosed with Remdesavir and Dexamethasone.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The remdesivir fucked you up.

[nate.snavely]

FYI - I corrected this first answer below.

Maybe...

BOTH COVID happened AND COVID Pneumonia happened (long before I took remdesiver). I was in the ER before any of this unable to breath before a Doc ever touched me. So I was wrecked before I was wrecked. Remdesivir did not wreck my lungs.

I'm not terribly interested in spending alot of time speculating. I was Unvaxxed. I still stand by my choice. It held through in terms of how my family healed and got through this unvaxxed.

But this is my lot - this actually happened - and the consequences are mine. Causation, may or may not become clear over time.

I am simply trying to look ahead now and figure out a course of action.

Nikola - this is helpful. I'm starting to sense that, when I regain baseline health, I will simply be re-starting NLP.

[nate.snavely]

#1747 - Dr. Peter A. McCullough - The Joe Rogan Experience | Podcast on Spotify

I would trust McCullough a heck of a lot more than Rip when it comes to COVID treatment protocol.

Moderator: I regret posting such personal information to only receive caustic and bombastic one-liner replies. Please delete my post. Oh, and delete my profile while you are at it.

SS has had such a wonderful impact on my life (and my wife's) this past year. I was hoping the forum would be a resource based on actual interest or concern for the poster seeking advice.

[Mark Rippetoe]

See this? COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

It is a thread with ~3 million views about COVID, ivermectin, remdesivir, and all the lies surrounding this horrible situation. Your personal information is safe with us, but excuse me if bombastic one-liners are all I can spare for people who have not read what has already been discussed at a level of detail not found anywhere else in the media. Dr. McCullough has been in front of this for 22 months, and I am not aware that we disagree, although I would not presume to imply that he has to agree with me.

You do not command my actions. I will not delete your posts or your profile.

[tiny&mighty]

I’m coming back. Even if it takes a year. And it might. I’m so ready to start even if my body is not. I’m just trying to figure out a game plan and to shape my expectations.

I do not know what you should do, but here is what I would do if I were in your situation.

I would start a NLP from scratch. By “from scratch”, I mean with the empty bar in my case. Except for the deadlift. I would use my 33 lbs women’s bar with my 10 lbs bumper plates to get an adequate setup.

Why? Because I would rather pick an arbitrarily low, but most certainly achievable starting point, than let my ego, my optimism or my ambition misguide me and set me up for failure.

If I were in your situation, I could probably still squat the bar for 5 reps. I suppose breathing would be hard, but given enough rest, I think that completing 3 sets could be achievable.

I would then plan my next training session. If I did not make it, I would try again and adds reps and sets until I can do 3 sets of 5. If I made it but barely, I would try adding 2.5 lbs next time. If I made it without difficulty, I would try adding 5 or 10 lbs instead. And then I would reassess again and plan my next training session accordingly.

That is what I would do. My guess is that breathing would get easier over time. Meanwhile I would rebuild my training habits, I would benefit from the sense of having accomplished something, and I would use this as an opportunity to improve my technique.

People would tell me that I am being overly cautious, that this a waste of time, that there are more efficient ways to resume training, and they would most likely be right. But I would stick with this plan anyway because I simply do not care about wasting my time as long as progress does occurs. Going from 0 squats to 1 empty-bar squats is progress. Adding a rep, a set, or 2.5 lbs to the bar is progress. And it adds up over time and that is all I care about.

Again, I am not saying that this is what you should do, and I realize that most people here would disagree with my approach. But that is what I would do anyway. This approach has served me well so far and I am in no rush it comes to this program.