COVID & West Nile Impacts
Nearly everyday lately we hear of someone newly diagnosed with West Nile Virus or severe COVID here in Arizona. This can really put you down for several weeks, causing you to suddenly be out of breath doing simple things such as getting out of bed, doing the dishes or walking your dog. This may leave you or a loved one very frustrated as things that were once simple seem like too daunting of tasks. Wondering where to start to get back on track? This post is aimed to give a guide for a simple exercise routine for building your endurance back after an illness.
Getting back on track & getting stronger
Start with these few simple exercises daily to get you back to living normally, especially if you don’t quite feel ready to leave the house. Doing these once a day for a few days or weeks will help you build back your strength and endurance to return back to normal living. These are all very simple, and can be done in your home with ZERO equipment needed!
Home exercises to start getting you back to yourself:
- Wall Pushups – Put your hands up on the wall at shoulder height with your feet a few steps back and complete a push up. This will work on both your core and arm strength to allow you to use your arms for things like pushing yourself out of bed or a chair.
- Counter top taps – Stand on one leg or with back toe down for balance, and alternate reaching across your body to tap the counter on the opposite side. This will help you with weight shifting and balance for doing things like the dishes, laundry and reaching into your fridge or pantry.
- Mini sit ups – Lay on your back either in your bed or on the couch with pillows propping you partially up and perform a sit up. As you get stronger, try to slowly start removing the pillows for more of a challenge. This exercise will help making getting in/out of bed easier as well as getting off the couch!
- Chair tricep dips – Place both of your hands on the armrests of a sturdy chair and press yourself out of the seat with your arms. Scale this exercise to your ability by placing your feet closer or further away from you when doing this. You will gain confidence with being able to stand up, especially if the chair or couch is very low!
- Squats to couch armrest – Work on regaining your lower body strength using your couch’s arm rest for assistance! Stand slightly in front of your couch and squat down until you touch the arm rest. Stand up pushing through both your thighs and glutes. As you improve, you can lower the height you sit down to.
- Forward reaches with water bottle – Stand on one leg holding a water bottle (or something similar) out in front of you. Hinge at your hips to reach the water bottle forward, while keeping a slight bend in your knee. Return to starting position. This will help strengthen your hamstrings and improve your stability while reaching at home.
If you are feeling very fatigued, start with one set of 10 reps of each of these and work yourself up to being able to complete 3 sets. Once you are able to do that, try doing the full program twice a day until you can get back to your regular routine! If you are still struggling, reach out and we can get you in for a more specific exercise program to fit your needs!
