Welsh Cycling actively encourage individuals to take regular exercise during this Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown period – provided that it is undertaken in line with the Government guidelines – in order to benefit both your physical and mental health.
Due to the sudden change in daily routines for most of our members, we appreciate that they may engage in an increased amount of exercise than their normal working life may allow. However, it is important that they do so sensibly in order to maintain the effectiveness of their immune system.
High training volumes, periods of intensified training and prolonged strenuous training may suppress immune function and thus, result in an increased risk to illness. In contrast, those who perform regular moderate intensity physical training are at a reduced risk of illness. Therefore, instead of suddenly increasing exercise volume and/ or intensity, this should always be done through a slower build-up to maintain immunity.
The following advice has been provided by the UCI Chief Medical Officer and the Sport Wales medical team.
Recommendations
- Do not train if experiencing any suspected coronavirus symptoms
- Ensure social distancing in all aspects of physical training.
- Reducing training volume by approximately 10% (At a minimum maintaining current training volume (not increasing), including adequate planned recovery).
- Reducing training intensity by approximately 10% per session (Minimising exposure to prolonged strenuous training or periods of intensified training).
- Keeping fluctuations in training volume and intensity in between 5-10% per week.
- Carefully manage changes in overall training.
- Plan an easier recovery or adaptation week every 2nd of 3rd week of the training cycle.
Considerations
- Implement recovery activities immediately after more intensive training sessions.
- Monitor all forms of physical and psychosocial stress.
- Aim for >8 hours sleep each night.
- Day time naps may be beneficial.
As is widely known, the NHS is currently under significant strain and are focused on COVID-19 patients with a limited ability to manage routine injuries or illnesses in what would be considered a normal capacity. It is recommended that training sessions and environments are adjusted to ensure that precautions are set in place to reduce the risk of injury and thus, the need to access limited healthcare resources during these unprecedented times.
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