Gym Goers be cautious: Excessive workout post lockdown can affect your kidneys

Can Working Out Too Much Affect Your Kidneys?

• Too much of anything can be a bad thing.Generally, exercising is good for an individual and helps to maintain a healthy weight and stay fit. However, excessive working out can have many repercussions, especially affecting kidneys.
• The sudden imposition of the nationwide lockdown has surely been exhausting both physically and emotionally. Once the fitness centers opened, many rushed back to resume their regular fitness routine, albeit with all COVID-19 precautions in place.  However, many want to make up for the months of missed work outs, resulting in longer and more exhausting workouts.
• Excessive workouts can lower the sodium levels in one’s body, which can negatively affect your health. Over exercising can be detrimental to your health especially if you are not supplementing the calories you’ve burned with additional calorie intake.
• A human body needs enough nutrients, minerals and vitamins to perform well. However, if not consumed in your diet it may impact your kidneys too. They help us to cleanse toxins from the body, and maintain water balance. If not treated well, it may lead to malnutrition and vitamin or nutrient-deficiency which will increase the risk for kidney infection, and thus lead to kidney damage or failure.
• When we workout after a long gap, our body goes through a lot of wear and tear. Therefore, starting with few warm-up exercises and light weight training can be beneficial. This will help an individual to avoid situations like rhabdomyolysis, a disorder which damages our kidneys due to excessive workout.
• The symptoms that are noticed during this disorder are pain in the muscles, dark-colored urine or decreased urination, trouble moving muscle or legs and so on. It can be treated under proper medical guidance if detected at an early stage and can completely recover by the prompt treatment suggested by doctors to reverse the kidney damage.

Here are a few guidelines that need to be followed while hitting back gym post the lockdown period:

Structure your own workout regimen

It is very important for all of us to understand and set our goals as per your body type. Each body reacts differently to different workout regimen therefore it is extremely essential to follow a routine as instructed by the gym professionals.

Do not strain your body

It is always advisable to exert less pressure on your body and let your muscles breathe. Start with slow warm-up exercises or light yoga rather than plunging directly into heavy exercises for the day. Avoid performing aggressive workout steps which can result in muscle protein breakdown.

Follow a healthy diet & stay hydrated

Workout and a healthy diet plan goes hand in hand. If there is no proper diet chart followed by you, then the workout performed will go for a waste. Take an adequate amount of water in-between your exercises and stay hydrated throughout the day. Also, take the right nutrients and proteins essential for your body which can keep your body stress-free. Alongside, rest well after every workout session. It brings down the risks significantly.

Maintain the necessary COVID hygiene

During this pandemic, one must follow all the COVID-19 norms diligently. Always carry a hand-sanitizer and mask when stepping out of your house but be careful to not wear masks when you are into heavy weight-lifts. Try to avoid common exercise mats and carry your own mats. Stand at a 6 feet distance and keep washing your hands with soap and water frequently.

Consult a gym professional

It is always advisable to consult a proper gym trainer and take a note of the important details delivered by them. Only a gym trainer would know what kind of workout plan is best suited for your body along with the required diet chart.

Author is a Nephrologist of Apollo Dialysis Clinics. Currently Apollo Dialysis Clinics operates 70+ clinics at 60+ locations in Delhi-NCR (Gurgaon), Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The company has also recently launched Home Dialysis Services in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Guwahati.