Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to at least 115 countries and caused an alarming number of deaths. The current outbreak has lead authorities from many countries to adopt several protective measures, including lockdown and social distancing. Although being a reasonable measure to counteract the COVID-19 contamination, the restrictive measures have limited individual's ability to perform exercise outdoors or in gyms and similar facilities, thus raising the risks for chronic health conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle. The recent exercise recommendations to counteract the potential deleterious effects of COVID-19-related lockdown have not fully addressed resistance exercise interventions as potential home-based exercise strategies. Additionally, the following questions have been constantly raised: (1) Is training status capable of protecting an individual from COVID-19 infection?; and (2) Can a single endurance or resistance exercise session acutely increase the risks for COVID-19 infection? Therefore, the current mini review aimed to focus on these two concerns, as well as to discuss the potential use of practical blood flow restriction and no load resistance training as possible resistance exercise strategies that could be performed during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak was initially restricted to the continental China area, but it quickly gained international proportions spreading to at least 114 additional countries (Holshue et al, 2020)
In the face of the current situation, the following two questions have been constantly asked: (1) Is training status capable of protecting from COVID-19 infection?; and (2) Can a single endurance or resistance exercise session acutely increase the risks for COVID-19 infection? relevant, both questions have not been adequately addressed in any of the recently released COVID-19 exercise recommendations (Chen et al, 2020; Zhu, 2020)
Some studies have reported reductions in the lymphocyte proliferative response (Papa et al, 1989) and suppressed neutrophil function (Lewicki et al, 1988; Baj et al, 1994), whereas other studies have shown no alteration in either lymphocyte or neutrophil status after a period of exercise (Tvede et al, 1991; Flynn et al, 1999; Ferrari et al, 2013), or even increases (Brunelli et al, 2014) when comparing different training statuses. These conflicting results may be due to differences in research design across studies, such as: (1) cross-sectional versus longitudinal studies; (2) exercise intensity and exercise volume; (3) training status; (4) the immune system parameters assessed; and (5) genetic influences on upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) (Pedersen and HoffmanGoetz, 2000; Walsh and Oliver, 2016; Peake et al, 2017)
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak was initially restricted to the continental China area, but it quickly gained international proportions spreading to at least 114 additional countries (Holshue et al, 2020). Despite being a reasonable measure in the face of the potential consequences of COVID-19 contamination, social lockdown may negatively impact physical and mental health (Chen et al, 2020; Zhu, 2020) It may reduce daily activity levels and increase sedentary behaviors, raising the risks for chronic health conditions related to a sedentary lifestyle. Endurance or resistance exercise sessions may acutely cause a condition of immunosuppression by reducing both lymphocytes and natural killer cells (Nieman et al, 1995; Pedersen and Bruunsgaard, 1995; Kakanis et al, 2010) In this context, endurance and resistance exercise interventions have not been fully addressed as potential home-based exercise strategies to counteract the potential deleterious effects of lockdown and social distancing.
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