Amanda Thebe is a fitness and women's health professional. She is a force of nature for women who want to experience menopause hell and feel healthy and fit in their 40s and beyond. You can pre-order her upcoming book Menopocalypse on her website Fit & Chips.
Amanda contracted coronavirus in March 2020. Hoping for a speedy recovery, Amanda continues to grapple with the long-term effects of this debilitating virus. In this podcast, Amanda and I talk about what it means for an active fitness professional to be defeated by Covid-19.
By the time I had the chance to speak to Amanda, I had come across only one story at BBC Sport: I was a fitness trainer, someone who was also a successful Olympic weightlifter, fit and healthy, in my twenties, and talked about how three months later the fact that they still haven't recovered.
I also know from personal experience that a client who was confirmed virus positive also had asthma and continued to have real problems. He has a gym in the garage a short walk from his house, but even that short walk can get him out and force him to sit on a bench and take ten minutes to recover before moving again can.
So this is an important topic because, as Amanda says on the podcast, beyond people recovery or death, little is said in the press or in any other conversation about the long-term suffering of a large group of people diagnosed with Covid -19.
Like everyone else, Amanda watched celebrities like Tom Hanks and Idris Elba deal with their own coronavirus attacks. As she watched her very public recoveries, she felt discouraged by her own long-term symptoms and continued suffering.
She discovered a Facebook group, Covid-19 Survivor Corps, one of many that she found there were thousands of people like her suffering from persistent effects with high levels of suffering and harm weeks and weeks after being diagnosed .
One of the most important points Amanda made about her experience is the way she has changed the way she approached exercise. Obviously, she was a very active, very fit, professional trainer who had to adapt to the limitations of her performance, which is very difficult for a person with such a background.
Amanda was unable to exercise for four months, which made her very weak. So we can talk about how she adapted and what that means for anyone who has to return from trauma or injury or any other situation where they are unable to return to an exercise program at full throttle.
I usually do podcasts about building muscle and boosting your personal development, but this has been a fascinating glimpse into something that affects everyone in the world and it will surely open your eyes to topics that don't predominate in discussions about Covid-19 as We help ourselves understand how happy we are when we have the luxury of going to the gym, lifting weights, exercising, and doing the things we enjoy.
It is very true that if you are not healthy you don't have much. Fortunately, Amanda is evolving on her journey from Covid-19 and I hope that she will be 100% back as soon as possible.
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