Let me start by saying.. I’ve been there. Multiple times. After chronic fatigue, after a covid infection, and after a pregnancy. My first experience in returning to exercise is what inspired me to make note, make a system, and create safety around returning to exercise again.

I know what it’s like to start from zero yet again. To cause flare ups with exercise, to feel hopeless, like you’ll never get there again. When all you really want is to enjoy your life, rather than just survive.

Here are 5 things I’d do if I was starting from scratch.

1. I would stop trying to “get fit”

The first thing I would drop? Fitness goals. It’s easy to make a goal around your fitness, and to ‘get to where you used to be’.. but the reality is your body has taken a big hit. It needs to create capacity again, and you can’t create capacity by jumping in the deep end and pushing through. Or doing things that drive flare ups, but ignoring your body.

There’s a reason you’re where you are.. right?! Let’s not perpetuate that reason.

No:

Fat loss targets
Step goals
Strength PRs
VO2 max improvements
Calorie burn numbers

Because if your nervous system cannot adapt to stress, fitness becomes another stressor. Adaptation is the goal. Growing your capacity is the goal.

If your heart rate stays elevated for hours after movement…
If your sleep tanks…
If your HRV trends downward…

That’s not deconditioning.

That’s a capacity issue.

Before you chase performance, you need to build resilience.

2. I would check my baseline physiology

Before doing more, I would understand what my system can currently tolerate. Data can be so, SO helpful if you know how to use it to your benefit.

Not obsessively. Just intelligently. Don’t get disheartened by the data - look at the trends, rather than the actual figures. Of course the actual figures matter too. But first things first, you need to know your baseline, so you can track your trends effectively. Otherwise they are just numbers.

I would look at:

Resting heart rate trends
HRV trends (weekly patterns, not daily spikes)
Heart rate recovery after mild effort
Orthostatic response (what happens when I go from lying to standing)

If your system struggles with standing still, it won’t tolerate intervals.

One simple way to assess this is a lean test similar to what’s used by National Aeronautics and Space Administration when evaluating autonomic responses. You don’t need a lab. You just need awareness. I write more about checking your heart rate on this blog.

3. I would train my nervous system before I trained my muscles

This is the step most people skip. You want to feel the burn, like you used to. You’re told you need more muscle mass. Muscle mass is the key to longevity, right?! But you’re trying to build muscle [which requires some stress response] while your autonomic system is still unstable. Your body literally cannot handle it yet. Stop pushing. It won’t solve anything.

If I was starting over, I would:

Practice daily downregulation
Improve breath mechanics
Work on slow transitions (sit to stand, head movements, positional changes)
Add gentle vestibular and proprioceptive input
Build parasympathetic access deliberately

Regulation isn’t about “calming down.” It’s about increasing variability. Pushing the limits of your current capacity so you can start holding more stress, with ease.

It’s about allowing heart rate to rise and fall efficiently.

Concepts from researchers like Stephen Porges have helped people understand vagal tone - but practically speaking, this means:

If my heart rate cannot come down well, I am not ready to push it up. You build more autonomic control before you build intensity.

4. I would build an aerobic base — slowly

No HIIT. No circuits. No “sweat is success.” Don’t push until you have zero left in the tank. If you do this, you’re telling your body that you’re going to keep flogging it. You need to create the safety and listen to signals. Allow your nervous system to handle simple things like getting through the day without crashing, or going for a gentle walk.

I would build aerobic capacity first.

That means:

Mostly conversational pace
Nasal breathing as a ceiling
Stopping before fatigue
Leaving sessions feeling like I could have done more

Methods popularised by clinicians like Phil Maffetone emphasize aerobic development for a reason. Aerobic systems build resilience. Anaerobic systems expose fragility.

Most people with chronic illness are already living in sympathetic overdrive. You already don’t have enough aerobic capacity. Anaerobic exercise gives you a hit of adrenaline so you feel good temporarily then crash after.

Training more intensity doesn’t fix that. It amplifies it.

If your mitochondria are already struggling to produce energy efficiently, repeatedly pushing into high intensity just creates more metabolic stress. An aerobic base enables your cells to burn both glucose and fat for fuel, and gives you metabolic flexibility to produce energy.

Aerobic base first. Always.

5. I would plan for flares before they happened

This is the difference between progress and the boom-bust cycle.

Instead of asking: “How do I avoid crashes?”

I would ask: “What is my protocol when I flare?”

Now.. don’t get me wrong. We don’t want to be constantly anticipating a flare up. But if you’re noticing your data is trending towards a crash? You will already have a plan to boost recovery and reduce the size of the flare.

We are NOT waiting until you completely crash and burn. But of course.. sometimes that does happen and that’s ok too. We can’t control everything.

Flare protocols include:

Reducing volume, not stopping completely
Returning to regulation work
Monitoring HRV trends
Adjusting for illness, stress spikes, and menstrual shifts
Increasing recovery inputs

Regression is not failure. It’s physiology doing what it’s designed to do. Reflect on what might be causing the flare.. is it sleep? stress? sickness? pushing too hard? It’s a good time to notice things in your life, and compare to your data and your symptoms.

Your job isn’t to override it. Your job is to respond intelligently. When flares are planned for, they stop feeling catastrophic. They become part of the process.