McCall McPherson explains why people with thyroid conditions should avoid HIIT and CrossFit. High-intensity exercise taxes already-stressed adrenal glands. Instead, try walking, light weight training with rest days, and yoga. If a workout leaves you exhausted later, you did too much.
Chapters
Exercise when you have a thyroid problem. Let's get into the do's and don'ts the do's. My favorite ways for my patients to exercise that see me at modern thyroid clinic that obviously have a thyroid condition, most of them also have an adrenal issue. So we want to protect their adrenal function. Some of the most severe and honestly some of the only people I cannot fix are people that completely ruin their adrenal function, often via over exercise. So obviously we want to stay away from that. Top two favorite ways are. Number one, walking. Bonus points if you're fasted, if you want to lose weight. When you have a thyroid condition, walking fasted not only doesn't tire out your adrenals, doesn't stress them, but it makes your body tap into your fat stores to produce the energy you need to continue your walk. So first thing in the morning, waking up, sunshine in your eyes, walking outside or even on a treadmill after or before you've eaten, and when you are fasted, very, very powerful. Number two, weight training, slow weight training, not cardiovascular, circuit training where your heart rate stays up the whole time. A lot of rest between sets, between circuits to allow your heart rate to come back down. And again, not stress your adrenals. Okay. I also love yoga, those sorts of things, again, those are not stressing your adrenals. Things that I tell my patients to stay away from. And this can be controversial, but I feel strongly about it. Number one is hiit. HIIT workouts when you have thyroid and adrenal issues are a surefire way to tax the ever living daylights out of your adrenals. Number two, CrossFit. CrossFit has a very similar impact. In fact, some of the sickest people I see are people who did a lot of CrossFit and they ruined their adrenal glands. So those things I actually tell my patients, please do not do. Biggest rule of thumb, if I had to sum it up. When you exercise, you should not feel more tired later that day. Need a nap? Feel sick? Need to rest? No. If you do, you need to pull back the significance, the severity of your exercise. You should feel as energetic or more energetic later in the day after you work out. I hope that offers a lot of clarity. Save this comment. Engage, share it with a friend.
