The community suggests that physical training during grief is a deeply personal experience with no one-size-fits-all approach: it is crucial to listen to your body, accept a potential decline in performance, and not force the issue if exercise becomes a source of stress or a counterproductive emotional escape.

noli's read

Scientific literature on the subject highlights that exercise can act as an emotional regulator, but intense grief induces a real physiological load. Studies in sports psychology (e.g., the work of Stroebe et al. on the dual process model of grief) confirm that alternating between loss-orientation and restoration-orientation (such as training) is healthy, but that physical overexertion can exacerbate mental fatigue. Research on chronic stress shows that the body perceives grief as a threat, increasing recovery needs, which validates the idea of modulating intensity rather than maintaining a rigid plan. The risk of injury through overtraining or a negative association with the activity (aversive conditioning) is well-documented in cases of trauma associated with exertion. The community here is very nuanced and cautious, rejecting a one-size-fits-all approach in favor of self-compassion, which indicates a strong consensus on flexibility.

the sources

1. 1Maslach C, Leiter MP. 2016
2. 2Salvagioni DAJ, Melanda FN, Mesas AE, et al. 2017
3. 3r/AdvancedRunning