Working out If You’re Sick

Working out if you’re sick is one of those topics that tends to get a lot of search results on Google. In my opinion, working out if you’re sick is an essential part of getting healthy again, but like anything else, it depends on the specifics of your situation. Obviously, you want to be careful about passing on illnesses to others, but home gym training typically doesn’t have that problem. Here’s how I handle exercising and illness.

Reduce Exercise Intensity and Duration

When you’re fighting even something as simple as a head cold, this isn’t the time to push for a new personal best in the gym. Yes, I realize that on Instagram, everybody wants to push through and show how tough they are, but likes and follows aren’t worth risking injuring yourself. Unless you were in a situation like Michael Jordan when he played his famous “Flu Game,” you need to dial back the intensity and duration of your training sessions.

For cardio sessions, that means:

Working out while sick is about moving at a moderate paceWalking at a slow to moderate pace instead of runningWalking for a shorter period or distance than normalFor weight training, if I’m working out while sick, I make sure toStick to fundamental movements that work as many body parts as possible and are relatively simple to perform – barbell squats or goblet squats with a kettle bell or dumbbell, not one-legged Bulgarian overhead stationary lunges with band resistance.Keep the weights light – you’re just trying to move your body and get blood flow to your joints. If I’m fighting the flu, I sometimes have a little joint pain, and I find that doing some lightweight training  to get blood flowing to those joints helps me feel better.NEVER train to fail! – Again, this isn’t the time to set personal bests in the gym. You want to train just enough to release the exercise-induced endorphins and stop while you’re feeling good.

Stay Hydrated

In addition to doing some simple movements in a short exercise session, I try to stay hydrated because, in the case of a cold, you’re losing a lot more body moisture through sneezing and coughing, and medications to help relieve your symptoms can sometimes dehydrate you further. A lot of the misery associated with the cold season is because you’re dehydrated and sluggish as a result. Fight back with extra water and or juices, but try to stay away from coffee and anything that will dehydrate you further.

Rest

I really shouldn’t have to tell you this because you’re adults, but I know that I do because we all think we’re a little trickier than we are, and we dread the mountain of things that will be lurking in our To Do lists if we take time off to rest. If we’re trying to lose or gain weight, we also worry about losing momentum and having to start from scratch. I won’t tell you that you won’t lose any ground if you take time off because you’re sick, but i will ask you to imagine how much MORE time you’ll lose if you don’t rest and you end up prolonging the sickness until you’re forced into bed rest or God forbid a hospital stay.

Be Smart

Use some common sense, keep taking your vitamins, eat healthy, and don’t hesitate to see a doctor BEFORE a minor cold becomes something worse, especially if it lasts longer than three to four days.Additionally, going to the gym isn't necessary to maintain your health—in fact, it's not the objective. Instead, we can use our space as weight training home gym that is built for efficient weight training to turn your area into a haven for personal fitness.