Exercising When Sick?

You’ve been so good, regularly getting to the gym for your various cross training classes and exercise routines. Now, as luck would have it, you’re feeling under the weather – do you continue to push on or sit it out for a bit? Will taking a few days off hurt more than it will help?

Exercise and Sickness

The first thing to note here is that exercise, along with eating well and taking core nutritional supplements can boost your immune system to the point where you shouldn’t get sick very often. But nothing makes us completely impervious to the world of floating virus/germ galaxies out there waiting to inhabit our world.

If illness strikes, there are a couple of questions to ask before deciding to venture out to the fitness club or Crossfit gym, or even to go for a jog. Are your symptoms above the neck in the head area? If so, that usually signals a green light assuming you feel like it, for doing what you can in your exercise routine.

If you are experiencing stomach or muscle aches, bronchial tightness and/or a high fever the answer should be pretty obvious - stay home and rest. Medically speaking, exercise can raise your internal temperature, and logic would dictate that with a high fever already, this is not advisable. Plus, you’re intuition will most likely kick in and keep you on the couch as long as necessary.

If you decide to give it a go, keeping solo (jogging/walking or working out at home) and out of the masses is wise so as not to spread what you have. Also if you are working out by yourself and/or at home, you can dial it down in your compromised state. In addition, you can rest if and when you need without the pressure and competition of a class dynamic.

Will it be Hard to Resume Where I Left Off?

Whether ill or not, resting the body for a couple of days in a row can be good for you, especially if you regularly push hard for several days in a row. Fitness experts agree that taking time off for sickness should not greatly hamper your overall fitness level.

Just as you need to adjust your exertion levels when exercising while less than 100%, so do we need to gently ease back into our previous routine. The number of days we actually are down and out (based sickness severity) will correlate directly to how fast we get back to “normal”, both at work and in the gym. Common sense needs to be your guide here.

Look Better, Feel Better, Live Better

When it comes to exercising while under the weather, only you and your intuition know for sure if it’s appropriate or not. Trust your gut, but with using our simple guidelines as a road map. As noted above, resting can be good for you as long as you don’t milk your couch time unnecessarily. As with everything in life, balance is your friend.

           “If we could give every individual the right amount of nutrition and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”

                                                                      Hippocrates

 

PS: Have you ever judged or gossiped about someone at the gym who was obviously sick, but was working out anyway? Did they give it to you? Have you ever been the ill workout addict who should have stayed home? Give it to us... (no, not your germs, silly)