Training while sick?

[Dave Van Skike]

What is the current thinking on training while mildly sick? I typically take a total berak but occasionally have found value in working right through at whatever intensity is possible and then catching up with more sleep, food etc.

Seems like with young kids, I I break for every headcold, I'm down to about 3/4 time.

[Mike ODonnell]

Sweating is a great body detox and can aid in the removal of wastes and bacteria....therefore I would focus on full body movements to increase blood and lymph flow while add in a sauna to aid in body detoxification. That and drink lots of water (I like to fast on water and ACV)...other than that I don't think you want to push yourself as your body has enough to take care of....either you can get rid of it in a day...or have it hang around for a week or two...minimal digestion and maximum rest/detoxification will be tough but will also speed up the whole healing process....just what I find.If you find yourself getting sick often then you might want to treat the source of the problem which may be a gut bacteria imbalance or overtraining/underrecovery.

[Elliot Royce]

My quick rule of thumb is to get in the gym and start light. If within 5-10 minutes you aren't feeling more energized then you really should stop. The exertion can drain your immune system.

[Elliot Royce]

If you find yourself getting sick often

why do I suspect that Mike doesn't have 3 munchkins running around his house sneezing on him? It's biological warfare conducted by our children against us!

[Steve Liberati]

Rest, rest, and more rest. A lump on the log is more like it.

[Robb Wolf]

Originally Posted by Elliot Royce

why do I suspect that Mike doesn't have 3 munchkins running around his house sneezing on him? It's biological warfare conducted by our children against us!

I have a group from a publishing company I train and I had to drop the hammer on these folks regarding training sick. A couple of them have 2 years old kids and immediately after the kids hit day care the parents became plague vectors...that and they whoop it up on the weekends. So...I finally grew tired of people coughing up lung oysters during WO's and generally scaring our other clients with what appeared to be Dengue Fever so i threatened to kick people out for a month if the acted, sounded, appeared or otherwise insinuated they were sick. Now I have rotating members of that group sitting int he parking lot on any given day, drinking coffee and cheering on their compadres...


Not sure what my point is other than kids are germy lil'buggars! Regarding training while sick, good advice thus far. Take it easy...if you start feeling better trooper on, if not bag it for another day.

[Dave Van Skike]

Thanks.

The first three years of parenthood was brutal . Now that I am a sleep fascist and have been taking my fish oil, I have gotten down to about 1 or 2 colds a per flu season, which is a huge improvement. I still have a tough time gauging when it's a bad idea to train. This week I was feelign beat but had an easy session on monday, did some low intensity cycling outside in teh colds weather and feel pretty snappy now.

I know some folks say no training if sysmptoms are below the neck.

[Rick Deckart]

As I train alone I usually train regardless if I am ill or not. This usually works excellent for me. The only exception of this rule is FEVER, then I will rest.