I am in the process of getting over the flu and havent been able to work out for the last 4 days. I am starting to get a bit antsy but can tell Im still not 100% recovered. I feel a lot better but am still congested and what not. So is it a good idea to hit the gym and workout in this condition or better to wait until your 100% healthy and recovered from a flu or cold?
Lifting while sick
- Thread starter jokerswild1130
- Start date
Your better off getting your rest. Once your healthy you should be 100% refreshed to hit the gym. A good rest once in a while won't do any harm but good.
I feel much better but I dont have any endurance...your probably right. Im just worried that I will lose some gains that have been made. I know...4-5 days isnt the end of the world.
Trust me; your not gonna lose any gains in 4-5 days even a week. Just keep your protein intake high to maintain what you have. Infact, if you have been strickly lifting for a while then your due for a break.
True but I am worried about hitting the gym tonight and then waking up tomorrow feeling 100 times worse then I did today. I dont want to prolong this illness anymore then needed or overtax my immune system.
Plain and simple answer is:
Don't train while ill, especially with something like the flu. I often hear the excuse "but professional athletes compete when they are sick." While sometimes (not always) true, they are also paid millions of dollars to play, and have every reason to suck it up. Everyone else on the other hand... can usually afford to take a few days off from lifting without seeing a hit on the paycheck, which is more than you can say for yourself if your lifting prolongs your sickness or makes it worse, or your sickness leads to injury during exercise, both of which can keep you out of work.
Also considering the impact to recovery from illness and the illness' impact on recovery from exercise, there simply aren't enough pro's to warrant exercise while sick. A week (or two) at most isn't going to seriously unravel all your gains from your previous exercise regiment. At most you may have to backtrack a week or two in your overall exercise schedule. The most important thing to remember is that, once recovered from your illness, you get right back into your regiment in order to preserve your exercise habit.
Don't train while ill, especially with something like the flu. I often hear the excuse "but professional athletes compete when they are sick." While sometimes (not always) true, they are also paid millions of dollars to play, and have every reason to suck it up. Everyone else on the other hand... can usually afford to take a few days off from lifting without seeing a hit on the paycheck, which is more than you can say for yourself if your lifting prolongs your sickness or makes it worse, or your sickness leads to injury during exercise, both of which can keep you out of work.
Also considering the impact to recovery from illness and the illness' impact on recovery from exercise, there simply aren't enough pro's to warrant exercise while sick. A week (or two) at most isn't going to seriously unravel all your gains from your previous exercise regiment. At most you may have to backtrack a week or two in your overall exercise schedule. The most important thing to remember is that, once recovered from your illness, you get right back into your regiment in order to preserve your exercise habit.
I train when sick, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing but it never seems to affect my lifts much and stops me from feeling sorry for myself
I doubt it much of a negative or positive effect on the cold/flu though and you could easily take 4 or 5 days off lifting without losing strength so long as you continue to eat well thoughout the illness
I doubt it much of a negative or positive effect on the cold/flu though and you could easily take 4 or 5 days off lifting without losing strength so long as you continue to eat well thoughout the illness
I think it depends on how you feel mentally/physically. I was pretty damn sick last December but I just started a new job and couldn't take off. I was really out of it and felt dizzy and felt the same way while lifting weights but I would have felt terrible mentally if I didn't lift. I thought for sure I was doing more harm than good but somehow my numbers continued to go up and I got better from the illness in the usual amount of time (about a week). So it didn't really have much of an impact except that I felt better cause I didn't have to take off from working out.
I also train when I'm sick. If anything, it gets my blood pumping and I can barely feel the symptoms, if at all. It never really affects my performance either, but I suppose I'm talking common cold. If I had an illness that had me bedridden for a day or two, I might be more leery about hitting the gym too soon.
I had the flu...body aches and pains, sweats, chills, high fever for 2 days. I think I am now finally recovered and plan on trying to get into the gym tonight to get some cardio in. Tommorow plan on hitting the weights again.
Well yeah, I wouldn't train with a fever
I had a fever in December, the hardest thing for me was maintaining calories but I managed it and when I got back to the gym my lifts hadn't been affected
Hi,
I was also with the flu, aftected my lungs quite bad. High fevers for 2 weeks and all. It took me 1 month to get back to work outs. It was very bad because I lost months on weight gains (5 kgs). Also my stamina went down the drain, felt like I was just starting to train. In my mind this was nothing that I could avoid. I know that it would have been a bad mistake to insist on training because I would have lost even more gains (I'm currently trying to bulk up). Now what is left to do is keep on training and getting what was lost and keep moving forward. I dont see training as a straight path, things like this will happen. Flu is one of them, injuries, a new job thats gets all your time, etc. My point is everyone of us should be aware and prepared for set backs like this because it's the reality of things. There are no magical solutions also, just hard work.
Hope u fell better and hit the weights! Look at it like you always do. Accept where you are and push on forward. Don't look back
I was also with the flu, aftected my lungs quite bad. High fevers for 2 weeks and all. It took me 1 month to get back to work outs. It was very bad because I lost months on weight gains (5 kgs). Also my stamina went down the drain, felt like I was just starting to train. In my mind this was nothing that I could avoid. I know that it would have been a bad mistake to insist on training because I would have lost even more gains (I'm currently trying to bulk up). Now what is left to do is keep on training and getting what was lost and keep moving forward. I dont see training as a straight path, things like this will happen. Flu is one of them, injuries, a new job thats gets all your time, etc. My point is everyone of us should be aware and prepared for set backs like this because it's the reality of things. There are no magical solutions also, just hard work.
Hope u fell better and hit the weights! Look at it like you always do. Accept where you are and push on forward. Don't look back
From what I have heard the best for training while ill is to listen to your body. If you feel you can get a bit of a workout then you probably can, just don't over do it and I probably wouldn't if I had a fever/chill thing going on. Drink lots of fluids though, don't want to dehydrate.
Exercising also will raise your core temperature for a while which can help kill anything in your bloodstream (which is why you get a fever while ill as your body raises its temperature to kill the virus/bacteria) so it can prevent you from getting sick and usually helps me kick that last bit of a cold.
Exercising also will raise your core temperature for a while which can help kill anything in your bloodstream (which is why you get a fever while ill as your body raises its temperature to kill the virus/bacteria) so it can prevent you from getting sick and usually helps me kick that last bit of a cold.