Exercising while sick?

I tend to be gentle with myself when I'm not well.



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Don't overexert yourself.

Get some rest.

Drink plenty of fluids and start again when you feel better.

If you feel like crap you should probably rest for a couple of days.

“Mind if I smoke? No. Mind if I fart?”

- Steve Martin

When I get sick, it's usually because I caught something at the gym from someone else who decided to "tough it out" and exercise while they were sick. If you are sick and have a fever, go to bed. You'll recover quicker, and you won't make someone else sick.

http://www.teambeachbody.com/about/newsletters/-/nli/274

Ask the Expert: Can I Exercise with a Cold?
By Steve Edwards

Shut it down and get some rest, Amel. It will help you get well sooner and it might end up improving your results in the long term.

When you're sick, your body uses its recovery properties to fight the illness. When you exercise, you use these same properties to recover. To your body, trying to exercise when you're sick is effectively the same thing as overtraining. You won't be able to recover from exercise, rendering it useless, as well as increasing the risk of making your illness worse and lengthening your downtime.

Believe it or not, there are actually a couple of upsides to being sick. It both raises your metabolism and heightens your immune response, meaning that you can eat more than normal and not gain weight. Your immune system also releases performance-enhancing hormones that both fight the infection and help you heal microtrauma incurred during your training program. Because of these factors, when I'm sick during a training cycle I consider it my recovery week. Here is my protocol:

At the onset of symptoms I bump my vitamin C and zinc levels, drink a ton of water, and sleep as much as possible. If I catch it early enough, I'll miss the cold. However, your body plays an insidious trick on you at the onset of a cold. Before you feel symptoms, your adrenal system kick-starts the immune response, which often results in a great workout—too good. Prior to a competition, if an athlete sets a personal record or looks too strong, their coach will often shut them down in anticipation of potential pending illness. If a workout feels spectacular out of the blue, consider backing off and adding immune-boosting supplements to your regimen.
---Continued in article.

My heart beats much faster than normal when I'm sick (like right now) and exercising on top of that would be too much. I'd rather let my body's energy is going into fighting off the illness.

that our bodies make us feel like shit so we get the rest we need.

Personally, I wouldn't push it.

Force myself on the step-mill for 45 minutes. It seemed to help.

Same thing for a hangover. If I could just get myself on the machine it would clear me up. I know it's two different concepts.

It clears me up actually.
So it is low impact but does work me.

Sometimes sweating it out works for me, but once, I went to CrossFit feeling under the weather, really exerted myself, and had a full-blown fever by the time I got home.

When I ran and swam in HS and college, a trip to the sauna and steam room always helped if I felt sick.

If it's the flu, don't put any added stress on your body; listen to what it tells you. Rest and drink fluids.

then you may be addicted to exercise or you think there's some sort of virtue in torturing yourself.

You need to rest. Sleep and good nutrition are the best cures for most everyday illnesses.

Personally, when I feel like I'm coming down with something, I take zinc and elderberry lozenges from the food co-op, go out for a spicy meal at one of the local Asian restaurants, drink plenty of herbal teas, and sleep whenever I feel like it.

It prolongs the cold. Maybe go for a walk instead of working out, then go to bed.