Excercising When Ill

Nitefly · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:22

Hello all,

Just seeing what your thoughts were on exercising when ill. I'm not talking serious illness, just the days when you can still make it into work / cold etc.

I felt pretty grotty last night and have a very sore dry throat today, so I'm weighing up doing my usual cardio routine or not. Usually, I will continue to do weights if feeling a bit under the weather but that isn't justified by anything and I have no idea in relation to cardio.

What do you do and what should I do? Cheers!

Begbie · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:28

Depends how ill I am, if I have a cold I'll still work out and if I have a headache etc.

But totally ill, off work style then no. But I can't remember the last time I was off work ill, or even ill.

Robert1986 · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:29

My advice is not to train. I've trained when sick before and it isn't fun. Your body is telling you to rest.

You end up just making yourself worse. The most excercise I do when I have a cold is go out for a long walk.. I usually always go to work though, which is horrible.

Just take a bunch of vit c. They usually helps.

Steedie · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:30

Robert1986 said:
My advice is not to train. I've trained when sick before and it isn't fun. Your body is telling you to rest.

You end up just making yourself worse.

Just take a bunch of vit c. They usually helps.

Quite the opposite for me

Whenever I've felt ill, had a bad cold, random bug, I've trained and felt much better for it

Disco Boy · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:30

You'd be better off resting in my experience.

Freefaller · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:32

Your body needs the time to recover. However, there is some argument that exercise can stimulate the immune response too - it depends on the level of activity and intensity. You could potentially make yourself more ill, or injure yourself if you're not feeling 100%, but you could also help yourself power through the illness.

Robert1986 · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:33

Steedie said:
Quite the opposite for me

Whenever I've felt ill, had a bad cold, random bug, I've trained and felt much better for it

Thats great, you must be some sort of super freak but the rest of us mere mortals need rest when we have the flu/cold.

A few days off from training isn't going to ruin your program.

Then again, it all depends how crappy you feel.

Steedie · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:35

Robert1986 said:
Thats great, you must be some sort of super freak but the rest of us mere mortals need rest when we have the flu/cold.

A few days off from training isn't going to ruin your program.

Then again, it all depends how crappy you feel.

Sorry!?

I was giving my input based on my experience, you know.....like you do on a forum?! He asked for my thoughts, and I gave them. I wasn't stating them as if he must do as I do

Robert1986 · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:41

Steedie said:
Sorry!?

I was giving my input based on my experience, you know.....like you do on a forum?! He asked for my thoughts, and I gave them. I wasn't stating them as if he must do as I do

lol sorry, didn't mean anything by that. Its great that you can train when sick but its really depends how ill you feel.

I wouldn't want some sneezing, coughing, contagious guy sweating all over a bench at the gym. Gross. :eek:

When ever I've trained sick its like training with no sleep for 24 hours. Can be done but totally not worth it.

Nitefly · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:42

Seems to be a bit of a 50/50.

Maybe I'll lay off the cardio today and rest up for my weights session tomorrow... I feel this is just an excuse to get me out of it and I'm really not that ill

Disco Boy · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:43

If your body is putting energy in to recovering from illness, it isn't going to be putting much in to growing, so doing weights could just be a waste of time.

Robert1986 · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:44

Nitefly said:
Seems to be a bit of a 50/50.

Maybe I'll lay off the cardio today and rest up for my weights session tomorrow... I feel this is just an excuse to get me out of it and I'm really not that ill

If you feel you have energy and can max out on some push ups at home, you're probably just feeling alittle crud.

If all you want to do is sleep and block all possible light from your eyes, then you're pretty sick.

Only way to learn is to try a workout. I am sure everyone that is into fitness has powered through a workout when sick. Probably learned from it too.

TommyV · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:56

I never workout if I'm ill or hungover. don't wanna half ass a workout!

Freefaller · 3 Apr 2012 at 11:58

I've never been ill, though I have been tired and not in the mood - that's harder to deal with i reckon

smit101 · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:10

If you're ill then rest, your body needs all of its resources to heal/recover, intense exercise will slow your recovery down or even worsen your condition. Good proteins and fats will aid recovery, fire some scrambled eggs in butter down your neck and chill out with some games/films/books.

McBain · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:14

Personally if I feel well enough (although ill) to even consider training i'll do it, followed by a nice visit to the steam room, normally makes me feel better.

Participant · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:14

Steedie said:
Quite the opposite for me

Whenever I've felt ill, had a bad cold, random bug, I've trained and felt much better for it

Same here. I usually tone it down a bit but it seems to help me recover much more quickly than if I'm just lying around.

icecold · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:22

Freefaller said:
Your body needs the time to recover. However, there is some argument that exercise can stimulate the immune response too - it depends on the level of activity and intensity. You could potentially make yourself more ill, or injure yourself if you're not feeling 100%, but you could also help yourself power through the illness.

Exactly this in my experience, although I've been able to work out when it would have been a bad idea.

I'd be less inclined to do cardio than weights, too.

mrthingyx · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:37

On a trip to Asia (India, Taiwan, South Korea and China) I picked up a nasty case of gutrot and all the nausea and other stuff that went with it.

Painkillers might have done something, but the only thing that genuinely helped was a trip to the free weights at the respective hotels.

Getting through the "eurgh" feeling and working out made me feel awesome. Endorphins are absolutely awesome painkillers.

However, I had a chat with one of the local running team members who said that his general perspective is that - as long as there is no temperature/fever - then it's fair game!

semi-pro waster · 3 Apr 2012 at 12:41

It depends on just how unwell I'm feeling but I've had some great sessions (in terms of actual weights lifted) when I've not been feeling 100% - I don't know whether it's just the stubbornness to go in the first place providing extra impetus or something else but I almost always feel better after going.

I'd probably avoid cardio though as it's difficult to put a proper amount of effort into it if you're suffering from a cold or similar. Although again with that said the furthest I've ever run was done with a cold and sore throat.