Training when Sick. Good or bad?

It’s the time of year where we are dealing with one illness or another and it often hinders our training and eating regimen.  It can be very frustrating to those who are focused and working hard toward a specific goal in their training and nutrition.  I often get the question about training when sick whether it is a good idea or bad idea.  My response is often not what they are looking for but is the best route to getting better quickly.

In truth, if you are not feeling well, you should listen to your body and take some time off.  In regards to exercise, it puts a tremendous amount of stress upon your body.  With illness already stressing your body, adding exercise can potentially make your illness worse, or prolong the illness.  It can be frustrating because illness can stay with you for long periods of time.  You don’t have to refrain from training the entire time however.   Depending upon the illness, normally 1-3 days away from training is enough to let your body build up its immune system and fight off most of the illness.  Of course, your doctor would be the best person to determine this, what I’m referring to is your common cold that sweeps through our clientele every year.

In regards to your nutrition, often times when we feel not so well, we tend to lean on comfort food more than if we were not.  Fruits and fluids will most likely be the bulk of your caloric intake and most bets are off when you are not feeling well.  Now this is not a free ticket to eat anything in site.  Keep your portions reasonable and understand that you need to listen to your body first.  Also understand that this is temporary and you will rebound from illness quicker if you rest your body and consume fluids and foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals (mostly fruits, as they will soothe your body probably better than any other food).

When illness strikes, our focus and attention must make a shift from fat loss to a focus on recovery and healing.  Trying to continue a fat loss program when you are not feeling well may cause more harm than good and will most likely prolong the illness.  Listen to your body, lay low, and heal before getting back into the game.  When you are ready to return, start slow and build yourself back up to where you were before you were ill.