Okay, went to the doctor today, and after blood tests, it was determined that I have mono. My doctor says I should stay away from contact sports for three weeks at least…so much for baseball practice. I asked him about weightlifting though, and he said I probably shouldn’t do that either, with the reason being that I could damage my spleen (by dropping a weight on it or something I guess) because it is slightly inflamed. Two questions for you guys: One, if I feel good enough in a week or so, is it really dangerous to be in the gym? I won’t be dropping weights on myself, but would the stress put on my trunk while doing squats etc. be enough to hurt my spleen? Two, any suggestions for what I can do to retain muscle mass and/or strength for these three weeks provided the gym is off limits? I am especially concerned about this because once I am better, baseball season will already be in progress and my time in the gym will be extremely limited. In other words, I probably won’t have time to significantly build strength back up once I return. I was thinking of a small dose of something like Mag-10 each day, but I don’t know if it will interfere with the medication for my illness. Any help anyone can give is really appreciated.
Did you just get mono or something? God, when I had it I didn’t have enough energy to move. I laid in bed for an entire week and lost 35 pounds, but the weight came crashing back on as soon as I was up and about again. As I understand it, the more rest you get the faster you recover from something like mono. I have learned this one the hard way from my years of training – you can take the time off when you initially get sick/hurt and fully recover before you go to the gym, or you can go when you’re still in bad shape and make yourself sick/hurt for that much longer. By the way, your doctor might know a thing or two about mono, especially considering how many people get it every year. You might listen to what he said.
Hope you feel better soon, and have fun sleeping!