It depends, I trained through my last throat infection with PRs across the board, and ended up feeling better, or at least less shitty than before the training sessions.
The way I gauge it is if it feels worse than being hungover I don’t bother.
Training when you are sick might make you an asshole… but using every little cough as an excuse to keep watching tv is downright homo.
a little cough and a cold are different. it just doesnt seem to make sense why you would want to go and trade out a day you could use recovering for a day of shitty training. if you beat your log book from 2 days ago with a cold then either you half-assed it the last time, or youre not really sick.
theres also the possibility of you infecting other gym goers and also the potential of pickin up something else at the gym due to your weakened immune system. i put working out with a cold/flu in the same catergory as the guy who broke his nose and kept lifting. do people really think a couple days not training is going to ruin everything?
I switched my lifting program from sports oriented to getting big about two months ago. Three weeks ago I ended up with a cold that turned into congestion and mild fever. I took the first week off to recover, but maintained my 6 meals a day and protein uptake. The second week, when the congestion wore off, it turned into a cough. I hit the gym with the intention of just cutting my volume down in half while I recovered. I tried working out with a cough drop and only got through 4 sets before I was hacking bad enough I felt a painful pressure in my head when I would cough. So I took the rest of that week off. In week three, I was feeling better but still had a little cough. Again, 4 sets and I was coughing still a little too hard and too much to breathe properly so I stopped and took the week off. This is week 4, and my cough is clearing up, so I am going to try again.
This whole time I maintained my nutrition. With the down time and the holidays, I also got more sleep. What amazed me, and my wife, was that I had some visible muscle growth. My weight went up 6 lbs the first week, and so far I have kept about 5 of it up to now. I figure that I just was not getting enough sleep, so I have been making some changes to my life to work in more sleep and less unnecessary stress.
cold: Yes
Sore throat: Mabe something light.
Virus:no
Step throat: HELL NO.
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
a little cough and a cold are different.[/quote]
Pretty much what I was trying to say
For sure
I beat PR’s from the end of my last training cycle not from 2 days ago. I try and give it all I have when I lift weights, but hey nobody ever trains hard enough.
And I was sick, but that’s my point: I was not THAT sick. If you feel sick but not sick enough that you consider lifting through, go and try training at least once in your life to see how it goes for you. It’s like when you lift: you don’t know you can make it unless you try it.
The experience definitely has and will save me from some pussying out.
Just for the record I lift alone at home, but I understand your point.
But why do you put people in categories? You think someone who’s more stubborn is a lesser person than you?
Stumbling upon the thread was good timing for me. I was debating about working out yesterday morning even though I had a sore throat and felt like moving was an effort. I’m glad I didn’t because by the time I got home from work I felt even worse. I could barely stay awake past 7. This morning it’s even worse than last night.
Awesome.
I don’t get sick often but when I do…ugh.
[quote]SBunny wrote:
Nevr2Big wrote:
My rule of thumb is if it is throat or above, then go ahead and lift. If it is down in the chest, I take the day off. I have no scientific justification for this (I am neither a MD or biologist) - I guess the most I can say is that if it is counterproductive, its less counterproductive than the psychological consequences of missing a workout (for me, at least).
i would agree with this one. if your just headachy or stuffed up i would fight through it. if its more than that then your likely to get injured… and thats not gonna help in the long run.
[/quote]
I’ve heard that before too. Above the neck, train however you can. Below the neck, rest as much as you can.
When I get sick, Nyquil before bed and Dayquil first thing in the morning usual get me functional. I’d train close to normal, but not totally balls out.
I never lift when I’m sick, or even feeling it coming on. If I do work out when I’m sick, it generally makes me worse.
I think that below the neck sickness implies respiratory challenges like coughing. Unfortunately, coughing usually follows recovery from a head cold for 2-3 weeks.
I tried cough medicine and cough drops to get around that, but it was not that effective. For the two weeks of coughing, my workout attempts at the gym halted after only 4 sets.
I was able to make it through a whole workout at half the volume last night. Pacing myself and focusing on relaxed controlled breathing between sets also helped. I had a little coughing half way through, but not as intense or uncomfortable as the past couple of weeks.
Lasy year I had a horrible cycle that I hope never happens again.
I would start training, and on the third week I’d get sick (I work at Subway, so the place is pretty much caked in germs.). After that I would take it easy until I got better.
But the thing was, I couldn’t get back in the gym after that for like 2 months. For some reason I had a terrible lack of motivation after the illness and completely fell off when it came to diet and exercise.
Eventually I’d catch Conan the Barbarian or Fight Club on tv and be motivated for one workout, and then I’d start back up.
And of course a few weeks later I’d get sick again and the cycle continued.
I also had stress and anxiety issues back then, so that probably caused a big chunk of my immunity and motivation problems.
I definitely have a different mindset now, and have no problem with motivation most of the time. I don’t even get sick that often anymore.
So I guess my point is that if you’re going to take time off and let the virus run its course, make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did and get your ass back in that gym as soon as possible.
If I have a sore throat, I kill it with mouth wash right away. Then I train.
Two days ago I woke up with a sore throat, I figured it was from post nasal drip and thought nothing of it as that usually happens to me this time of the year. Later in the day I went to train with no problem but, yesterday I started to feel congested and cold, then i woke up at 2am this morning with really bad chest congestion, although it is starting to clear up a little. I really want to go train today and I’m hoping that it completely clears up later .