Do you work out when you are not feeling well? I have asked this question to myself and others on multiple occasions. Do I bust out a quick workout while trying to get over a < insert current ailment > or do I rest and heal?
As we hit the cold and flu season, many of us will be faced with this same question: Should I make my scheduled workout or do I miss it and rest? We know that working out and living a healthy lifestyle does wonders for our body. However, there are times when what our body really needs is rest.
As always, you should always listen to your body. Across the web and from the advice from my fitness friend’s the advice seems to be unanimous. If it is a head cold, you can continue working out. If it the infection is in your chest, you should rest.
Sometimes we get sick from pushing ourselves to hard in our workouts. Or we are too busy taking care of others that we fail to take care of ourselves (<—guilty of this last one). The important thing is is that we take time for rest to heal. Both physically for healing as well as for muscle repair. Rest is a good thing.
I have been down and out with a pretty wicked head/chest cold this past week. I will admit, I did not do may intense workouts. My fitness involved walking to my son’s school to pick him up, walking up and down the stairs as I did laundry, or playing the occasional round of chase the littles in my back yard. There was no intentional, sweaty, workout clothes needed activity.
Until Saturday. I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and decided to bite the bullet and attempt a quick and dirty little crossfit WOD. Karen. I got the inspiration from Bob Harper’s video segment on Bob Harper Live. I figured the workout would be simple and relatively short. If I became winded or completely gassed, I could rest.
Who. Was. I. Kidding. !? CrossFit workouts are no joke. Even the somewhat simple WOD are still killer. Who knew that Karen: 150 squats & wall ball throws (10 lb weighted ball) would be so difficult!? I had to pause many times because my heart rate was sky rocketing. I was winded and out of air (of course, the wicked head/chest cold didn’t help).
And today, 12 hours later, my quads, buns and traps are super sore (in a good way).
I loved that I was able to relatively hide in a corner of my gym, turn up my Pandora radio station… plug in my yurbuds and bust out this quick but effective WOD.
I am still battling this wicked head/chest cold. Feeling better with each passing hour. But learning the value of rest and healing.
Yes, listen to your own body! It takes energy to heal and you just prolong the getting better by working out.
I don’t agree with the general industry standard ‘above the chest, work out, in the chest, don’t’ for a couple of reasons. (1) your immune system has to work hard regardless of where the symptoms are and (2) just because it’s only a little cold for you, doesn’t mean it won’t turn into a more serious illness in the person on the treadmill beside you!
Gyms are close spaces and it’s important to think about our fellow patrons (and group fitness participants) too!
Thanks for the great and timely reminder!
Working out when I am not feeling well? Depends on WHERE in my body I am not feeling well… and if I think I might be in for worse if I work out.
I always rest.
that said—I rarely get sick 🙂 so rest is AWESOME.
I really listen to my body when it comes to working out while sick. If it’s just a stuffy nose, I actually will feel better when I move. I think it opens the nasal passages more. Headache, aches, fever – I’m resting!
I’ve been struggling with this a lot lately too. I haven’t been feeling great but really want to move and do something. I’ve been trying to rest but I know that I don’t rest enough. Mine is a weird sore throat/kind of swollen tonsils (which I’m on meds for and has gotten better) but the rest of me feels fine. So I’ve probably been pushing it by working out a bit versus resting.
Sometimes a good workout can help me sweat out the germs. I rarely get sick since moving to the northeast (hmmm), but when I feel a little something coming on, I take Emergen-C. Works like a charm!
I don’t workout when I’m sick. I know that if I overdo it, I just make it worse and I’ll take much longer to get better.
Hi Rachel, I’m with most others on this one, as I believe listening to your body is key. There was a time when I felt I couldn’t miss a workout, so I’d workout when not 100% which made me feel worst! Luckily I’m not ill very often and I now know better. These days if I’m not up to it I rest, get better and then resume my workouts. I hope you feel better soon.
If i’m really sick I don’t workout but if its just a little cold i’ll work out a little bit just not hardcore like I usually would!
Honey, Karen is never easy. I remember the first time I walked into the box and saw Karen on the board and thought, no problem. I couldn’t walk for the next two days! Awesome job on kicking her butt! 🙂
Glad I saw this post today. I’ve had a cold and coughing for a couple days, I don’t want to miss CrossFit but I just don’t have the energy and have been debating of it would make it worse if I went. I’m thinking I might just make my own WOD at home that is relatively easy so at least I’m doing something.
I sometimes work out while I’m sick. I like to think that I can sweat out an ailment. I felt like I had a cold starting this morning, so I went ahead to the gym as planned, got in a good workout, and took a hot shower. That plus several bottles of water already today has me feeling much better.
I have a hard time with rest. Even when I feel great, I know it’s important to take some days off here and there, but I still feel guilty. I’m working on this.
I’m struggling with this question right now. I feel like I’m getting a cold, and don’t want to make it worse by working out. I went for an hour long walk last night, but I think I’m just going to rest and get a lot of sleep tonight. Working out when I’m sick never goes well for me!
I take oil of oregano at the onset of a cold, then swaet it out running. hubby thinks i’m crazy, but i think it works
I prefer to rest because getting sick is often one of my over-training signs. I hope you feel better soon!
Thank you! I decided to er on the side of caution and rest-ish. I still did life (as resting as a mom is a joke) but I am feeling much better now. (almost 2 weeks later). I know that if I had the (pre-kid) luxury to truly rest… I could have kicked it super quick.
If it is just the sniffles, I tend to workout. If I am feeling super sick I try to take some time off. Rest days kill me though! It makes me miss working out that much more!
Awesome! Thanks for the tip. I find that when I do NOT work out I am UBER cranky… and NEED to work out otherwise those around me suffer from my cranks. 😉