I think we can all agree, one of the main and biggest reasons we started in our health and fitness journeys is to become a healthier version of ourselves. While a big perk of that is actually decreasing the amount of times you get sick (huge perk IMO), it is still bound to happen. Hence me this past week dealing with the dreaded summer cold 🤧
I have been asked personally or seen on the fitness groups I am in about whether it’s a good idea to workout or sit it out til you feel better, which we all know can be tough when some colds take 2 weeks to recover from. So I’m here to explain my routine for working out while sick (disclaimer: I am not a doctor so therefore my plan might not work for everyone. I base my decision on this from basic research and overall how my body is feeling after trial and error).
As an obvious point, definitely make sure you are hydrated before working out, but especially while you are a little under the weather. It is super important! I know I can tend to slack off while sick because who wants to drink fluids constantly when you are all congested?
Next is my golden rule, if the symptoms are neck up then I am fine to workout lightly. If the symptoms are below the neck then I skip out until I feel better. I personally follow this rule because I do not want to lead to other worse symptoms such as a respiratory infection or bronchitis due to not breathing well already from a cold.
While following this rule, I still do not workout the first day or two of a cold because let’s be real, that’s when I feel the crappiest. Who wants to get all sweaty and out of breathe when you are feeling that awful. I save those as rest days to let my body heal and then go back to light weights. I do not go to full capable weights until the cold is gone.
I know many of you are afraid of losing your progress and get nervous about taking a week off, but trust me your body will thank you for it. Sometimes tour body needs a break in order to get healthy again and keep on going. If you have any additional questions feel free to send in a message!
-Kayla
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