Every year when cold and flu season rolls around, the paranoia level in my house goes up. Every cough and sneeze usually results in some long looks to see if it was a one-off or if it was indicative of an illness coming on. I have kids in public school, and those things are basically petri dishes in school building form.
Illnesses obviously come in different forms than just colds and the flu. If you have been actively working out consistently, getting an illnesses sucks because it has the potential to derail your fitness pursuits. A question that I see pop up often on social media is if people should exercise if they are sick?
First and foremost, if you do not feel well, then you should not go to a gym. It is really uncool for people to go to a gym where there are other people and possibly get others sick. Please, please do not do that.
Secondly, you need to really evaluate how sick you are as part of your decision-making process. There is a difference between having a slight cough or sniffles compared to having a full-blown illness. Not to be judge-y, but I have witnessed many people over the years use not feeling 100% as an excuse to not workout at all. If you are truly sick, and need to rest, by all means do so.
With all of that being said, I have worked out consistently without missing a single week in over two years despite being sick here and there during that timeframe. I have been able to stay the course for a couple of reasons. For starters, I don’t use being slightly less than 100% as an excuse to not exercise. I have to be pretty sick to not exercise and to not stick to pursuing my fitness goals.
But, there have been times when I was really sick, and it was better to rest than to try to force myself to exercise that day. When those times happened, I took a day or two of rest, and then made up for the lost time in the coming days by shifting my weekly lifting schedule around. For example, if I missed ‘back day’ because I didn’t feel well, I added it on to the next workout session or did a ‘split’ lifting session the next lifting day.
Another strategy that I have incorporated, and this is usually what I do when I don’t feel well, is to still do some exercising on that day. Using lower body day as an example, instead of going to the gym and cranking out barbell squats and leg presses, I do lower body exercises using only my bodyweight at home on that day. If it is an upper body day, I do pushups and other stuff at home.
I do this for two reasons. The first is that I still get a workout in, even if it isn’t the full lifting session that I usually do for that designated day of the week. Some exercising is better than none from a physical standpoint. The second reason is mental. If I do not miss that workout day, my streak continues, and my mindset stays on track. I don’t want to miss a session because one day can lead to two days, and two days can turn into a week, and then a month, and then eventually I am all the way off the path.
‘Winning the mental game’ is vital to fitness journey success. Staying on track keeps the momentum and motivation going. If you are truly sick, then rest, but make up for the lost time as soon as you can. If you are sick, but have enough gas in the tank to do some basic stuff at home, then my advice is to do it for the reasons that I previously mentioned. And always be honest with yourself about being sick versus being unmotivated and looking for an excuse to not workout. Your future health is counting on you being honest with yourself!
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