In Sickness and in Health

Email Question:

Hey Guys,

I've been under the weather the past week or so. Achey, congested, tired, sneezy. The normal cold/flu kind of thing. Anyway, it got me thinking, I'm wondering what your thoughts where about working out at the gym. First as a precaution to others, since we share equipment, space and the like. More of a logistics question with the gym. Second question is, what are your thoughts on working out while your sick in general? I know Alec and Steve, you both had the flu and took time off, do you think its wise to work out when your fighting something off? Or should you get over it and then come back to the gym? Just curious what thoughts you guys might have.

Answer:

It depends.

 

Working out does lots of great things for the body, strength, speed, power, flexibility, etc.  The type of workouts we do have a major impact on our neuro-endocrine systems.  When you do high intensity workouts like we do there is a flood of hormones the have a major impact on our body so the thought goes, working out is good for me, maybe I should workout while I'm sick to help me get over it.  Combine this with the myth that you can "sweat" out the virus or bacteria and you have yourself a pretty compelling reason to try and workout while sick.  

 

The catch here is two fold.  One we do share space and equipment so from a contamination stand point, help everyone else and go for some self-quarantine.  The second thing is this hormonal response to working out.  A workout will tax your immune system similar to being sick is causing your immune system to adapt to the virus so doubling up on the stress can prolong the sickness.  The hormone release from the workout is not a good trade off in this case.  

 

The counter argument is:

1) Some people say, it helps you get over a cold faster. Bill Starr (superstar coach) says that training while sick "…helps flush useful healing nutrients through the body and aids in expelling toxins." (the hormones we talked about above)

2) Some people report feeling stronger when training while sick. Starr told one of his athletes that "I explained that when he got sick, his immune system released antibodies in profusion to combat the invading toxins and microorganisms. Those antibodies are strength enhancers. This is especially true in the early stages of any illness."
3)The downward spiral.  Sitting around and being miserable can get you further into the role of a victim. You admit to yourself that you're powerless and act accordingly and it becomes a selffulfilling proficy
Even if you don't get a great workout, just doing something positive when you feel negative will give you a a sense of power. 

At the end of the day, if you are congested and sneezy I'd say give it a go (symptoms are above the neck), but back off the throttle a bit and go easy (not a simple task for some to do and takes more discipline than you'd think - if you can't come into the gym and go easy, don't come in).  If you find yourself with chest area symptoms or flu like symptoms forget it, no chance, stay home and rest.  The Flu has a tendency to compromise breathing and the type of stuff we do it would be a bad combo.  Heal up, get back to eating healthy (paleo diet will help reduce inflmation - which is the primary bodily reaction to any kind of stress so you want to be focused on reducing inflmation as much as possible), drink lots of water, take fish oil (shoot for 5-6g of Omega 3's) and rest.  Let your system adapt and heal, then you can ease back into the daily WOD again.