Okay, I’ve been asked the question many times — “Should I work out when sick?”
And I KNOW the answer. I’ve given the answer time and time again. The answer simply is this: “No! Get your rest. Your body needs to recover. And when you get well, pick up where you left off and Bring It! But of course continue to eat right even while you are sick so that you don’t take a step backwards.”
That’s simple advice, right? And it was easy for me to give it because I hadn’t been sick in nearly a year! I credited my indestructable immune system to the perfect combination of Shakeology, exercise, and impeccable nutrition. But we all know that even the most fit people in the world get sick sometimes. And sure enough it finally caught up to me!
The week between Christmas and New Years Eve, the flu virus swept through our house. All 5 kids went down first (that was NOT fun!). Then a couple days later, I started to feel sick. But I was in full-fledged denial. I hadn’t been sick in a year. No way was I catching the flu!
For a split-second, I remembered my own advice, that I should probably rest and make sure I didn’t make things worse, but then I thought, “No! I’m right in the middle of a mass“>bulking round! I can’t skip a workout! I must lift!” So I did my workout, felt miserable, and crashed the rest of the day. Surely I learned my lesson though, right? Well, not exactly! I figured I could push through it, and I worked out again the next day. I felt like I was having an asthma attack the whole time, really felt horrible, and couldn’t eat the rest of the day! Finally I took a hint and decided to take the next day off. I didn’t get much better the next day — just spent most of it sleeping and going back and forth between chills and sweating. And all the while I was planning how I could make up the missed workout by doubling up the following day. The next day I went for it. I tried working out again. Another mistake! I continued to get worse, continued to drop precious weight that I had been gaining during the mass building round, and feeling just plain aweful!
I finally said that I would take my own advice and stop working out until I recovered, which turned out to be 2 more days. I finally woke up feeling good on Jan 1st, hit it hard on a great session of Chest/Shoulders/Tris, and was back to my usual self. I kicked myself for staying sick a whole week, when I probably could have cut it down to just 2-3 days if I had rested like I was supposed to. And I was also sad to see my weight at 208 (the same as when I started the mass“>bulking round). I had spent over a month gaining 5 lbs of muscle! Luckily most of that was dehydration, so I bounced back pretty fast. But I still learned a lesson. DON’T WORK OUT SICK!!!
Hopefully I won’t be sick for another year, but when it does catch up to me again, you better believe I’ll be resting and recovering, not trying to push through it and making myself worse! Lesson learned!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
