How soon to resume workouts after an illness

rosebette

So, I've had some kind of sinus infection/flu for the past 4 days. Symptoms began Wednesday, but I took lots of meds and pushed through my 2 1/2 mile walk. Thursday I had a brutal headache and fatigue, did a hour of physical therapy for a shoulder injury, did my work stuff,barely made it through the day, had soup and went to bed. Friday, I felt better, did kickboxing and my 2 mile walk. Saturday OK, did 2-3 mile walk. Yesterday started with mild headache, made it through church, but became progressively more fatigue and nauseated. Ended up vomiting late afternoon (even though lunch was soup), and dinner was a small coke and saltines to settle my stomach. I also had a low-grade fever. Today I'm a bit better, ate breakfast, but still a bit weak, I'm going to tough it out through my morning class (I teach), but am wondering when I should resume my walking program and other workouts. I don't want to overdo too early, but I also don't want to wimp out and lose muscle and strength. I'm already losing muscle and strength due to backing off on upper body due to the shoulder injury.

4legsRbetterthan2

I would re-evaluate when its workout time. See how you feel after class, if you feel like your about to keel over, then its time to sleep. If you are feeling good, give it a shot and start out slow.

yesimpson

If you have a fever or have been sick, I would wait until I was symptom-free, felt reasonably energetic, and had eaten properly for the 2 days before. I would go easy at first, probably just walking the first day to see how I felt, then take it from there. In your example, I'd probably restart your walking program the day after tomorrow - assuming I resumed my usual daily activities without feeling dreadful. You won't lose much in the way of strength/muscle by taking a week off. See it as a chance for your body to rest and recover.