Strength Training While Sick

cpaisley88

In my desire to procrastinate on the homework assignment I have due at 11:59 tonight I decided I'd lift weights even though I'm slightly ill (sore throat, very very very little flemmy). After struggling slightly with my first exercise I found that I was able to handle significantly more weight/reps for every exercise (up 40lbs on bench press) and at the end of it I wasn't even close to as gassed as I normally am.

In the last 24 hours I've been eating regularly (okay confession: I had 2 slices of pizza last night) and haven't taken any medication.

I checked before hand and the majority of articles I found say its okay to exercise while ill; just don't over-do it. My question is whether anyone else is able to push themselves that much further while ill and if there is a scientific reason behind it. I'm also now wondering if the body rebuilds as quickly while the immune system is down or whether I'm going to have to wait a couple more days until I go at it again?

mrtentaclenun

I've heard that as long as the sickness is only in your neck and above it's better to work out, as it will help push it out of your system. But if it moves south such as lungs etc do not work out.