Cold/flu: exercise or not?

I wouldn't over do it if your sick. Your body needs to keep what energy it has to get over being sick. If your feeling a bit energetic, then sure, do lighter exercise. Usually though, when you are really sick, you don't feel like doing much of anything, but lay in bed and take little naps between watching TV.

I find this often happens to me. I tend to go to the gym on a daily basis and when I've got a great routine on the go I seem to get a cold (although less now that I eat better) and it seems to bring my exercise to a standstill.
At first it made me mad but then I thought, wait a minute I enjoy giving my body what it needs and right now it needs rest to get better, and so that's what I did. If I could I would go for a gentle swim or a walk (mainly for fresh air) but that all depends how severe it is. It can be frustrating but I do think if you did get one, rest would be best as it would likely get rid of the illness faster meaning getting back on to exercise quicker!

The general advice for runners is to skip the training if you have a fever, and take a break after for as many days as you had that fever. So 3 days with fever is 6 days no running. With a cold or other general not feeling well thing you can exercise but listen to your body in how far you can go.

If its a cold, I just keep going. Actually find a bit of cardio helps sweat it out a bit and makes me feel better.

I've never had the flu (neither has anyone I've ever met) but if I did, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed with exhaustion and just feeling so bad, so I wouldn't workout then.

Exercise strengthens the immune system, so I'd say definitely keep exercising at the onset of something mild, and exercise through your cold even if you take it down a notch in difficulty. The flu is a different story. It would be really hard to exercise if you have the flu.

I don't do jack when I'm sick. That's just how I roll. :sick:

I've never had the flu (neither has anyone I've ever met)

Who are you strange people?

I don't know but I'd love to find them and join? I work in a school that's a seething mass of germs all winter!

I had a really BAD cold just over a month ago, and tried to work out. I was too weak and achy to complete more than 3 minutes. Please don't push yourself, and get as much rest as possible, in order to heal quicker

as with many things it depends... My advise would be to listen to you body, get plenty of rest and sleep so you can recover quickly, and of course stay out of the gym so you don't spread your illness to others.

Again, I think the advice posted above about resting is the best. But given that for more mild illnesses i have found the following...

For head colds, and even fevers (as long as the illness has not gone into my chest), I found i actually feel a little better if i continue with some cardio.

For anything with chest cold, cardio only makes things worse for me (except when i am on path to recovery and the cold/flue is mostly gone). Depending on how i feel, i will take some short walks when i can. It gets me up and moving and at the very least helps me mentally. And with a few short walks (1/2 mile to 1 mile) throughout the day i am always surprised how fast the calorie burns add up.

I'm currently go through a cold and bladder infection and really wanted to exercise today but had to put it off because my abdomen is a little sore. I'll try to get back to it by Wednesday hopefully. Good thing I had a 40 minute walk yesterday so not complete inactivity

Cold, yes, if your exercise doesn't require close contact with others.

Flu, no, and you won't really have a choice about it.

If you have energy then I say go for it. If your body feels like shutting down then obviously you need rest. I was literally sick ALL winter and had trouble breathing but once it settled down enough to breathe okay I joined the gym, MFP and havn't looked back. I suppose next time sickness hits me I will have to stay home. No one wants to catch something from a sick person snotty and coughing at the gym :-/

I've never had the flu (neither has anyone I've ever met)

Who are you strange people?

People who know the difference between the flu and a cold?
I used to say I had the flu when I got sick in the winter, then I finally got the flu, and knew that all those previous illnesses were nothing in comparison. They were just bad colds. And I've finally realized that those "spring colds" I get pretty much every year are probably mild seasonal allergies.

If you have a fever, are vomiting, have diarrhea, have a chest cold, or feel weak, just rest.
If you just a head cold, and have the energy to exercise, go ahead. If you go to the gym to exercise, please wash your hands before you start and use antibacterial wipes on equipment after you're done.

I think it depends on how sick you are... flu, I wouldn't do it because typically with the flu your body is already depleted of electrolytes and calories so it'd be more taxing to your body than anything which isn't going to help but when I have a cold I always feel better when I sweat it out but that's just me.. and some may say I'm slightly imbalanced but I do have a medical background so you can take my advice for what it is..lol.