Working out while recovering from a cold

mhwitt74 · March 2017

So for about the past week I have been dealing with a cold but the past couple days have been feeling better. Yesterday I decided that I had to workout. I went to the gym and did my normal 2 hours and actually felt good while I was doing it and for some time after. About 3-4 hours later it hit me like a brick and I ended up in bed feeling pretty lousy again. By the end of the evening and this morning I feel better again. Any advice or reasons you guys can think of for this? I want to go back to the gym today but do not want a repeat of yesterday.

Chef_Barbell · March 2017

Stay home until you are better. No one wants your germs at the gym.

mhwitt74 · March 2017

Thanks but I'm not contagious. I said I am recovering and looking for advice on why I may have crashed after the workout.

mhwitt74 · March 2017

I do agree with you though about the germs

AmyOutOfControl · March 2017

I am getting over a stupid cold - two weeks of gross congestion. I skipped four days of workouts and then dialed back my workouts this week. Take it easy. You don't want to end up with something worse (ex. Bronchitis, sinus infection, etc).

lorrpb · March 2017

You crashed after the workout because you are recovering from a cold, so your body is not 100% yet. Even when you "think" you're completely over it, your body may not be. It can take my body 3-4 weeks to fully recover even after a "short" cold that gets me down for just a few days. You may need to adjust the length and intensity for sale but longer.

ronocnikral · March 2017

Total stress on your body is what you need to think about. If your spouse stresses you out, you can't workout as much. If work stresses you out, you can't workout as much. If you're sick, you can't workout as much. If you go down too far down the overstressing road, the penalty gets exponentially higher.

spiriteagle99 · March 2017

There may have also been some dehydration involved. Do less for a few days, and drink more.

I'm also getting over a bad cold, while preparing for a race next weekend. I'm still drinking a lot of chicken soup, tea, orange juice and eating fresh oranges. They help. The first couple of days that I was running again, I found I could run just fine, but would cough a lot afterwards. It is less now, and I was able to stop all cold medicines, but I'm glad that at this point in my training, the runs are short and easy and I'm not doing any cross training but walking.

Spliner1969 · March 2017

I'm probably one of the first people to work out harder when I feel a cold/flu coming on. Sometimes it backfires on me and kicks me down but sometimes I manage to burn it off and keep right on going. The family will wonder why I didn't get sick lol. It just depends on the person, but when recovering from a serious cold/flu that actually kept me from working out, I'll start back slowly at first. I take a lot of Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, etc. daily anyway, and I believe that helps (both with building muscle, and immune health), but it's not required.

mhwitt74 · March 2017

Spliner1969 wrote: »

I'm probably one of the first people to work out harder when I feel a cold/flu coming on. Sometimes it backfires on me and kicks me down but sometimes I manage to burn it off and keep right on going. The family will wonder why I didn't get sick lol. It just depends on the person, but when recovering from a serious cold/flu that actually kept me from working out, I'll start back slowly at first. I take a lot of Zinc, Magnesium, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, etc. daily anyway, and I believe that helps (both with building muscle, and immune health), but it's not required.

This has been the approach that I have taken most of the time and like you it usually works. Just this time it didn't. I increased my fluids and like I said I was feeling better. Took today off and will try again tomorrow.

Spliner1969 · March 2017

When it gets you down, it gets you down. Work back into it slowly. Feel better!

mhwitt74 · March 2017

Thanks for all the replies! I took today off and will try again tomorrow. I'll just tone down the intensity for the next couple of workouts.

143tobe · March 2017

I'm kind of in the same boat. Like the person above, I usually take supplements and am able to fight through a 'getting sick' period. This week it got me and I have not been to the gym since Saturday. It's kind of killing me not to go, but this time around I'm actually letting my body fully rest since I think it needs to. Every day I wake up, I'm like...today??!! I know how you feel. Good luck! Hope you recover soon!!

HappyAnna2014 · March 2017

143tobe wrote: »

I'm kind of in the same boat. Like the person above, I usually take supplements and am able to fight through a 'getting sick' period. This week it got me and I have not been to the gym since Saturday. It's kind of killing me not to go, but this time around I'm actually letting my body fully rest since I think it needs to. Every day I wake up, I'm like...today??!! I know how you feel. Good luck! Hope you recover soon!!

I could have written this. I've not worked out all week (except getting in my hourly steps on my Fitbit, I figure I need that to be healthy). I'm doing fairly well, and tomorrow I'm taking a short yoga class and going to my private ice skating lesson...I hope that goes OK so I can get back to "normal." It is amazing how much I miss working out, even though a couple years ago I didn't work out at all.

Working out while recovering from a cold

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