working out when sick

[treelizard]

Should you, or not?

I have a cold... Not too bad, but bad enough that I feel like my eyes aren't completely open and I'm tired when I wake up... I am of course taking fire cider, etc. but was wondering if I should keep working out?

I decided for today I'd skip the weights and just do a half hour of light cardio. Maybe bike instead of treadmill, try to take it easy...

[blitz]

Ofcourse. I asked my trainer about this when I had a cold and he said that I wouldn't be able to work out with my full power and also, you run out of breath really fast. It's just bad overall and you should just take a rest. And I have a cold too, it sucks =/

[muaythaiguy15]

When sick your body needs rest, why tire it out more by burning out muscles too?

Take a week off. No point in working out if you only lift half of what you can normally do. Stretch if you want to but thats all I do.

[Sagacious Lu]

I agree that if you're really sick it's better to just rest so you can get healthy. Sometimes though, if I have a little cold (not a bad one) working out actually makes me feel better. Sometimes I think it's better to work through a sniffle, but I think if you have a fever it's def. a bad idea. I don't know though, I'm not a Dr. that just seems to work for me.

[treelizard]

What about light cardio?

I thought it would help me sweat the toxins out. If the hot baths and diaphoretics don't cut it, that is.

[Britt]

There was a study a few years back by the American College of Sports Medicine that said that moderate intensity exercise generally didn't make people's colds much better or much worse. Here's a story:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/maia20.htm

That said, mild to moderate excercise may make some people feel better, like Lu said. Your lymphatic system doesn't have a "pump" like your circulatory system does; it requires movement of your skeletal muscle to get through your body, which I've heard may be the reason why you feel worse when you get up sick in the morning than you do after getting up and moving around the house a bit. If you have just a mild cold, you should probably listen to your body and do a light work out only if you think you're up to it and it will help. Otherwise, skip it and get some rest.

None of this should be construed as medical advice of any kind, mind you, I'm no M.D. or anything.