Exercising with a cold?
Every day is an opportunity to gain strength, speed, agility, stamina through appropriate workouts. Fitness die-hards sometimes worry about the “fitness lost” if they miss a workout, but there are times when it’s best to just skip.
Times when it’s good to lay down and do nothing:
- Fever with lethargy, aches and pains.
- Below the neck symptoms i.e.: Chest congestion, upset stomach or intestinal issues.
- Acute (recent) injury that hurts if you persist in exercise.
Times when it’s a good idea to modify to an easier workout, or just walk:
- Head cold, sniffles, runny nose, cough.
- Too tired to focus & execute during normal workout.
- Recovering from cold/flu/injury and not yet 100%.
It’s important to remember that while each day is indeed an opportunity to further your fitness, it’s better to take a long-term view at what today’s activity will yield for the long haul. Will going for a long run or sprints or heavy squats with a cold turn into a full-on respiratory infection or pneumonia? How will your fitness change if you are out for weeks or months compared with taking it easy for a few days and listening to your body?
If you are planning on working out with a little cold, it’s a good idea to baby yourself in every way by making sure that you stay hydrates, get a little extra sleep, and maintain a nutritious diet. This is a bad time to try and stay in a calorie deficit if you are dieting. The immune system requires energy just like our working muscles, and diverting fuel away from it in preference for exercise may result in worsened symptoms, and susceptibility to even worse germs.
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