Hey Wellness Warriors! We are headed into the thick of cold and flu season and there are even more variables to account for this year. But most years I get asked, at least a handful of times, for guidance on when to work out, when to pull back, when to rest, and how to come back after illnesses.
Obviously, my general guidance is always that you know yourself better than anyone else. What works for a friend may not work for you. And you know how you feel. If your body is telling you to take a couple days off, then please listen.
But in the absence of a situation where you are laid up in bed puking, there are a couple of things you’ll want to ask yourself. First, have you been to see a doctor? Most of us don’t hit up the doctor for the common cold. Unless it worsens over time. If you have gone to the trouble of visiting your MD, that’s really the person to ask.
Second, are you taking medication? If you have been to the doctor and you are taking prescription meds, see my previous recommendation. Most MDs have email that allows them to respond quickly to simple queries. If you are taking over the counter meds (i.e. Robitussin, DayQuil, Advil/Motrin, Tylenol, etc.) my recommendation is to wait and rest. If you are feeling miserable enough to need pharmacological help, your body is clearly trying to tell you to take it easy and let it fight the infection.
If you haven’t been to a doctor and you aren’t taking any medication (prescription or over the counter), you’ll need to self assess your symptoms. If all of your symptoms are above the neck (i.e. cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache) you can exercise if you are feeling up to it. I recommend doing absolutely no more than 50% of what you’d usually do in this case, though. Your body is still trying to fight an infection.
If you have below the neck, or systemic, symptoms rest. Systemic symptoms would include fever, chills, body aches, digestive upset and the like. These are all indicators that something a bit more serious is going on. Something that will take more effort for your body to fight, which means you should rest and let that happen.
In terms of returning to exercise, there are a couple of rules of thumb to follow. If you have been taking prescription meds, the safest bet is to finish the course before you return to exercise. Over the counter meds are trickier, but my recommendation is to hold off on returning until you are at a point where you are finished or only need one dose before bed. Otherwise, you need to be at a point where all of your symptoms are either gone or are all above the neck. And if you return while you do have some symptoms, my previous rule (no more than 50%) applies.
That 50% guideline is also a good guideline for determining your return to routine. Plan to start at 50% intensity and 50% duration/volume once symptoms have completely abated. Stay at that level for about a week and see how your body recovers. If you recover from workouts as you did before, you can go ahead and slowly (over the course of a few weeks) build back up to your previous intensity, duration, and volume. If your body takes longer to recover or you notice more soreness than usual, continue at the 50% level until you are recovering as normal. I hope you found these tips helpful!
Until next time, be well friends!
