SHOULD YOU WORK OUT WHEN SICK?

[Kate]

Should you work out when you’re sick? You’ve thought it. I’ve been asked about it. Many, many times.

The answer – just like everything else – IT DEPENDS.

It actually depends on three things.

1. Your illness
2. How you feel
3. Biological considerations

YOUR ILLNESS

I think this goes without saying; if you’re going to go to a public space while sick for any training: go out of your way to avoid getting other people sick. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Cover your mouth/nose when you sneeze or cough. Disinfect your equipment before and after you use it. If the pandemic has taught us anything, public health should be a prioritized part of life.

HOW YOU FEEL

Typically, I think mild cold symptoms are okay to work through, but if your symptoms are more significant than a cold or feel worse than your typical cold, I’d stay home.

If you’re in between and/or can’t decide what to do, consider this…

Go to the gym and take it one step at a time. Warm-up, and if that feels good, start your first set. If that feels okay, start your second set, so on and so forth until you hit a step that feels like you should re-evaluate. You can adjust the rest of your workout or call it a day.

• Deload
• Decrease the volume
• Decrease the intensity
• Increase rest
• Execute alternative drills to make them less challenging

Regardless, expect to feel a little more out of breath. A little more fatigued. And your work capacity is slightly reduced. Not to mention, your motivation may be lacking too, and that’s perfectly okay.

BIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

When you train (specifically, strength training via progressive overload), you damage muscular tissue, which triggers an inflammatory response.

Special muscle-resident cells called Regulatory T Cells, Tregs for short, accumulate at the injury site and release certain growth factors that help the muscle repair and grow. Tregs also play a role in directing the function of other cells, namely stem cells.

These stem cells work with the damaged muscle cells to repair them. Take away the Tregs, and the stem cells no longer do their job in the presence of muscle damage.

What happens when the immune system is compromised, however? Treg function is impaired, and they can no longer coordinate muscle repair. This means that muscle damage may not be a great idea.

IN CONCLUSION

All of this is to say – it depends on a few things whether or not you should work out when you’re sick. When in doubt, rest. And then hit it hard when you’re back to feeling better.

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