My beloved husband is on a four day fishing trip in another state. This is fun for him, lonely for me. The only upside to his being away is that when he’s away, my two girls come down and sleep with me. It’s like a giant snugglefest of mommy love.
However, snuggling with a 10 year old means catching said 10 year old’s cold. Yesterday I woke up with a scratchy throat and a mild cough. Today I’ve got a more productive cough, a scratchy throat that feels like I rubbed Eleiko competition gnurling on my vocal cords and the headache from hell.
Everyone asks me (likely because they know what I”m going to say and they enjoy mocking me) if I’m going to train when I feel like this.
My answer is….. hell yes.
Personally, I feel better after I get blood flowing, joints more limber and have something to focus upon other than the liquid cement that is mucus running through my sinuses.
It’s not dissimilar to operating. When I had morning sickness with both pregnancies the only time I literally did not sense the stomach roiling was when I was so focused on operating that the world just fell away. That degree of focus is exactly what I experience when lifting, so it makes me feel better.
I might try to avoid the gym so that I keep my pesky germs within my family unit, and just train at home. If I go to the box, I’ll try to wipe down the bar.
But yeah, I’m going to train if it’s only a cold. Viri don’t know if you’re doing behind the neck presses and frankly I don’t think a couple of hours of bar work will suppress my immune system enough to make anything worse. I doubt I’ll PR my lifts, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t get some useful work done.
When would I not train? Fever is kind of a deal breaker for me – that is your body’s way of asking for more fluid and some rest, not dehydration and speeding up an already elevated heart rate. Vomiting and diarrhea are also big no-train signals, mostly because, well, yuck. I admit that I am not hardcore enough to puke in a chalk bucket and finish the rest of my set.
Injury is a slightly different matter, but instead of commenting on that right now, I will link you to this most awesomest of articles from Matt Foreman at Catalyst Athletics.
Now grab a tissue and go train.