Exercise is a Stressor, or Don’t Work Out When You’re Sick.

Had to take the day off today, because I’m sick. Whilst staying home in wonderment of my body’s inability to respond to my CNS commands, I thought to myself that over the weekend I had repeatedly broken one of the Cardinal Rules of Strength Training.

Namely, “Don’t Work Out When You’re Sick.”

The reason, of course, is that exercise is a stressor. Exercise is not what causes adaptation to occur; in other words, what doesn’t happen is – you lift the dumbbell 10 times, volia, you get stronger right then and there. Conversely, your body is temporarily weakened by your efforts in the gym. An incredibly complicated series of events occurs where your body works to make itself stronger – first, to “fix the damage” from your workout, then to overcompensate for it.

It is analogous to someone living in Florida in the height of hurricane season. Hurricane 1 sweeps into Tampa, creating damage in your house – cracks, leaks, etc. Once the danger has passed, you assess the damage and patch up all the cracks. You fill up holes where the leaks come through. In your infinite wisdom, you decide to reinforce the walls and windows so that next time that hurricane passes over, the house will sustain minimum damage. So you end up with a stronger house than before (that is, until Hurricane 2 sweeps through with double the power of Hurricane 1). So you repatch the house again. And so forth.

To summarize: The workout doesn’t make you stronger/fitter/more conditioned. Your body’s recovery from the workout does.

It’s a small intellectual distinction, but it is an important mental shift to go through, because your outlook on exercise changes.

It also helps to prevent you from working yourself into illness, sometimes.

I did get my third stripe in Jiujitsu, though.