There’s almost nothing quite as frustrating or annoying as feeling as though you’re making progress, then getting sick. Worst part is, if you try and force the issue, it’s all too easy to make yourself even more sick and lengthening your infirm time, setting you back even further.
Here’s a multi-part plan for you to get back into action.
1. Wait till you’re at 90%.
The easiest way to make sure you don’t relapse into illness or make your current illness worse is to wait it out. Wait until you feel better, roughly 90% of your full capacity. Want an easier way to judge? If you’ve got any symptoms from the neck down (aches, chills, etc.) or a fever, don’t exercise; you’ll likely make things worse. Having symptoms from the neck up only (congestion, sore throat, etc.) generally indicate that you’re on the mend, but you should still be cautious.
The best rule of thumb is to wait, if you’ve any doubt in your mind. It’s better to push your workout back one day than set yourself back an entire week or two because your illness relapsed.
2. During your first workout back, decrease weights by 10%.
Being that your body has been busy fighting off whatever pathogen’s been festering in it, you’ll likely not be at full strength. It’s better to ease back into exercising as opposed to jumping right back into the fray.
Use the 10% rule as a guide but not a hard and fast rule per se. If you feel you need to, it’s okay to reduce your weights even further.
3. If you normally lift to failure, don’t.
There’s some evidence to suggest (and common sense would tell you) that exhaustive exercise precipitates infection. In other words, work out too hard and you risk getting sicker. There’s some truth to the notion that moderate exercise boosts immune function, so back off a little on the level of intensity (read: effort) you put into your workout. That means that you should stop a set with a rep or two still “in the tank.” Do too much too soon and you risk longer recovery (don’t forget that exercise is also a “stress” that your body will need to recover from).
4. Listen to your body.
Perhaps the soundest bit of workout advice I can give you is this: Listen to your body. If, in the middle of your workout, you start feeling unusally crappy, stop. If you find that you perform the first two exercises in your workout fine, then feel weak on your third (as in, you reduce it to 75% and struggle), stop. Your body is trying to tell you something. And it’s probably, “Knock it off, hero/shero.”
Aside from the workout, there are a couple of things you can do diet-wise to speed your recovery:
- Drink water – lots. Being fully hydrated improves the function of your lymphatic system (the “transporter” of your immune system), increasing its efficiency and efficacy.
- Keep it simple, as far as diet goes. Now’s not the time to sample the complex flavors of a seafood paella or to hunker down to something heavy, like Vaca Frita al Caballo. Keep your meals simple and easily digestible: hard-boiled eggs and fruit at breakfast, for example. Nuts and seeds are good as snacks.
Be smart and a tad cautious, and you’ll be back on your training in no time.
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