March 28, 2024

When should I start working out again after cold or flu?

I got back to the gym this morning after being off for a couple of weeks due to a flu. It was an OK exercise after being sick

Anyway, often when we get sick we are not sure when to start back exercising and working out. I know that I have been through this just through laziness in the past but this past Friday I was itching to get back to the gym and it bothered me a lot that I did not have the energy or health to workout.

Exercise after being sick

Exercise after being sick
Exercise after being sick

Finally this morning I went to the gym again.

So when are you ready? I think that the question of when to exercise after being sick can only be answered by deciding what you want to do in the gym and what your transition will be to hard workouts.

In retrospect I think I may have been able to go back to the gym yesterday and for this reason I am pushing my wife to get back today even though she feels crappy. Today I actually had a very full and tough workout but I would have liked to have gone earlier without a need to break a sweat, just get a chance to move your muscles and stretch. The one thing I hate most about being sick is the inactivity and the crappy feeling that I have in my muscles.

The important thing to be careful with during flu season is to not workout when you are really sick or pushing yourself back into sickness when you work out to hard.

How to Exercise after being sick

So here is a bit of an idea of what you should look at for a workout for exercise after being sick.

1. No sweating until you are better.

2. No Cardio, goes back to rule number one

3. Do some s. Drop your weights to 30% of your regular lifting and try to have a quick couple of sets of each exercise that you do.

4. Do lots of stretching afterwards. My biggest idea of working out while at the tail end of a sickness is to make sure that I am not getting worse and instead getting some blood moving a bit

5. Drink lots of water while working out. This is another chance to really flush your body with much need water to make you healthier and heal you quicker.

What do you do? Do you rush back too quickly to the gym? Do you skip exercise a little longer than your should and do you know when to exercise after being sick

8 thoughts on “Exercise after being sick

  1. I have been sick and inactive for 10 days now and I am questioning whether I am ready to go back to the gym. I only returned to work yesterday and have only been able to eat and drink ‘normally’ again for the last 3 days. I have lost 4kg in this time I have been doing my best to rehydrate.

    I love and miss my cardio workouts very much but I just simple still don’t have the energy for them.

    I still haven’t decided if I will go to the gym this morning or not, but if I do I will take your advice re avoiding sweating, light s, lots of stretching and lots of water.

  2. I was sick for 3 days… I threw up 2 times, felt weak. tired, and slept most of the 3 days….. During my time trying to recover, I was eating carbs like crackers, gatorade, chicken soup to help with my energy level.
    I am feeling good today. Ate my daily meals, drank more gatorade, and will drink my gain /protein
    shortly.

    I am ready to workout. I wont go full force tomm. morning, but after 3-4 workout days and eating my 5-6 meals a day, I’ll by up and running very shortly.

  3. PS: Lastly, you can workout out gently if you ahve a cold but on the whole,. I advise not to at all. Learn to rest, stay horizontal and enjoy watching movies from the sofa… a week off fitness is no big deal.

  4. I had a very nasty sneezy cold for the past week which just seemed to clear up on tuesday – nearly exactly a week which is the time they say a typical common cold lasts. I had felt very weak during the cold so didn’t train at all. I even ahd a bit of a chesty cough. Here’s my advice for getting back into a workout when in recovery.

    1. The first week after the cold has gone, workout but don’t swim and keep cardio to a minimum.
    2. Less is more; go about 50-60% of your usual resistance workout in terms of , reps, sets and length of time. If in doubt always err on the side of caution.
    3. Gradually increase the workouts so a typical 3 workout week, the first one is cautious 50/60%, the second is up to 80% and the last can be a full 100% workout.

    In the beginning of the following week (an entire week has passed since the cold cleared up) start gentle cardio. Treat the cardio on the same basis as the above s workout.

    By the end of the second week, you should be back up to total strength workout. Remember to listen to your body, if it objects at any point then immediately reduce the energy level and curtail the workout. Drink tons of fluids and plenty of stretching / yoga or pilates.

  5. Well I have caught a Runny Nose and severe Head ache since last 1 day. Let’s see how it goes for me. For now I do not posses any strength what so ever and have no intention of going back to the gym.

  6. I agree. I am still getting over a sinus infection that hit me really hard. The past two days, I got in my car, drove partway to the gym because I really WANTED to work out again, but ended up turning around because I realized I felt too weak to workout. It is difficult when you’ve worked up to a certain level to have to backtrack and work up to that level again, but in the end it is best. I went to the gym today and did just a little walking, that’s all. That was enough. Hope to be back at it soon!

  7. I think if you have just recover from illness, you should continue to rest before going back to gym. If you think that your body has recover completely, you may start doing your regular exercise. Just to prevent the illness on coming back.

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