Winter is once again upon us and riding on its coat tales is the dreaded flu virus. I actually just got over the flu myself and would you know that it was visiting with its cousin, bronchitis! It really took a lot out of me both physically and mentally. I am not the type of person who likes to take more than a couple of days off from working out, as I love how my workouts make me feel. Over the last 17 years, I’ve never taken more than a week off. I especially didn’t want to take a week at this time of the year, considering it’s only been a few weeks since the holiday season.

I do have to admit that I’m a little on the obsessive compulsive side. Over the years, I’ve worked out through sickness, through troubled times and during each and every vacation I’ve taken – Made some part-time enemies out of that one J

I sometimes revert back to a time, long ago, when my Kung-Fu teacher would tell me to train through illness. He’d tell us pupils to stop being babies and just train hard and sweat it out. You know what? It always seemed to work! But guess what? It wasn’t that what he said was true, it was simply a matter of the fact that my young body was resilient enough to kick the cold and bounce back to health quickly.

So here I am at 37, thinking that my body is still resilient enough to beat the flu and bounce back in a day or two. Hey, I’m in great shape and I take impeccable care of myself. Why shouldn’t I be able to do what’s always seemed to work for me and just train like a maniac and sweat it out? Well the trouble is that my body (and most people who are entering their 30’s) isn’t as resilient as it once was. I don’t have that bounce back system of a young buck anymore. I have to remind myself that yes, I’m in great shape, but I’m getting older and my body no longer has the ability to recover as quickly as it once did.

Well, I’m sorry to say and I have to admit, that I failed to follow those pearls of wisdom that I just spit out above. When I first started feeling ill last week, I still went to the gym and I trained. I was dead-lifting 400 pounds and although I felt more exhausted than usual, I felt strong and I was determined to have an awesome workout and I did!

I figured that I’d come home from my workout and my endorphins would be in overdrive and my pumping blood was working hard, sending fresh oxygenated blood throughout my system and ridding my body of toxins.

Well I got home and within ten minutes, I developed a high grade fever of 103. Why wouldn’t I have? I just pushed my body by lifting thousands of pounds of weight while it was simultaneously battling a heavy virus. What was I thinking! Long story short, I’ve been sick and out of the gym now for a week and a half. If I had just listened to my body and rested, I would have probably recovered from the flu in a few days versus 10 or more. That’s a lesson that I will never turn my back on again!

There’s more though and it’s something that most people don’t think about when their ill and can’t exercise. It’s all about creating balance. If you find that you can’t train because you’re either ill, on a vacation, meeting a business deadline or whatever, rather than fall off the health course completely, instead focus on the things that can help maintain your shape.

For example, when you don’t exercise, you obviously aren’t going to be burning as many calories, aside from what your body naturally burns (the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn). It should then be obvious that the last thing you want to do is take in too many calories. When people fall ill, we need to take it easy and so we tend to lounge out on the couch or lye in bed watching television. This often leads to boredom which is often followed by mindless snacking. Hey, let’s not fool ourselves, it feels good to indulge in a siesta of comfort foods, especially when we’re feeling down.

Here’s a quick tip: Drink plenty of cool water, at least an 8oz glass every hour. This will help to keep your appetite better controlled.

This however is where you have to draw the line and take control over the things that we still have control of…One such thing is your ability to resist junk food and gluttony!

When we’re ill, we shouldn’t try and rush the recovery process. Our bodies will recover when they’re ready to. During this time, focus on things like the quality of the foods that you eat. The higher the quality of the food, the better we arm our system to fight off that illness. Also, the fewer calories we take in, the less weight we’ll gain. Please Note: I’m not suggesting that you diet when you’re sick – You need nutrients to heal! I’m only suggesting that you be mindful of how many calories you take in versus how many you’ll be burning during a more sedentary state.

I’m sure you’ve heard people talk about either how much weight they’ve gained or lost when they were sick. They either gained too much because they ate crap and usually a whole lot if it or they had no appetite, at all and ate nothing, zip, zilch!

You shouldn’t have to suffer from either scenario! If you’re the hungry sick person, use your God given will power to resist over indulgence and if you’re the type of person, who just loses their appetite when they’re ill, try purchasing some ready to drink (RTD) combination Protein/Carbohydrate shakes and force them into your body! They’re a great nutritional insurance policy for those who need an influx of nutrients. 

Listen, when you recover from being ill, you’ll want to be ready to jump right back into your usual training routine. Prepare a strategy like the one above and you’ll be back in the game in no time. Don’t be foolish like I was and think about working out during an illness, especially a virus like the flu. It’s just stupid. Allow your body to fully recover and use that extra down time that you’ll have to focus on some of those things you’ve been meaning to get to, like changing up that stale workout you’ve been following for the last two years! ;)

Best of luck and Try not to get sick!

James Villepigue CSCS