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10 Ways to Avoid Losing the Thrill
  15 Rules of Muscle Building
  30 Day Challenge
  5 Star Arms workout - 1
  5 Star Arms workout - 2
  6 Muscle Building Tips
  7 Beginner Bodybuilding Tips
  7 Second Ab Workout
  8 Sets of 8 Muscle Building 1
  8 Sets of 8 Muscle Building 2
  8 x 8 Muscle Building Routine
  Abdominal Exercises
  Aerobic Exericse & Muscle Loss
  Attention to Muscle Pain & Injury
  Basics of Strength Training
  Beach Body Abs
  Beginner Leg Workout Routine
  Benefit of Flexibility Exercise
  Benefit of Strength Training Program
  Beginner Ab Exercise Guide - 1
  Beginner Ab Exercise Guide - 2
  Beginner Ab Exercise Guide - 3
  Beginner Body Building Workout
  Bench Press Blast Off - 1
  Bench Press Blast Off - 2
  Best Ab Exercise for 6 Pack Abs
  Best Compound Exercises
  Bicep Exercise Tip
  Bodybuilding Techniques
  Build Big Biceps In 3 Steps
  Build Muscle & Gain Weight 1
  Build Muscle & Gain Weight 2
  Building Strong Core Muscles
  Bulk up and Gain Weight
  Bodybuilding Race to the Top
  Cardio Boxing Fitness
  Cardio Exercise Safety
  Cardio Exercise Principles - 1
  Cardio Exercise Principles - 2
  Chest Muscle Building Secret
  Chest Training Technique
  Choose a Personal Trainer
  Choose a Health Club - how to
  Choose a Treadmill - how to
  Don't Want Muscle? - 1
  Don't Want Muscle? - 2
  Dealing with Sports Injury
  Effective Cardio Exercise - 1
  Effective Cardio Exercise - 2
  Exercising While Sick
  Factors Affecting Strength
  Full Squat Exercise
  Form - Weight Lifting & Bodybuilding
  Gain Muscle & Size
  Give the Gift of Fitness
  Gym Safety Basics
  Home Gym Equipment Buying Guide
  Heavy Bag Workout
  How to Build Pectoral Muscle
  How to Get 6 Pack Abs
  Increase Growth Hormone Tip
  Interval Aerobic Training
  Interval Training Workout
  Joy of Natural Bodybuilding
  Jumping Rope For Fitness
  Lose Fat and Build Muscle
  Lower Abdominal Exercise
  Machines Vs. Free Weights
  Mass Building Workout Secrets
  Maximum Cardio - 1
  Maximum Cardio - 2
  Measuring Progress
  Muscle Building from All Programs
  Muscle Gain Visualization Guide
  Natural Bodybuilding
  Natural Pain Mangement & Exercise
  Online Personal Trainer - 1
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  Online Personal Trainer - 3
  Overtraining Syndrome
  Pay Attention to Muscle Pain
  Pack on Muscle Fast
  Perfect Rep
  Powerful Leg Workout Routine
  Principles of Effective Weight Gain
  Pushup Exercise Mistakes
  Shoulder Shrug Exercise
  Skull Crusher Exercise
  Sore Muscle Treatment
  Sprinting For Fitness
  Stomach Vacuum - Ab Exercise
  Stop Over Training
  Strength Training - Part 1
  Strength Training - Part 2
  Strength Training - Part 3
  Strength Training - Part 4
  Strength Training - Part 5
  Strength Training Routine
  Strength Training Strategy
  Stretching for Health
  Stretching Princples and Exercise
  Stretching - Why and When
  Superset Workout
  Teen Bodybuilding - Age To Train
  Time for Strength Training - 1
  Time for Strength Training - 2
  Time for Strength Training - 3
  Time for Strength Training - 4
  The Muscle Code
  The Truth About Exercise Needs
  Top 7 Outdoor Fitness Exercises
  Top 10 Reasons for Weight Lifting
  Top 10 Workout Mistakes
  Top Weight Gain Resources
  Travel and Fitness Tips - 1
  Travel and Fitness Tips - 2
  Tri-sets For Stubborn Triceps
  Unconventional Quadricep Training 1
  Unconventional Quadricep Training 2
  Underground Strength Training
  Warming Up Properly
  Weight Training and Manual Labor
  Weight Gain & Bodybuilding Myths
  Weight Gain Tips
  Weight Lifting For Kids
  Workout Without a Gym
  Why Calves Won't Grow

Diet & Weight Loss

10 Weight Loss Tips
  10 Rapid Fat Loss Tips
  13 Benefits of Green Tea
  16 Weight Loss Tips
  3500 Calories to Lose a Pound of Fat
  Alcohol and Belly Fat - Beer Belly
  A.M. Fat Burn - Morning Cardio
  Carb Cycling & Low Carb Diet
  Cardio Timing - Burn More Fat
  Clenbuterol for Weight Loss
  Diets Don't Work
  Eating Fat Makes You Fat
  Fast Weight Loss Tips
  Fat Burning Process
  Freshman 15 Weight Gain
  Holiday Weight Loss
  Hoodia Diet Patch
  Hoodia Gordonii Diet Pill Review
  Hoodia Gordonii Weight Loss
  How To Lose Love Handles
  Lift Weights to Lose Fat
  Lose Stubborn Belly Fat
  Low Body Fat Secrets
  Low Carbohydrate Diet
  Myth of Fast Weight Loss
  Oolong Tea Weight Loss
  Reducing Fat
  Repair Metabolic Damage
  Secret of Successful Weight Loss
  Stay Committed to Weight Loss Plan
  Stubborn Fat - New Ideas
  Super Sizing Dietary Displacement
  The Truth About Counting Calories
  The Truth About Body Fat -1
  What is the Glycemic Index (GI)
  When Weight Loss Stops
  Whey to Weight Loss

 

Training or Television? Working out when you're not Well

Copyright Tanja Gardner

Understatement of the week: Creating an exercise routine you can actually stick to is not the easiest thing in the world. Corollary to understatement: Waking up sick on a day you’d planned on working out can be a tad frustrating.

It’s tempting to ignore that ‘under the weather’ feeling and push on regardless. Our minds threaten us with pictures of how much ground we’ll lose if we don’t train. We’re concerned that we’re being too soft with ourselves (as one of my friends described it, ‘If I stopped training every time there was something wrong with my body, I’d never get anything done!’) Or we worry that if we break our routine once, we’ll never get back into it.

Sometimes it’s actually OK to exercise when ill. Although no-one’s been able to prove that you can ‘sweat out a cold’, if your only symptom is a sniffle, moderate exercise can sometimes help you feel clearer in the short term. Going for a walk is one of the most effective fixes for a headache. But all too often, exercising when you’re unwell can make you end up sicker than you started out.

THE EFFECTS OF EXERCISE

To understand why this is, it may help to revisit the effect exercise has on your body. Your heart rate rises, your core temperature increases, your body burns fuel faster than usual, you lose water through perspiration, and your respiratory and circulatory systems (as well as the muscles you’re working) are all stressed well beyond their normal levels. In short, the demands for your body’s resources increase markedly.

In a well-rested, well-nourished body, this is no trouble. When the body is weakened by sickness, however, there’s potential for problems. For example, if you’re running a fever, your core temperature is already high. Raising it higher by pushing yourself during a workout can be dangerous. In a similar vein, we’re told to keep our fluids up when we’re sick because with a higher core temperature, it’s easy to become dehydrated. Exercising (which increases water loss) makes dehydration more likely.

CONSIDERATION

So how do we know when to push on regardless, and when to just say ‘no’? If you exercise around other people – e.g. in a gym, class, or as part of a club – your first concern needs to be consideration for them. Fellow exercisers will not thank you for sharing your bug with them. If you’re coughing and sneezing – or if you’re touching exercise equipment that will be touched by other people – it’s only polite to stay away until you’re no longer infectious. If you’re not sure how long this will be, speak to your doctor.

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THE NECK CHECK

Assuming your illness isn’t contagious, however (or that you work out alone), you have more choices. One quick, simple tool for deciding is the ‘neck check’ developed by Dr Randy Eichner at the University of Oklahoma. With this system, you simply look at where your symptoms are located.

If they’re above the neck, e.g. headache, sniffles and/or a slightly scratchy throat, it may be OK to keep exercising – but take it very slow. Exercise at about 50% of your usual intensity for the first ten minutes, then stop and see how you feel. If you feel about the same or better than when you started, feel free to continue - gradually raising the intensity. If you feel dizzy, floaty, or in any way worse than you did when you started, however, stop immediately, and give yourself the rest of the day off.

If any of your symptoms are below the neck – fever, coughing, nausea, stomach cramps or aching muscles – it’s better to skip your workout altogether and stay wrapped up in bed. Exercising with any of these symptoms diverts your body’s much-needed resources from where they’re needed to fight off your illness (in effect, you’ve joined in the battle – on the side of the germs!), and may additionally increase your likelihood of injuring yourself.

ASK YOURSELF "WHY?"

Look at your symptoms on a day-by-day basis, and if you’re ever unsure whether to resting or exercise, contact your doctor for advice. If you’re reluctant to take time off, it can help to step back and ask yourself why you’re exercising in the first place. If you’re training for a specific event, ask yourself whether it’s better to take a couple of days off now, or tough it out and risk having to take a couple of months out of your regime later. If you exercise because it makes you feel better and healthier – ask yourself the logic of making your body miserable by pushing it when it’s telling you it needs to heal.

If you have any questions about this week’s article, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Otherwise, until next time, may every day bring you closer to your Optimum Life.

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About the Author

Optimum Life's Tanja Gardner is a Personal Trainer and Stress Management Coach whose articles on holistic health, relaxation and spirituality have appeared in various media since 1999. To find out more about how you could benefit from online personal training, please visit
http://www.trainerforce.com/optimumlife. Optimum Life is dedicated to providing fitness and stress management services to help clients all over the world achieve their optimum lives. If you’d like to discuss anything in this article with Tanja, you can contact her on tanja@optimumlife.co.nz

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