what to do when you are a little bit sick; bench-arching for the flexibility-challenged; weight machine numbers aren't real

A little bit sick

Hi Casey,

I’ve been struggling with this Q, hoping for a research-based answer (though I won’t mind some philosophy!) and I finally realized you’re the person to ask.

What do I do about lifting when I’m just a little bit sick?

I’ve got a small kid, so I’m in this state a lot. “Enjoy the deload week” doesn’t work for me, it happens too often. I know not to work out when I’m SICK, but what’s the best thing for when I’m just a little sick? Coming down with a cold, fighting one off mostly successfully, etc. I never know if I should skip my workout (rest, but my muscles turn to stone, I love my 40s), go in and do it light, or go for it if I can. I’ve seen such conflicting advice: your body needs rest, your body needs endorphins, etc etc etc. Help???

Thanks so much,

Jaime

There was a time in my blushing youth where I went out a lot more, and I was sick a lot. Like multi-week colds/flus four or more times per year. I’d chalk it up to crowded, poorly ventilated New York bars, as well as occasionally forgetting to wash my hands when I got home (this isn't really directed at you, LW, however it is directed at your children: always, ALWAYS wash your hands when you get home, but especially in New York. And stop coughing directly into your mother's mouth). If I’d I avoided the gym on the basis of being a little bit sick back then, I would have not been in the gym for half the year.

But this is not to say you should always go to the gym when you are a little bit sick. For one, you can get other people sick. For another, you could overstress yourself and turn your “little bit sick” into a full knockdown illness.

The standard advice I’d always read was that it was okay to go if the little bit of sickness is in your head, and not your chest. Definitely do not work out if you have bronchitis, for instance. However—this is not science, but I felt there were definite occasions that I went in with a head cold, and all the heavy breathing breathed the germs (?) deep into my lungs, and it became a chest illness.

As you note, there is also the factor of coming down with something versus getting over something. I’ve had the experience of feeling like I did successfully manage to squeeze in one last day before I seemed to fully succumb. But I’ve also had the experience of going to work out, thinking I was mostly over something, only for that workout to seemingly make the illness retrench and last another week or more.

This is all to say, I think I myself have done this wrong more than right, no matter how much experience I have. There is probably always a theoretical correct answer, but it is so specific to you, and specific to the situation, plus a bunch of variables, that there is no good blanket advice.

All that said, as much as I wouldn’t want to have believed it, it is probably always better to rest, in hopes of nipping the overall illness in the bud, than trying to push through. There is a saying along the lines of “you won’t know you missed one day of the gym ten years from now”—essentially, that consistency over a long time matters far more than making it to the gym any given day. You might even argue that my half a year of good days would have ended up having the same overall impact, without the additional two or three months of dragging through a workout while sick.

One of the things that has worked for me most consistently—but not always—is leaning hardcore into resting the moment I notice definite sickness symptoms. Downing fluids, going to bed early, not drinking alcohol. This usually means I miss one or a couple days when I could easily have worked out, but I feel it tends to shorten the whole sickness cycle. Knowing that I seem to be capable of keeping myself sick for weeks, If I force it, I usually seem to make myself sicker and stay sicker longer.

This is almost entirely based on my personal experience; you may find a completely different strategy works for you (a completely different strategy must work for the “endorphins” people). If you find yourself sick often in a way that’s not manageable by your own choices—you have kids in school, for instance—you may feel that you’d never get to do anything if you waited for a good not-sick day.

However, it is important to remember that exercise is a type of stress on your body. Good stress, but stress all the same. And when you are sick, your body is stressed to begin with. As much as you might want to log the gym hours in hopes of making progress, your body has its limits, and at certain point your body just can’t do anything with more stress than it can handle; all it does is make your life worse. It seems like some people don’t mind this, or have even more special ignorance of their actions and the consequences than I do.

If you want to be stubborn, this is a good time to remember that even 40 percent is better than zero (unless, as above, one zero is prevention against an endless parade of 5-percent days for the next several weeks). Most days in the gym will not be your best or even good days, regardless of illness, and it matters more that anything happened as opposed to nothing. It can be a good time to focus on the things that you never do because there are always other more important things to do: experimenting with form tweaks on lighter weights, or accessories you always wanted to try, or mobility stuff. When I’m not in a state to work out, lately, I find stretching and non-intensive mobility type stuff helps with body stiffness and pains enough to still help me sleep (and are fine as a bridge-gap when I’m generally in shape). Something like the routines below work, and whether it’s a few minutes or 20 or more is up to you.

I know it's frustrating to not have this kind of control over whether you can work out and how much. But most people are never going to have total control. More importantly, all of this is supposed to serve you; your workouts are not supplication to some iron god.

Bench arching for the flexibility-challenged

Hello, almost every bench press video I watch talks about the importance of developing a great arch. How do I go about doing this safely when the flexibility of my thoracic spine is about equal to that of a 2x4?

Thanks for your excellent content -Cardel