Suffering With a Cold - Rest Up or Man Up?

At this time of the year, just about everyone will be suffering with a cold or feel like they’re on the brink of one. When it comes to exercise though, is it better to battle through or live to fight another day?

Things to consider when we’re feeling run down or unwell are that:

· Our immune system will be depleted

· We’re likely to be undernourished

· We’re likely to be dehydrated

· Feelings of fatigue will be greater

Consider the intensity of your proposed session and decide to what extent the above factors will affect our ability to perform. It’s important to acknowledge that a high intensity session could further deplete your immune system leading to more severe symptoms.

My advised options would be:

1. Perform a low intensity cardio session as a method of still burning calories, e.g. an incline treadmill walk.

2. Perform a deload session, whereby you still run through all exercises albeit at a lower intensity to avoid overstimulating your CNS

3. Take a rest day. You won’t get fat and you wont go catabolic, but you may prevent wasting a session when your body isn’t up to the job.

Moral of the story, know your body and be sensible enough to listen to it.