Little Things While Under The Weather

 

Tis the season where snow falls and keeping up with maintenance in order to keep things flowing for the holiday season. Shoveled a few times and training hard to be ready for what lies ahead but certain things hit you in the ass and you got to adapt. Picked up a little cold with a sore throat and stuffy nose but it doesn't stop me from training. Whenever I do get sick, it may last a bit and wear me out a bit quicker than usual but I do what I can when it comes to training.

The last couple days have been slightly rough but you keep going. I rest when I need to and I do more micro workouts to keep the energy levels up. Isometrics and some step ups one day, exercises throughout the day yesterday doing exercises for a min each like Animal Moves, Rollouts, Wall Sit, Fist Flank and a few others. Today I started out with a total of 600 Reps of swinging the Indian Clubs and some stretching. Don't have a plan in mind of what to do next the rest of the day but at least I did something. My energy is better and the cold is dying down. 

Being sick is no fun and it makes it even worse when you have to go to work but you do what you can and rest up when an opportunity arises. You're no good to anybody if you can barely even move and you can't perform tasks some jobs require. For me, it's to continuing to find workouts regardless of what's going on with me. I've always told myself, the day I stop exercising is either when I'm in a coma, paralyzed from the neck down or I'm dead; if I can move in some capacity, I'm doing some kind of exercise. 

You won't always be able to go hard when you need to, sometimes life throws you curveballs or you have to back off a bit and do smaller forms of training and lessen the intensity but never stop training. As long as you keep things simple, you will find a way or you'll find a way to not do it, that's the choice you'll have to really put yourself in. You may not be as energetic or enthusiastic especially when your body needs some repairs and not making things worse. Isometrics are a great resource of exercise even when you're under the weather because you don't have to go very hard and even if you can only do 20% of your normal strength, you're still 75-95% ahead of everyone else who is laid up. Want ideas for great Isometric Training, check out Overcoming Isometrics, one of the very best books on the market today on the subject.

Be smart about your training, stay hydrated and be as healthy as you can be. If you're so sick that it's difficult to do anything, rest up, your training will be there when it's over when you can get your energy back. Some people don't have to be as crazy about training as I' Am and many others, we all have our ways of doing what we can and getting the most of what's possible. Some are just so out of it that training just isn't in the cards, it happens and there's no shame in it. If you can exercise while sick, keep it small. Keep being amazingly awesome. 

Resting And Recovering: A Realistic Look At Training

Often times during our training, we will push our bodies to limits we never have gone to and it gives us that feeling of accomplishment. But what about the next day? Do we just chill out and slack off as we recover and rest like we have the flu? That's not what you do or should do. The truth is, it is important to do something everyday or as often as possible. That doesn't mean you go hardcore or beat the shit out of your body everyday, that's not practical or realistic. 

There are going to be days where everything isn't always there and your body needs time to heal, what can you do in that time as you heal? Instead of sleeping all day and not do a damn thing (unless you're so beat up and/or in the hospital), you can do a few minutes of stretching or doing less intense exercise. If all you can do is go for a walk or do less intense Isometrics than do so. You never stop training, you just adapt to what your body is capable of for that time to recover. Some say recovery is just a gym term, that's complete bullshit, yeah your body can adapt to many things but if you don't take the time to heal the body, in some form or another, you can end up being very useless in the things you do in your life. 

Some days I'll do my deck of cards workouts or some other form of intense training either in one shot or throughout the day, other days I'll do small things like basic animal moves at a slower pace or stretch my body out and focus on something that doesn't require being a maniac or a sadistic fitness enthusiast. Some days (on a rare occasion) I'll be sore as hell either from training, shoveling snow or whatever and do things to keep myself moving but not to the point where I'm ready to die. It's awesome to challenge yourself but it's not worth your long term existence if you beat it to a  bloody pulp just to prove how tough you are.

I believe in recovery training to keep things flowing, keep up with maintenance and be able to "rest" until my body can go hard again which at times takes a day or two, other times it takes a week but I always feel the need to do something. Doing joint loosening sessions is great, Isometrics are great, flexibility work is great, all these things are useful when you apply the realistic approach to training the body. For joint loosening, it's to keep the body healthy so you don't become so brittle and full of aches and pains. For Isometrics, it's for maintaining strength without moving and being able to do some intense training without the need to compensate. Flexibility training is like joint loosening or mobility work by maintaining the body's ability to flow and keep going without putting so much stress on the nervous system and putting the muscles and tendons/ligaments at risk. 

Too many people like to throw in how hard they can go and doing everything possible to prove that they can harder than anyone else. It's the trend of social media influencers that think they know more than the old timers and/or understand that you can only push the body so far. Most of the time, they don't give a flying fuck about your recovery or rest, all they care about is going until you possibly end up in the ER because you did this many kettlebell swings or lifted this much weight you weren't meant to do or hell do 500 Push-ups, Run 10 miles, Sprint 600 Yards, 1000 Squats and Deadlift 300 lbs 100 times in the span of an hour or less and doing that 5 times a week. You train according to what you can do on particular days, that doesn't mean you stop training, it just means to some things to recharge and other things when you're at your peak level. 

I haven't taken a day off since I was 21 years old and I've pushed my body hard on a lot of days but I've also gave my body some time to recharge by doing things that still had me moving but not to break down so much that I can't move at all. I've done rough sessions in BJJ, I've gone through killer strongman workouts, dozens upon dozens of decks of cards, sprint training, gymnastics, nasty cardio and conditioning and yet still managed to work on mobility, flexibility and less intense training when it weas needed. You DO what you CAN every single day, you don't have to sacrifice your body in the name of fitness. 

Don't try to prove how hardcore you are, prove to yourself that you can come up with things regardless and what is possible. Listen to your body and not the bullshit influence that has wrecked many people. Be amazingly awesome. Be smart about your training.