After being out sick for two weeks with a fairly nasty chest cold, I was finally well enough to hit the gym last night. I was already prepared to lower the resistance/weight in my usual workout, but even that was taxing enough to really feel it today. I also skipped the last two exercises - I'd already done all the major muscle groups and was starting to feel wobbly, but mostly I skipped them because I was running out energy and time: it just took longer to recover between sets than normal.
There is some debate in the information that I found online about whether you should, or shouldn't, work out when you have a cold. The consensus, and the advise I generally follow, is that working out is fine so long as the cold symptoms exist from the neck up, and do not include a fever. Most sites DID recommend a less intense workout, and "active resting" which in a nutshell means plenty of rest, low intensity activity, stretching, and even treating yourself to a massage, hot tub or sauna. Whether working out will make your cold symptoms better or worse, or the duration of illness greater or smaller, I think is completely dependent on the individual. My hubby, the Microbiologist, will tell you "the virus takes as long as it takes to get out of your system."
Of course I whined, and fretted compulsively, about missing the gym the entire time, but I stuck it out, and I'm on the mend. Arms and shoulders tomorrow, and then back to my usual rotation on Friday.
Meanwhile I have gotten behind here: I still have to post the recipe for my families favorite home made granola, and a recipe for a new salad, well, new to me. The salad was billed as a "detox salad," but again, I'm not sure I buy the hype. What it IS, is crunchy, lemony, naturally sweet, and chock full of cruciferous veggies, raisins, dried cranberries, and sliced almonds. It was delicious the first day and still crunchy and satisfying on day four.
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