Is being sick all bad?

Look at the positives of sickness 

Getting sick can feel like the worst thing when you’ve been training hard. It feels like all the great progress you’ve made instantly disappears in one or two days while you sulk about with congestion, headaches, aches and pains. Thinking it’ll take months to get back to the fitness levels you were before being sick, it can feel like a sense of helplessness. But there are always two sides to look at anything. For example, being positive with training; Looking at the upsides of sickness can help to get through the challenging period a little less stressful.

Sickness provides well-needed rest.

Training is about pushing yourself so that your body adapts. Sessions should keep developing training load to stimulate fitness, as this is how the body improves. However, this load creates fatigue and lowers your immune system. Getting sick can be a sign of overreaching and forces rest and recovery. So listen to what your body is saying.

Being sick is better than being injured. Something has to give if you have too much load on the body without enough recovery. Think of being sick as some well-needed rest that will allow you to come back stronger.

Learn patterns that lead to sickness

Load also comes in many forms, such as stress from work or home, travel along with training. Hopefully, you are keeping records for your training. Being sick can provide time to review the previous weeks of training. This can be very informative. It’s not just one thing that causes sickness, but multiple sessions/days and learning to identify this pattern can help to avoid sickness.

Make recovery a priority.

Treat recovering from sickness like a training session. Make napping a priority and eat right (think lots of colours with vegetables). Let your body get the rest it needs. Having planned recovery as part of any training program is critical. But sometimes our bodies demand more rest than we allow for. Being sick forces you to take the rest you need to get well again.

Reach new fitness limits.

When getting back into training, take it easy. You may feel lethargic or not, but either way, it’s best to ease into it. Fitness will always come back faster than it initially took to achieve it. If done right, you’ll be at similar levels in no time. Your body will thank you for the rest as you reach new fitness limits. So next time you get sick, try to remember that it’s not all bad.