This is a question that comes up any time one of my personal training clients gets sick. The answer depends on how bad the person feels and what exactly is wrong, but here is the general idea… If you are feeling like you are just starting to get sick or like you have something that you can still function with, then there can be benefits to still exercising. I would not recommend any heavy weights or anything that will require extensive recovery, but getting your heart rate up can help. Doing cardio or a fast-paced, light workout can slightly raise your body temperature, and in essence kill off harmful bacteria the same way a fever does. These types of workouts are also not going to overload your body with too much to recover from. If you do a heavy workout then your body is trying to recover from muscle tissue breakdown at the same time as recovering from illness, and the result is often to speed up the progression of the illness! If you are sick enough that you can barely function, then I do not recommend attempting to engage in ANY type of exercise, your body needs rest!
