Sick more often after I started working out?

[postaled]

Not sure if this is just a coincidence but in the last few months I seem to have gotten sick more often than usual.

Nothing really more than a cold, but still just oddly often.

Around 3.5 months ago I started going back to the gym.

 

[Dallascisco]

Gyms are a breeding ground for germs with many people using the same things. If you don't take a vitamin C supplement I'd suggest starting too. I'd also suggest wearing gloves and wiping down all of the equipment with sani wipes before and after use. Most gyms provide those to you.

 

[neocpp]

Hmm, that's interesting. I actually get sick much less often when I work out. But then again I don't go to a gym or anything, just running + body weight exercises.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Gyms are a breeding ground for germs with many people using the same things. If you don't take a vitamin C supplement I'd suggest starting too. I'd also suggest wearing gloves and wiping down all of the equipment with sani wipes before and after use. Most gyms provide those to you.

Vitamin C has consistently shown to make no difference in frequency of illness in most systematic reviews. It's not something that makes much of a difference. Better intervention include better diet, more sleep, better hydration.

 

[Sid59]

my rule in the gym:
Stay away from anyone sneezing or coughing
during my workout, however long or short, NEVER EVER touch anywhere near your face with your hands.
wash hands, post workout.

made it through "cold" season in the gym 3x a week.

 

[bononos]

Not sure if this is just a coincidence but in the last few months I seem to have gotten sick more often than usual.

Nothing really more than a cold, but still just oddly often.

Around 3.5 months ago I started going back to the gym.

Are you overtraining? May not take much to overdo things if your diet/rest/sleep is subpar. Its quite a common reason for the sniffles.

 

[bononos]

I forgot to add - especially so if you're doing something ridiculous like the currently faddish crossfit type workouts.

 

[postaled]

Are you overtraining? May not take much to overdo things if your diet/rest/sleep is subpar. Its quite a common reason for the sniffles.

I guess I could be, but I don't go more than 3-4 times per week.


Normally 2 days of running/stairs/cycling and 2 days of lifting.

Maybe my body just needs more time to adjust to that schedule?

 

[Sixguns]

Ive seen that since I started working out, about 1.5 years now, I dont get sick as much. And when I do, I get over it a lot faster. My stomach gets messed up sometimes but its my own fault for eating like I used to. It just doesnt like the greasy fatty food anymore.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Are you overtraining? May not take much to overdo things if your diet/rest/sleep is subpar. Its quite a common reason for the sniffles.

No such thing as over training, it's a boogieman used to scare people from working hard. There is under sleeping or under eating, but no over training.

 

[Saint Nick]

No such thing as over training, it's a boogieman used to scare people from working hard. There is under sleeping or under eating, but no over training.

Debatable.

 

[Ventanni]

I was getting sick fairly often after I started working out at the gym. What did the trick for me is washing my hands religiously post workout:

1. Don't touch your face/mouth while you're at the gym.
2. Clean the equipment before and after you use it (optional, but recommended).
3. Wash wash wash those hands.

Once I started doing #1 and #3, I stopped getting sick after working out.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Debatable.

A person should be encouraged to push their potential rather than be encouraged to embrace mediocrity. The human body is capable of an enormous workload when given enough sleep and food.

 

[Sixguns]

I guess I am lucky since my gym is fairly small, maybe 5-6 people there while working out while I am there and it seems when people are sick, they dont show up.

 

[Saint Nick]

A person should be encouraged to push their potential rather than be encouraged to embrace mediocrity. The human body is capable of an enormous workload when given enough sleep and food.

True. Too bad I usually get one but not the other 🙁

 

[bononos]

I guess I could be, but I don't go more than 3-4 times per week.


Normally 2 days of running/stairs/cycling and 2 days of lifting.

Maybe my body just needs more time to adjust to that schedule?

Its more likely. And try to get adequate protein in every meal and get enough sleep, its 2/3 of the equation.

 

[QueBert]

Debatable.

Not debatable, if you over train you will more than likely injure yourself unless you're in peak physical condition or damn near close to it. It's not hard at all to injure yourself from training too much. I did it twice last year, one time had me on the sidelines for a month where I couldn't even walk without limping.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Not debatable, if you over train you will more than likely injure yourself unless you're in peak physical condition or damn near close to it. It's not hard at all to injure yourself from training too much. I did it twice last year, one time had me on the sidelines for a month where I couldn't even walk without limping.

That is not "over training". Training poorly will result in injuries regardless of the frequency of your training sessions. There are countless examples of people in all different kinds of athletic pursuits that train multiple times a day 5, 6, or 7 days a week without problems.

The key factors here are using proper form for whatever exercises you engage in and slowly increasing the frequency you train. I try to get into the gym and lift heavy five days a week. It took me a few years to be able to be able to train that often comfortably. And If I do develop problems or if I'm dieting the intensity I train at will vary between sessions. I'm nothing special, just a fat man creeping up on middle age. I would have never reached my physical goals if I worried about training too often. I studied proper technique and increased the quality of my diet and the amount of sleep I get rather than take more days off.

 

[neocpp]

Not debatable, if you over train you will more than likely injure yourself unless you're in peak physical condition or damn near close to it. It's not hard at all to injure yourself from training too much. I did it twice last year, one time had me on the sidelines for a month where I couldn't even walk without limping.

Interesting, so you actually developed acute pains from overtraining? For me it was more like sudden inability to perform at the level I was used to. One day I just went from feeling great to feeling like crap -- I felt like I had no power in my legs, and even a single 8 minute mile was taxing -- and that didn't go away for a couple of weeks or so. Even after that I wasn't in nearly as good condition as before the overtraining kicked in.

When I wasn't training though, I felt fine -- no pains or anything unusual.

 

[Sixguns]

I know that if I push my workout really hard for too long it starts to seem like my progress goes backwards. This week had been one of those weeks.

 

[Bateluer]

Interesting, so you actually developed acute pains from overtraining? For me it was more like sudden inability to perform at the level I was used to. One day I just went from feeling great to feeling like crap -- I felt like I had no power in my legs, and even a single 8 minute mile was taxing -- and that didn't go away for a couple of weeks or so. Even after that I wasn't in nearly as good condition as before the overtraining kicked in.

When I wasn't training though, I felt fine -- no pains or anything unusual.

Yep, thats the first part of over training. When you've hit that 'stage', its very possible to cause an injury by trying to over do it.

I've railed on here about mediocrity before, and I've said many times that a person cannot go from being nothing to a top notch athlete over night, regardless of sport or activity. Its taken me years to get to the point where I can run 10 miles a day without really thinking about it. There's no way a new runner will be able to do that, and trying to push to that level would certainly cause an injury.

I'm all for pushing your limits and improving, but we all have limitations. You have to know and trust your body when its giving you feedback. Getting an injury that puts you down for a length of time would be far more detrimental to your fitness goals than just taking a day or two to rest and let your body recover.

 

[RbSX]

I've noticed that I've been far more sick this year since I've been going to the gym more often, but I suspect it's related to physically stressing my body more, as well as being stressed mentally with school. It's also been a particularly vicious cold season up here.

A combination of all 3 things is likely.

 

[neocpp]

I know that if I push my workout really hard for too long it starts to seem like my progress goes backwards. This week had been one of those weeks.

Ah yes, this is a classic. I find that if you take a bit of time off, or do lower intensity stuff at this time instead of trying to push it, you'll actually be a lot stronger the next week or so. Some of my best races have come right after a week of not feeling very fast.

 

[QueBert]

Interesting, so you actually developed acute pains from overtraining? For me it was more like sudden inability to perform at the level I was used to. One day I just went from feeling great to feeling like crap -- I felt like I had no power in my legs, and even a single 8 minute mile was taxing -- and that didn't go away for a couple of weeks or so. Even after that I wasn't in nearly as good condition as before the overtraining kicked in.

When I wasn't training though, I felt fine -- no pains or anything unusual.

Yep I overdid it, and end up paying for it. Others on here will say I wasn't training properly. But that wasn't the reasoning at all. My legs were just unable to take the stress of me running as often as I did, and I was side-lined for a month. I ignored recovery times and ended up paying for it. I suppose not giving your body time to recover is technically training poorly though hummmm. Whatever the case over-training was my downfall.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

A person should be encouraged to push their potential rather than be encouraged to embrace mediocrity. The human body is capable of an enormous workload when given enough sleep and food.

This is lol-worthy. Overtraining is a well studied phenomenon. The precursor to that is called overreaching. Prior to that is where optimal gains are made. You can push it, but you can push it too hard and start to cause damage. Overtraining is a reality. What you're saying about that is unfounded. Granted, I agree people should push themselves, but only after they start at a comfortable level. Bone, muscle, tendons, ligaments, cartilage must all adapt to the newfound loads. It has to happen gradually to avoid damage. There's an optimal pace at which to do this, which is hard to actually find. Slower is safer, when in doubt. If you're not competing, there's no need to push yourself to the risk of injury.