think i'm coming down with something...

[Chris Lee]

so for the last 4 days my throat has been increasingly sore and raw, and getting more swollen by the hour. today when i woke up, all i could eat was yogurt and olive oil, and had a fever, so i went back to bed and slept through my one wednesday class. figuring that i was coming down with strep throat (it's been goin around here), i decided to use good ol' dr. sarge's cure-all home remedy. so when i woke back up at 3:30, i downed some olive oil and protein, some ibuprofen, and headed to the gym. after my normal pressing routine (cleans up to a heavy triple, jerks from the rack up to a heavy single, pressing for 3 sets of 5, then one set of 10) i went ahead and hit a 20 rep front squat with 198. by the end i was ready to throw up, but held it back considering how bad it would hurt my throat.

so, i was thinking about it today, and even though there is no medical backing behind this, i have a theory. i know that probably anyone involved in medicine would completely disagree with this, but i'm going to put it out there anyways. as we all know, fevers serve a valuable purpose, they put our bodies up to a temperature that most viruses cant survive, and mobilize white blood cells and antibodies to help rid our bodies of the virus. this got me to thinking that perhaps workouts can almost put our bodies into a state of fever, which can help with illnesses. workouts heat up our bodies, and increase circulation, much like a fever, but on a lower scale. now you're probably thinking that fatigue is terrible while youre sick, but think about how fatiguing it is to have a fever. the amount of energy it takes for your body to heat itself up 4 or 5 degrees is enormous, when was the last time you were even over 100 degrees after a workout? i think the main reason the fatigue affects people when theyre sick is because they fail to eat, but if you're still taking in a lot of food and fluids, it shouldnt be so bad. this could be one of the reasons jesse was able to workout with a terrible infection ove the summer, while most people are put into the hospital with it. i also know that sarge has always been an advocate of workouts to get yourself better from injury or illness. all in all, i guess what im saying is that i think a lot of what we think we can or cant do, is either in our heads, or just blindly accepted because of the medical community. all in all, i feel really good right now, aside from my throat, whereas normally i feel completely bed-ridden and sore when i have strep throat.

[Ian Duggan]

I'm no medical expert, in fact I'm about as far from a medical expert as you can get, but my experience with training whilst ill has been similar to yours, with one important addition.

I've found that if I train when ill I'll feel better afterwards for a short while, then crappy again. Also, I've found that the illness then takes longer to go away. A bug that would have been gone in three days if I'd stayed in bed has lasted for a week or more when I've tried to fight through it. i.e. it's had a positive short-term effect, and a negative long-term one.

Having said that, the majority of my past experience has been cardio so that might have a different effect.

Just listen to your body and do what feels best I guess would be my own philosophy.

Hope you feel 100% again soon/

[Chris Lee]

thanks bro, that could be true for me, too, as its only been a matter of hours since i trained. however, i'm still feeling pretty good, i couldve just been experiencing the release of endorphins, however, i'm still holding onto my hopes. overall, i dont really expect my theory to be physiologically true, but more psychology true. i think the state of well being that i feel from working through something like this, as opposed to just laying in bed will really be more responsible for how quickly i get better.

[Ian Duggan]

Yeah, that post-workout buzz can cure pretty much all ills. Sometimes lying in bed feeling sorry for yourself can definitely make you feel worse.

I'm sure there is something to be said for exercise stimulating the immune system. Plus I would think the kind of attitude you've obviously got to training can only do you good in the long term.

[Matt Nickerson]

You guys are right on the money with this issue. I always feel so much better when I'm messed up from a hard workout to go right back at it. I'll start to bitch to myself, but I finally sack up, shut up, and lift, reaping the rewards of progressing and feeling better. Its just like when you got a massive headache from drinking a lot and you start drinking again to get rid of the headache. Good post Chris.

[christopher smith]

Hey Chris what were you doing the night before your throat started hurting.

[Chris Lee]

i was out at a party with some buddies, nothing too out of the ordinary. i've had strep throat quite a few times before, so i know the symptoms pretty well. the only thing is i dont have a flash light so i coudlnt check for the little white bumps in my throat. if it's not strep, it might be this other virus that ive had before, too. i had it when i competed at WABDL world's in 04, jesse can tell you, i wasnt in very good shape. i'm goin to get it checked out tomorrow, but either way, the main point of this thread was just to try to point out that sometimes, we arent really limited physically, just mentally, and that usually you can do a lot more than you think you can.