Its that time of year when the seasons change (although a little late this year), temperatures drop and people go crazy Christmas shopping. Along with those we sometimes top pick up bugs and get ill.

If you’re fit and healthy hopefully your superhuman immune system kicks in and destroys those bugs before you feel too bad. If you exercise regulary these colds and illnesses can get in the way of having a workout.

The question that always pops up and has many opinions is…..Should we train when we're ill?

Some say yes, and recommend doing loads of cardio to Sweat it out (never a good idea as this doesn’t work), while others say stay well clear, but what should we do if we get ill?

Carry on as normal or take a break until we're back to full strength.

Before I run through some recommendations here's a little bit about how exercise affects the immune system.

Just one session of prolonged vigorous exercise the body becomes more susceptible to infection. Running for miles on end for example will temporarily depresses the immune system for up to 72 hours.

Ever heard of endurance athletes getting sick after races (maybe you’ve had the same), thats why. You may not be an athlete but if you do lots of tough long exercise sessions your immune system is going to suppressed. If you keep performing lots of prolonged vigorous exercise each week you could actually be suppressing your immune system for weeks on end.

There is a plus side to vigorous exercise though.

If kept brief, your immune system isn't affected the same. In fact just one moderate intensity exercise session can actually boost your immunity in healthy people.

If exercising for long bouts isn't something you need to do switch to moderate exercise and some resistance training to help strengthen your immune system. Obviously when you're healthy and well.

When training for a long distance event, lets say a 10k run its best to have a mixture of long easy/moderate runs with a few shorter intense intervals to ensure your immure system doesn’t crash.

So what sort of illnesses are we talking about?

The most common ones are called Upper Respiratory Tract Invaders.

colds
coughs
throat infections and middle ear infections
The dreaded flu
sinusitis
tonsillitis

All these can make us feel pretty poop, but does that mean we should call in sick and head straight to bed? Depends on the person, although I’m sure some of you have fellow co-workers that love any excuse to get off work.

With a mild illnesses you can go about your day as normal with a little sniffle and moan to the people around you. Should we train with a common cold then?

First of any form of low intensity exercise like walking (preferably outside), bike riding (the same), gardening etc. have all been shown to help you feel better. Even when you’re ill which is something to think about doing.

I'm not a doctor and I don't know your symptoms! These recommendations should be taken as that, common sense guidelines. Listen to your body and decide if your able to workout or not.

Another thing to think about is do you really want to spread though germs around making other people sick?

Day 1 of sickness isn't always the same as day 7 of sickness, ideally take each day as they come and make a judgement on that day.

Here's a few general recommendations based on the first week or so of illness.

Day 1 of illness:

Stick to low/moderate intensity exercise with symptoms like sore throat, coughing, runny or congested nose.

No exercise at all when experiencing muscle/joint pain, headache, fever, malaise, diarrhoea, vomiting. You're feeling like hell so why bother anyway.

Day 3 of illness:

If no fever or malaise and no worsening of “above the neck” symptoms: light exercise (6 out 10 intensity) for 30-45 minutes. This includes a mixture of resistance training and cardiovascular exercise.

If body temp >37.5-38 C, or increased chest discomfort, diarrhoea, vomiting, do not exercise.

Day 5 of illness:

If no fever/malaise, and no worsening of initial symptoms: moderate exercise up to 7 out 10 intensity) for 45-60 min. This includes a mixture of resistance training and cardiovascular exercise.

If fever and symptoms still present: Go see your doctor. you’re probably feeling like hell so get it sorted.

Day 7 of illness:

If fever and other symptoms improved, wait 24 hours, then return to exercise.

If new symptoms appear, go to doctor (can you see some common sense coming in to this?)

If no symptom relief, no exercise, go to your doctor.

Look as I said earlier I'm no doctor but some illnesses can indicate some serious infections so use commons sense. If you're not improving go see someone.

I'd also recommend you ease back in to exercise too.

Keep it in proportion to the length you're ill for. If you were sick for 5 days, take 5 days to slowly build back up. Don’t be a arse and destroy yourself on the first session as you’ll most likely prolong the illness or make it worse.

Types of exercises to avoid

Endurance training at vigorous intensity
High intensity interval training
Lots of volume (sets and exercises) resistance training
Sprinting or power activities
Heavy strength training (max effort type work)
Team sports (because you do a mixture of some of the above, plus you’re going to spread germs to your team mates)

Types of exercise you could do

Moderate exercise that doesn't push your heart rate high (anything 8 out of 10 or more is a no, no)
Low intensity cardio work e.g. Walking etc. (up to 7 out of 10 if you’re not feeling too bad)
Low/Moderate intensity resistance training. I’d recommend reducing the weights and performing less sets. You can do the same resistance workouts but reduce everything by 50%. Don’t worry you won’t lose muscle if you have some easy days, you may see some benefits too.

Your symptoms should be your guide. If you feel like training go for it, just keep it low/moderate intensity. Really the aim is to get some blood pumping and make you feel less like poop.

If you can only manage a light walk for 15 mins then thats ok too. Do what feels best.

If you're got the worse man flu ever there's nothing wrong with putting your feet up and binge watching Game of Thrones either.

Should I Exercise When I'm Ill?