anyone recovering from illness?

[bzar]

question: after a brief illness, what workout or rotation did you plan for yourself?

i am finally recovering from a bad cold. this is i think my 7th straight day of not working out. the kids brought home a cold and i was the last person to get it. i rarely get this sick - i took 3 days of leave just to rest, go to the doc.

this illness was weird. it started as a sore throat, then turned into a sinus infection. part of it stayed in my sinuses and part of it traveled to my chest. no fever, though. the headaches are still there but respond to ibuprofen. i am also responding to the antibiotics that the doc gave me. at least i can breathe w/out congestion.

mentally i'm not even worried about working out or what rotation i will be doing. but i know i have to get back into it. i spent today doing some minor housework and fixing the screens on the windows. i had to lie down and take a nap because my head started to ache.

[darbyndoug]

Yes, I had the "stomach virus diet" last week... it lasted about 24 hours, but wiped me out for several days. I've been just trying to ease back into working out gently, listening to my body. I started out just walking the dogs (which I do every day), and leaving it at that, then incorporating some gentle yoga (not power!!) late in the day. Yesterday, I did about 25 mins of the prevention 3-2-1 workout, which is an intermediate workout for me.

So take it day by day, and listen to your body. My two cents!

Take care and feel better.

[Carol_is_fit]

I had a nasty bout of the flu and bronchitis (GREAT combo!!) about a month ago. I missed an entire week of work. I also skipped four of my scheduled six workouts that week. In all reality, I had no business doing the two I did. I was really, really sick. My trainer was quite peeved that I even tried, being as sick as I was. When I came back the following week, I was just fine. No setbacks. My new rule for myself: when I'm really and truly ill ... do NOT workout.

Carol

[Castella]

I'm in the same boat. Over a month ago (maybe even longer! I don't remember anymore) I got a bad cold that turned into a lingering sinus/cough situation. My energy levels have not bounced back.

I took it easy while the cold was in effect and it's been up and down since then. I do what I can, when I can. I thought I'd be well in STS by now but I just didn't have the energy to start the rotation. I decided to put it off a few more months. In the meantime, I'm incorporating some of the moves in my strength workouts. When I feel up to it, I left heavy, but in general I've been lowering my weights and the duration of my workouts to avoid exhaustation. I sort of eased back into working out and have kept my expectations of myself fairly low. That doesn't mean I don't push myself, but it's a balancing act, I don't want to push myself back into illness.

[ssgilby]

Jeannine - I had a nasty bug earlier this winter. It kept morphing from one thing to the other, and I was sick with it for 8 weeks! Grrr. However, it did teach me some things. First, I went that whole time without working out at all except for some really gentle yoga and stretching, and I didn't die or turn into a big blob! I actually lost weight and inches yet kept my tone. Second, other than the illness, I felt good. My body felt like it was getting rest, I didn't have constant DOMS (other than body aches at times from my illness), and mentally I felt good. When I felt good enough to ease back into working out, I started out with some good ol' Leslie. For about three weeks I just did 3-4 Leslie w/os a week, and then I started adding in barre-type workous. I loved that type of rotation so much, and I felt so great, that I've been continuing it ever since with results!

Anyway, hope you feel better soon! Listen to your body, and ease back into things slowly. Even if you start feeling really good, don't push it!

[KathAL79]

I've recovered from a few illnesses lately, including two rounds of sinus infection last fall. Yuck!

When I'm working back up to my normal level, I try to go easier on myself, but invariably I seem to push myself too quickly, setting my recovery back half a step.

Some things I like to do in my rebuilding rotations:
- core work: Strengthening the core (and mine tends to get weak pretty fast if I'm not doing anything) seems to help everything come along a little faster for me. I usually do Pilates for this.
- strength work: I'll start back with something easier or something more functional-oriented (e.g. TLT). I find strength comes back pretty quickly plus isn't usually as taxing (unless I'm at the gym for New Rules...).
- gentle cardio: Walking works best for me; Leslie becomes my good friend at these times. For whatever reason, cardio endurance takes more effort for me to rebuild.

This is also a great time to pull out those fusion workouts or other videos you can't normally get to (including the ones you love but are normally "too easy" or whatever) because they don't fit in your normal rotations.

[juberann]

Hope everyone is feeling better

I havn't had an "illness" but have recently experienced VERY SEVERE perimenopause symptoms (so it feels like being sick,I swear) and have had
Z E R O motivation to exercise. Easing back into it, I am taking things a little "slower",relying on Ellen Barrett,Debra Mazda and Leslie, nothing too terribly intense. I think it's so important to listen to your body,however, in peri and menopause I also feel exercise is VITAL so I have given myself permission to ease up a little bit . I take my 'rest' days without guilt and have come to the realization long,intense workouts are just not what I need right now,working more on the whole "mind-body" connection and Ellen is great for that Judy

[steakhousegirl]

I had a sinus infection in Jan. that came back in Feb. and I finally got meds to get rid of it. Last week I came down with shingles!

I just started STS 2 wks. ago and though I was tired at first I think it helped me feel more normal. All of the "rest" days I had were beneficial as well.

[KathAL79]

Originally Posted by steakhousegirl

I had a sinus infection in Jan. that came back in Feb. and I finally got meds to get rid of it. Last week I came down with shingles!

I had a sinus infection(s?) like that, too, this past fall.
Sorry to hear about your shingles! I had that in 6th grade (which was especially uncool because my best friend at the time had never had chicken pox, so I had to avoid her and her brother, who was in a number of my classes, for several weeks). Hope yours isn't too painful. Where's it showing up? Mine was basically on the bra line on my one side. Ick.

[bzar]

Originally Posted by ssgilby

My body felt like it was getting rest

yo Shel - i recall reading your posts about this - thanks for the reminder!

my episode is funny in the "watch out what you wish for" vein....i've been telling my check-in buddies that i needed to focus on sleep. well, i got my wish!

everyone - you're right - i want to do some fusion work and Leslie. i just received CLX last week but other than previewing her form pointers disk, i have no urgency to jump into CLX. i think i want to just study the materials in depth before actually doing the rotation.

this week, i'm thinking of just not even working out at all, continuing focus on my sleep patterns. i'm back at work, but just want to sustain my energy to be able to go to work. i'm not in pain or misery here at work - i just realize that it takes a lot of stamina to stay focused and productive.