HEALTH
wellness
If you’re under the weather, exercise might be just the prescription — or a huge mistake. Here’s how to make the call.
WORK OUT OR SIT OUT?
BY CHRISTINA FRANGOU
Fitness trainers make their living by getting people to move. But every so often, they deliver this unexpected bit of advice: go home, veg out. Sometimes, the body needs a rest, says Dean Somerset, a personal trainer and the medical and rehabilitation coordinator for World Heath Clubs. The challenge is learning to recognize when you need to rest and when you can push on through. “There are things you can train through or train around. It’s important to know the signs that something’s not quite right. Your body is telling you to stop or else something might go wrong.” Below, fitness trainers give a head-to-toe rundown on when you can work out and when you should sit out.
A Head Cold: Work out. But, a caution: adjust your workouts to your cold. “A head cold isn’t something that means you shouldn’t work out at all. I’d say just change how you work out,” says Somerset. He recommends replacing high-intensity workouts with easier exercises like walking or riding a bike. “You want to get moving and allow your lungs and sinuses to expand a bit. It’ll help you heal up a little faster than if you were just sitting on the couch.” If your head cold moves into your chest, cool it on the exercise, says Stephen Cornish, a researcher in kinesiology at Athabasca
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