Should you workout if you're sick? 🤒

20 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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1:01

In this concise video, fitness coach Eric Roberts advises viewers on exercising while ill. He first stresses that if you are early in an illness and still contagious, you should avoid public gyms out of courtesy. He then addresses the common fear of losing progress, explaining that missing a few days of training won’t derail long‑term gains, whereas pushing hard while the body is already fighting infection can prolong the sickness and actually cause a loss of progress. Finally, he recommends focusing on recovery: stay hydrated, consume adequate protein and carbohydrates, and don’t obsess over staying in a calorie deficit if appetite is low. The overall message is to prioritize health and recovery over short‑term workouts when sick.

Chapters

The next time you get sick and you're debating whether you should work out or not, first, if it's early on and you're still contagious, you should be courteous of other people and not go to a public gym. Second, I know a lot of people freak out because you think you're going to ruin your progress, myself included. I've had to skip the last 2 days of workouts and I'm pretty pissed about it. But you need to remember, if you were to go push yourself right now when you're sick, Your body's already trying to recover and it can't. So if you pile on more on top of that, you're just going to prolong your sickness and not being able to work out. And that's how you would start to end up losing progress, not by missing a couple of days or even a week. And the last part, don't overly worry about eating in a calorie deficit. You might because you might not have an appetite, but you should be trying to recover by staying hydrated, eating good protein and carbohydrates, and fully focusing on recovery. Hope it helped.