{"id":790,"date":"2012-01-23T01:40:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/firefighter-fitness-should-you-exercise-while-your-sick\/"},"modified":"2012-01-23T01:40:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-23T01:40:00","slug":"firefighter-fitness-should-you-exercise-while-your-sick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/2012\/01\/firefighter-fitness-should-you-exercise-while-your-sick\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighter Fitness- Should You Exercise While You're Sick?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of the year.\u00a0 The flu bug is in full affect and is probably making its way through a firehouse near you.\u00a0 We get exposed to lots of different viruses through EMS responses, hospital transports and via the close confines of the firehouse.\u00a0 I get a lot of people asking me if they should try to exercise while they are battling the flu or the cold.<\/p>\n

\n
\u00a0According to the American College of Sports Medicine, the general rule of thumb is that if your symptoms are from the neck up; then \u201cyes\u201d give your workout a go.\u00a0 If your symptoms are below; then \u201cno.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Here\u2019s what I mean:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If you have a common cold, runny nose, sore throat, and\/or NO fever, then light to moderate exercise is generally \u201cok.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If your illness involves body aches, fever, diarrhea, weakness, swollen lymph nodes, and\/ or fatigue then it’s best to \u201cREST.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>Recommendations to help you get through a workout when you have a cold:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
    \n
  • Hydrate!\u00a0\u00a0Shoot for half your body weight in ounces of water per day<\/li>\n
  • Stretch:\u00a0increases circulation<\/li>\n
  • Light cardio:\u00a0Cardiovascular exercise causes vasodilatation or widening of the blood vessels to help clear up sinuses and cold symptoms.<\/li>\n
  • Slow down:\u00a0Decrease intensity &\u00a0duration<\/li>\n
  • Germs:\u00a0Bring your own towel and water bottle and keep your germs to yourself!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    <\/div>\n
    Here are some tips to prevent getting the cold or flu:<\/span><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
      \n
    • WASH YOUR HANDS!\u00a0 Keeping hands clean through improved hand hygiene is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others.<\/li>\n
    • Rest!\u00a0Sleep as much as possible to allow the body to recover!<\/li>\n
    • Increase antioxidants:\u00a0load up on fruits and vegetables; focus on Vitamins A, C, E and Selenium<\/li>\n
    • Cut sugar & caffeine:\u00a0Both have been shown to weaken the immune system<\/li>\n
    • Eliminate alcohol:\u00a0I\u2019m not saying to quit, I\u2019m just saying alcohol weakens the immune system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      <\/div>\n
      The bottom line is that you must \u201clisten\u201d to your body. \u00a0\u00a0Personally, if I’m not feeling too bad, then I like to get a light cardio workout in to increase blood flow and circulation. If I choose to do strength work, I perform a low intensity workout to prevent too much muscle\/body breakdown.<\/div>\n
      Hope these help.<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      Stay Safe and healthy!<\/div>\n
      Aaron Zamzow<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      It\u2019s that time of the year.\u00a0 The flu bug is in full affect and is probably making its way through a firehouse near you.\u00a0 We get exposed to lots of different viruses through EMS responses, hospital transports and via the close confines of the firehouse.\u00a0 I get a lot of people asking me if they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,24,22,25,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fire-rescue-fitness","category-firefighter-core-fitness","category-firefighter-heart-health","category-flu-prevention","category-paramedic-health"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAEPz-cK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/sick-teddy-bear.jpg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firerescuefitness.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}