Working out after illness

I apologize for being away so long. I went on a trip to Kenya (more on that in a different post) and caught a horrible upper respiratory as well as a stomach infection while coming home.  It was three weeks before I could start working out again.

I started working out again this past Wednesday.  I started with working the stairs at my office building at lunch.  I did all 13 floors (up and down).  My calves and hamstrings were quite sore on Thursday but that did not stop me for walking the stairs again.  I completed 18 floors on this day. I was not sore once I completed that walk.  Friday was an off day.  I wanted to complete a more hard core cardio workout on Saturday so I picked Chalean's Extreme Burn It Off DVD.  That is a rocking 30 minute cardio workout.  It felt good but challenging.  I completed a full body workout on Sunday with light weights.  I haven't worked out more than 30 minutes yet since I am not at 100% health.

All in all, it is hard for even the most fit to get back into working out after illness.  I have wanted to work out but I was just not able.  I think you have to know when you just cannot work out.  Some rules I thumb that I have used for myself is if it is from the neck up with no temperature, that I will do a light workout.  If it is below the neck then I will wait it out and then increase the intensity as my body can handle.

The take away should be that you have got to listen to your body.  Just because you don't work out for a week or two doesn't mean that your body is immediately going to fall apart.  You have to listen to your body because you can make it worse by trying to do too much.

Stay healthy and see you at the gym.