We are in the middle of flu season, and people are passing around bugs like it’s March 2020. I caught it, you caught it, we all caught it, now the question is what should you do about it?

You have been diligently working on your goals, improving your fitness, losing weight, and becoming a better human. Do you give up the momentum? Do you keep grinding, hitting maxes and maintaining the same schedule?

If you are sick, you are sick, and your primary goal should be to get better. For me, a secondary goal exists, and that is to keep momentum on goals so that I emerge with the same gusto I started with.

Priorities

To achieve your goals and life’s purpose, you need to survive the bug, so that is your number one priority. Your first objective while sick is to get better, by following your doctor’s instructions.

You should go to the doctor and get the medicine and instructions you need to make it through to the other side, as fast as possible.

The hardest aspect of achieving your goals is building and executing the habit, especially in the face of adversity. Adversity in this case is a virus that infected you, doing its best to use your body to propagate itself and spread to others. If you are going to continue your good habits, you need a plan for what to do when it gets hard.

Your second objective while sick is to maintain nutrition, so that you can do a better job of maintaining your muscle. Continue to hit your protein targets and eat nutritious whole food.

Your third objective while sick is to not totally reset your life and lose all of the good habits that you are trying to use to build yourself into a better person. That’s what this post is all about.

Introducing the Minimum Viable Workout

When I am sick, I try to do what I call a Minimum Viable Workout. I define this as the least amount of input that still comprises of doing the task and fulfilling the habit, so that I can check it as “done” in my to-do list. Your goal with a minimum viable workout is SOLELY mental, to prove to yourself that you are going to stick with the habit even when times get hard.

I will provide examples for a minimum viable workout in a following section, but you should NOT overdo it. This is just as bad as not showing up at all. You should not go try to set a new squat personal record (PR), nor should you go run 15 miles.

Levels of Sick

There are levels to being sick, ranging from mild to moderate to severe.

If you are mildly sick, maybe with a light headache or runny nose, and you still feel alright, exercise is still possible and is encouraged. When I do not feel bad enough to go to the doctor, I continue my same routine of lifting and running. I do fewer auxiliary exercises and I reduce the weight for compound lifts.

If you are moderately sick, it may feel comparable to a hangover, with significant fatigue, body aches, and low energy among other symptoms. Your body is taking resources away from exercise recovery and putting them towards sickness recovery. It is increasingly important to not overdo it, as increased physical stress will delay your recovery,

If you have a severe illness, for example a fever, the flu, or worse and you can barely get out of bed, exercise is ill-advised. You do NOT want to be expending resources recovering from an intense workout. The Mayo Clinic recommends not exercising at all if you have a fever or fatigue. When I have the flu, I do a very minimalist workout involving light weights and almost no reps.

Example Minimum Viable Workout

A minimum viable workout is the least that you can do while still claiming you did your best, without impacting recovery from illness. It is enough for you to keep your habit and not fall off of the wagon, losing progress on your goal.

Mildly Sick Workout Structure

If you are mildly sick, at the level where you would still go to work and not need to go to the doctor, you want to make sure that you are not going after a personal record. You do not want to do anything crazy, and you do not need to push yourself. Instead of increasing fitness, think of this workout as preventing you from decreasing fitness.

If your leg day normally looks like this:

• Low Back Squat 3 sets x 10 reps x 250lbs
• Calf Raise 3 sets x 20 reps x 225lbs
• Lunge 3 sets x 10 reps x 80lbs

You are going to want to reduce volume majorly. A good way to do that would be to reduce the main lift to 2 sets of lower reps at a lower weight and reduce the assistance lifts to 1 set at a lower weight.

Your new leg day if you are mildly sick would look like this:

• Low Back Squat 2 sets x 8 reps x 225lbs
• Calf Raise 1 set x 20 reps x 135lbs
• Lunge 1 set x 10 reps x 40lbs

The calf raise and lunge are optional here, and your goal is to reduce recovery needs without getting weaker.

Moderately Sick Workout Structure

You are starting to take a turn for the worse, and here is where it starts to get dicey. You need to follow your doctor’s instructions. If you do a significant workout here, you will most definitely get sicker. You need to significantly reduce volume. I normally cut assistance lifts out entirely and perform only the compound lift, at a low number of sets, reps, and weight on the bar.

Following the same normal leg day from the previous section, here is what your new leg day might look like if you are moderately sick:

• Low Back Squat 1 set x 5-8 reps x 185-205lbs

You need to really make sure you do not impact recovery by overdoing it.

Severely Sick Workout Structure

If you are severely sick, go to the doctor. Please do not work out with a heavy load and make yourself sicker, or even worse, pass out. Your level of sickness will dictate how much you lift, but it should be totally minimal and in accordance with your doctor’s orders. When I am severely sick, for example on the worst day or two of having the flu, I lift very light or even bodyweight.

Here is what your leg day might be reduced to if you are severely sick:

• Low Back Squat 1 set x 5 reps x 45lbs (the bar)

If you do not have a home gym, another option is:

• Bodyweight Back Squat 1 set x 8 reps

That’s it! Do not make yourself sicker by pushing in any way. Your only goal here is habit continuity, not to make gains.

What About Cardio?

If you are sick, you do not need to be running anaerobic intervals and stressing out your heart. I still like to get out and get the blood moving so I feel better, dependent on level of sickness.

When I am mildly sick, I continue my running schedule, but I dial it back a little bit. If I planned on a tempo run, I might run a foundation run instead. If I planned a foundation run, I’ll run a recovery run instead. Whatever run I planned I dial it back a notch on intensity and I also run for a shorter duration.

When I am moderately sick, I still run according to schedule. At this point, every run is a recovery run intensity, and they are often cut short. Think 10-30 minutes max depending on how I am feeling. I try not to stress out my hard too much, but this is a great opportunity to drain snot.

When I am severely sick, I just go on short walks, or maybe a 5-10 minute slow jog if I am starting to feel better. This is where cardio can be dangerous, you do not want to stress out your heart, pass out in a ditch, or delay your recovery.

Tips

Make sure that you hit protein intake goals, even if you are sick.

Working out too hard can delay recovery from sickness.

Make sure you stay hydrated.

Avoid drinking alcohol, especially while you are sick.

It can be good to go get some light exercise to get blood moving, keep you focused on eating, and drain some of that snot out.

Please do not go to a public gym if you are sick. Use your home gym or focus on bodyweight exercises at home.

Go to the doctor before you try any of this. You should always follow your doctor’s recommendations or orders.

Summary

If you are trying to implement fitness into your life, you need to make sure you do not quit when it gets hard. You also need to ensure that you do not push through and do your standard workout, increasing recovery toll and making yourself sicker. If you do as I do and continue your training by implementing a minimum viable workout, make sure you talk to run it by your doctor so that you can recover without losing progress on your habits.