What to Do When You're Sick (and When to Come Back)

This isn't medical advice

None of this replaces a doctor. If you've got a fever, chest pain, trouble breathing, or anything that feels more serious than a normal cold, see a doctor instead of reading an article about it. What follows is a general way to think about training around common, run-of-the-mill sickness — not guidance for anything serious.

The neck check

A simple rule a lot of guys use: if your symptoms are above the neck — stuffy nose, sneezing, mild sore throat, a bit of a headache — light to moderate training is usually fine and some guys feel better after moving around. If your symptoms are below the neck — chest congestion, body aches, upset stomach, or you've got a fever — skip the gym and let your body deal with the actual problem.

This isn't a medical rule, it's a rough gut check guys use to decide between a workout and the couch. When in doubt, rest and check with a doctor if anything feels off or doesn't improve.

What to do on an above-the-neck day

• Cut the session shorter than your normal 40-60 minutes — aim for half that if you're going in at all.
• Drop the intensity. Skip training to true failure and the drop sets; leave a couple reps in the tank instead.
• Keep the exercise selection simple — stick to lifts you know well rather than anything technical.
• Skip it entirely if fifteen minutes in you feel worse, not better. Going in doesn't obligate you to finish.

What to do on a fever or below-the-neck day

Skip training completely. This isn't about toughness — training hard while your body is fighting something off just means you recover slower from both the sickness and the workout. There's no version of pushing through a fever that pays off later. Rest, fluids, food if you can manage it, and a doctor's visit if things don't improve or get worse.

Walking is usually fine if you feel up to it and don't have a fever, but even that's optional. There's no step count or workout that's worth prioritizing over actually getting better.

Don't try to make up missed sessions

A week of being sick means a week of lighter training or no training. That's it. Don't try to cram two missed sessions into one day once you're back, and don't extend your split awkwardly to 'catch up.' Just resume the next session in rotation — Upper A, Lower A, Upper B, Lower B — whenever you're actually ready.

The math on a missed week is smaller than it feels in the moment. One off week against months of consistent training barely moves the needle. Treating it like a crisis and overcompensating does more damage than the illness did.

Coming back after a longer illness

If you were out for more than a week — the flu, a bad stomach bug, anything that kept you in bed — ease back in rather than jumping straight to your old working weights. Run your first session back at roughly 80% of your last logged weights, skip the drop sets for that one session, and see how your body responds the next day.

If that first session felt fine and recovery the next day was normal, go straight back to full intensity on the next one. If you're still feeling off, give it one more lighter session before going back to true failure work.

Protein and food while you're sick

Appetite usually drops when you're sick, and that's normal — don't force a full 0.8-1g per pound protein target if food isn't appealing. Eat what you can keep down, prioritize fluids, and don't worry about the deficit or your Cut numbers for a few days. A short stretch of under-eating because you're sick isn't the same as a planned deficit, and it's not worth tracking closely while you're focused on getting better.

The bigger point

Missing a week for a real illness isn't a failure of the plan — it's the plan working the way it's supposed to, because the plan assumes you have a life and a body that sometimes needs a break. Rest when you're sick, see a doctor when something feels serious, and get back to the logbook once you're actually ready. That's the whole approach.

Kids bring home more than toys

Having young kids means more exposure to common colds than most adults without kids deal with, simply because kids are walking germ factories at school and daycare. That's not a reason to train through everything — it's a reason to expect a few short interruptions a year and not treat each one as some kind of setback in your plan. Build the expectation into how you think about consistency: most weeks you'll train four times, a handful of weeks a year you won't, and that's a completely normal year, not a failed one.

When to actually call a doctor

Most colds don't need a doctor's visit. But a fever over 102°F, symptoms lasting more than ten days without improving, chest pain, serious shortness of breath, or anything that feels unusual for you is worth getting checked out rather than guessed at. Training decisions are a small detail next to actually figuring out what's wrong. When in doubt, call.