We have this badge of honour that we all wear—how few sick days we’ve had in the last however many years.
If you’ve not been unwell in that time—good going! Your health and wellbeing routine is clearly working and keeping your immune system strong.
If you’ve been unwell during that time but still shown up, I’m not sure that’s something to be as proud of. The effort is impressive, but the inability to stop, rest, and recover is something that needs attention.
(I appreciate there are exceptions to this—sometimes our hands are forced—people working in medical and emergency services, those who are self-employed, etc. But if a system or business can’t operate without you for a few days, it raises larger questions.)
It’s the same with our health.
We can get so attached to our exercise routine that when we fall ill, we think we’ve “failed” if we don’t show up—irrespective of the costs. Which usually results in prolonging the illness, meaning we end up missing more time than if we just took a couple of days to recover. See this patronising and poorly thought-out math lesson for proof:
If we reframe what we are doing as a “self-care” routine and ask,
Is going to the gym when I feel unwell looking after myself? The answer is no.
Discipline is viewed as the commitment to pursue goals, regardless of obstacles or discomfort.
I’m reminded of a story: A guy running a marathon, around the 9th mile, suffers a stress fracture. He decides to keep going and finish the marathon. We are tempted to celebrate courageous efforts like this, despite the cost—in this case, it was months in a cast, rehabilitation, and one year out of exercise. (The story may have been exaggerated to emphasise a point.) Is that discipline? I’d argue it was ego.
True discipline also involves the wisdom to adapt, rest, or even step back when necessary. It’s the balance between persistence and self-awareness—knowing when to push forward and when to pause or quit for the sake of long-term success and well-being.
Anyway, here is The Thrive Approach to training when unwell:
Feeling less than 80%? Stay at home—you need to recover. Plus, no one at the gym wants whatever you’ve got. Rest up, drink lots of water, pop some vitamins and you’ll be back fighting fit in no time.
80-90% It’s fine to add some exercise back in, but take it easy—something to get a bit of sweat on your brow, get the heart rate up, and blood flowing. In this case, I like to suggest a machine-based resistance circuit (6-7/10 effort) or some low-to-moderate steady-state cardio.
With this approach, you’ll soon be back to 100% and ready to push on with your training again.