Too Sick to Quit

Being sick sucks.

Following my bomb session last week, my allergies hit HARD. At least at the time I thought they were allergies. As the weekend progressed, my allergies turned into a relentlessly hideous cold. However, despite all of that I still played sand volleyball on Saturday, which may not have been the smartest thing. Long story short, by Sunday I was completely gone: I couldn't breathe like a normal living being, my body ached (mostly likely from volleyball, but also from the cold), and I was so drugged up that there was no use in trying to go anywhere or do anything. So obviously I didn't get any work outs in between my last session on Wednesday and Monday when I had my next session (I had to move my session to Monday this week because I got asked to work on Wednesday, and like an idiot I agreed -_-).

Anyways, despite being super sick, on Memorial Day I geared up and hit the gym with my trainer. BIG MISTAKE. I was so weak from being sick that I could only do one set of pushups, squats and barbell lifts. I felt so pathetic and I wanted to quit because I felt like I was being judged by all the buff guys around me who could basically do my workout with their eyes closed. However, my trainer was super supportive and pushed me just enough to get through that one set. He then suggested that we learn how to deadlift with a super light weight so we could rest a little and focus on form. We did this for about 10 minutes and then moved on to HIIT training. Again. BIG MISTAKE.

My trainer said that the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) training would go a lot faster which would be nice since I was sick. Did it go a lot faster? Yes. Did it nearly kill me? Yes. But I did it anyway. The HIIT training was extremely fast paced, but it allowed me to get through multiple exercises really fast without thinking of my current state of weakness. Yeah sure I was basically dead by the end of it, but I felt like a champion because I didn't quit. My mental state had been boosted to the point where I didn't want to finish the workout right then, but I also knew that I was physically in no condition to continue without doing myself more harm than good. So I walked out feeling pretty alright.

I want to point out that despite being sick, I still went to the gym. That in itself is a huge step. A month ago, my lazy "athletic" butt would have used the sickness as an excuse to cancel my session and just stay home. I may not be perfect at working out consistently...yet. But at least my state of mind is slowly changing. And for right now, that's a win.