(BlackFitness101.com) There are people that show up to the gym sick. They believe the workout will boost their immune system helping them fight their cold or sinus issue. If the gym has a sauna they can be found there after the workout trying to sweat out the sickness. This might be understandable when you have something that won’t get everyone else sick. We also understand that there are those ultra-committed gym members that will fight through the rain and the snow to keep their workout regimen. The commitment is applauded, and inspiring, but not at the risk of the health of the person on the machine next to you. If you are a teacher or have children think about what happens when that group of parents sends their kids to school sick. They might think the activity will help the child fight the illness, but it just gets everyone around them sick.
There is a limit to working out. If you have the flu please stop coming to the gym until you get over that. If you have the flu you are contagious. When you are sick and have a fever you are contagious, but the flu doesn’t require a fever to contaminate everyone around you. The flu, as we all know, is constantly evolving. Every year flu season gets worse, and it is very dangerous when it’s introduced to the gym. In addition to just giving others the flu there is a demographic in the gym the flu could put in the hospital.
The flu is extremely dangerous for children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. When you look around the gym you will see elderly people there working out. You don’t want to send one of these people to the ER. In addition to them you don’t know who has a compromised immune system. Furthermore, depending on how weak you are…you could send yourself to the ER.
Let’s use wisdom when dealing with illness…especially something as contagious as the flu. It’s okay to get in the bed and get some rest while you are trying to get better. It is important that you don’t risk making your health worse in the name of trying to work out. Personally, I ran out the gym when I was told someone was there with the flu. It might have looked funny to see me running out, but I can’t afford to catch the flu or bring it home to my small children because someone wanted to workout while contagious.
Just as we need parents to keep their children with sickness and the flu at home…we need you to stay out of the gym. It might be necessary for gym staff to pay a bit of extra attention to the state of the members. If they notice there are people walking around clearly sick they could possibly be reminded to be courteous by not putting at risk of catching what they have. All of this could be avoided if gym members would be mindful of others and stay home with the flu.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.