Only train healthy!! I remember a time when I was training and the girl I partnered with hacked into her arm, told me, “I’m sooo sick,” and then proceeded to work on clinching with me for the rest of class. Needless to say, my attempt at holding my breath the entire class was a bust and I ended up getting sick, losing a week of my training time to sickness and another week to taking care of my kids who ended up with the same cold the next week.
If you haven’t already had a severe cold or the flu this season, you undoubtedly know someone who has been in bed for a week or more. I know entire families who have been impacted for weeks with illness. It can be tempting to work out when you’re sick, either when you first feel it coming on or when you’ve had it awhile and you’re feeling better but still not 100% well. I know it’s boring and cabin fever can set in, but please do yourself and your training partners a favor and stay away if you’re feeling under the weather at all! This is especially important when you first feel that sore throat or general malaise that means an illness is imminent…you’re very contagious at this early stage! Martial arts training isn’t like other sports; there’s too much contact to train while sick. Close contact in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu BJJ, Mixed Martial Arts MMA, and Krav Maga is a given, but you can get someone sick in Muay Thai kickboxing too between breathing and sweating and exchanging pads and mitts. Make it a rule for yourself, and only train healthy.
If you really feel that “sweating it out” is the best thing for your body, go for a run! Nobody likes to miss martial arts training, but we promise you that we will be here when you recover and are ready to train healthy. If everyone follows this simple rule then we’ll all be healthier and training more; we all have health and fitness goals, and we need to take care of ourselves and each other so that everyone is successful.
~Katie Toney
Elite Training Center
1628 South Pacific Coast Highway,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 543-1600
www.elitetrainingcenter.net
