Can you exercise with a sinus infection?

Can I exercise with sinus infection and cough?

• I have a sinus infection I'm recovering from but I still have a bad cough and heavy mucus. I really want to exercise again because its been too long and its affecting my mood. Can I? Will it be bad for my chest?

• Answer:

  There are 3 components to any good work out: weightlifting, cardiovascular training, and stretching. When you do cardio your breathing becomes laboured, which will most likely make your cough and sinuses worse, but weightlifting and stretching are not generally accompanied by heavy breathing, so these should be OK. Don't work too hard, lift more than 70% of what you normally would in any given weighted excercise, and take 2 or 3 times more breaks than you normally would to keep your heart rate down. work out slowly, take extra care on the bench press, don't do any clean & jerk, and drink lots of room temp water with a squeeze of lemon juice.