There was lots of reader feedback about last week’s tip, and everyone who wrote in wanted to emphasize an additional reason for not training while sick: not making everyone else at the club sick too! While I didn’t mention this point myself last week I am in complete agreement with watching out for your training partner’s health and welfare.

One reader summed it up by saying:
“A sickness or an injury that prevents us from doing something we enjoyand makes us feel great can be extremely frustrating particularly as we get older and a break from training can really make it a lot harder to get back up to full fitness.

Another very important consideration is that of the health of others in the dojo. Turning up to train and having your partner sniffle,cough or worse still tell you “my throat is on fire” while grappling is unpleasant and a recipe for spreading the ilness to other training partners. Yeah I know it’s not an old school way of thinking but training time for me is precious (as thefamily has to come first) so having someone in the dojo keep me out of action by bringing along a cold or flu is inconsiderate.

Don’t get me wrong, after a sickness or injury I am champing at the bit to get back at it but like you, this old dog has found that taking just a little extra time to rest and heal generally means the illness does not prolong and that others are not put at risk”

This phenomenon seems worst around competition time: everyone is training hard and a little worn down, and nobody wants to take a break from training. I can’t count the number of times I have seen a sick person ‘helping’ a serious competitor by training with them right before the competition. I have seen this happen to high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu, submission grappling, and high-level mixed martial arts competitors, so no one is immune.

This is GRAPPLING folks, and your flu germ will quickly become your partner’s flu germs.