I just got over the worst flu I’ve ever had in my life. I had a 102 degree fever for five days straight. And I actually thought the last time I got sick, about two years ago, was the worst I had when I got a 104 degree fever for three days and was on the verge of going to the Emergency Room several times throughout. I never went. I just felt like I was dying in my bed.
This time, the fever was lower but lasted longer and then I had this insane bronchial infection that felt like my chest was on fire. Three weeks later, I’m 10 pounds lighter and still coughing intermittently. Yeah, three friggin’ weeks with some sickness in me. WTF?
Normally I’m very healthy, except when I do stupid shit like stay up working until 5 a.m. writing fitness columns… I mean, ummm… Working on my blogs and answering emails. Whew! I think I dodged that bullet.
I’m not kidding, I’m usually never sick and I attribute it to putting the right foods, enzymes, and supplements in my body. Everything I eat, I know where it comes from. I have visited the farms to make sure it’s not bullshit. I drink green shakes and take vitamins sourced organically so I know my body is killing most of the bugs attacking it.
This year, I started to go back to the gym.
A small no-nonsense gym like the one I bought from my cousin when I was 18. What can I say? I’m nostalgic. I knew I was going to get sick because stupidity kept rearing its ugly head every time I was in the gym. Three people – let’s call them idiot boy, idiot girl, and idiot women – kept coming in to work out. Each of them had a cough and was sweating like a whore in the church – or just more than they should have been. Idiot girl was on the elliptical on some setting that resembled 10 and thought it was a good idea to cough in her sweaty hands and grasp on to the railings.
When she was done, she never wiped off the machine and walked over to the water fountain (I told you, old school) and put her sweaty, germ hands on the water fountain handle. Then, she went over to the dumbbell rack and started touching every single dumbbell. Really, idiot, you weigh 120 pounds wet and you’re going to curl or press 40 or 50 pounds? Stop touching the dumbbells. Now, mind you, I’m watching this whole event transpire like some crazy stalker, shaking my head. I finally went up to the idiot girl who couldn’t pass for 18 and told her to stop touching everything in sight and that she should probably go home because she was sick.
Her response was beautiful, “I don’t think so, I’m really not that sick, I’m able to finish my workout.”
Not really that sick.
It really doesn’t matter at what level of sickness you are. Germs are still being spewed all over a confined space that is a breeding ground for viral and bacterial infections. Gyms, health clubs, and personal training studios are just very large Petri dishes – so stay home!
Idiot boy had a particular kind of stupid going on, and I’m pretty sure he’s the one who gave me the crazy symptoms I experienced. I witnessed him in the locker room sucking on an inhaler like he was strapped to a ventilator. Every 10 minutes he was spraying, spraying and spraying that shit down his throat. After every suck, he would cough until my chest hurt. So he was coughing out in the open, sat down on a bench and started coughing into his towel.
OK, now he was trying to be a little considerate, when, oh no, stupidity reared its three heads of stupid.
He was doing dumbbell curls and sweating all over the bench; after his set, he started coughing again, this time in his towel. Disgusting as he was coughing so hard I thought he was puking.
This is something I never thought I would ever see but right before my eyes: after all that coughing, he decided to wipe the sweat off the bench with his germ-infested towel. And he wiped every inch of that bench with his slimy, germy, viral infected towel and didn’t even think to get some type of sanitizing solution. And he did that to every piece of equipment he used. I can’t imagine how many people are still wishing he were dead for getting them sick.
Stay home!
And if you don’t know you are sick, and yes, if you are that stupid, don’t cough into your towel and wipe down equipment.
Now, idiot woman came in just after being sick in bed for a little more than a week. I know this because she was telling everyone that would listen to how sick she was the week before. But she was braving it and getting her work out in. Here’s a clue: you’re not braving anything and you are an idiot if you think you’re toughing it out. And you still can be contagious if you are coughing. The virus or flu may have subsided but there may still be bacteria spewing from your lungs that no one wants to catch. Whoever told you to sweat out cold was full of shit… You don’t need to sweat out anything and leave it at the gym. Stay home!
When you recover, exercise for 15 mins only at first. This is really enough if you’re the busy kind of person to spare some time exercising!