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 By: Alissa Carpio As if winter's weight gain, cold weather, and short days weren't enough, cold and flu season is also present to plague the unprepared bodybuilder. Knowing how to defend yourself from getting sick can help more than you may think. Being sick means having to stay out of the gym, and it's usually accompanied by a poor diet and very slow recovery time.
As a bodybuilder, you may think that your immune system is in great condition. After all, you regularly exercise with a balance of weights and cardio (even if your idea of cardio is a 10 minute warm-up!), your diet includes a variety of the freshest lean meats and vegetables, and you are definitely taking your vitamins. Add to that plenty of sleep, and you should never get sick, right? Wrong!
Being a bodybuilder means you're actually MORE vulnerable to catching cold than the average person. Following a vigorous training schedule and eating a minimum amount of food are recipes for immune system disaster. This type of dysfunction is known as autoimmunity, or "when the immune system fails to recognize 'self' as friendly and mounts an attack on itself." So, how can you boost your health to prevent sickness and keep making gains in the gym? Let's look at the answers.
Staying on the treadmill and extra 20 minutes each day to lose those post-holiday pounds? These "extra" efforts may be causing you more harm than good. Cut back the length and frequency of your training sessions if you feel sluggish, can't sleep at night, have poor workout recovery, find your strength waning, or are stressed out.
If you're feeling under the weather, increase your food intake by a few hundred calories for a day or two, or until your symptoms subside. For the noncompetitive bodybuilder, make sure you're tracking your calories a few times a week and that you're getting your body's minimum requirements plus 300-500 extra calories for good measure. Determine Your Daily Macronutrient Needs! 
Other helpful supplements include Carotenoids, Bioflavenoids, Garlic, Selenium, and Omega-3 Fatty Acids.
There are several lifestyle factors and foods that weaken the immune system. They should be avoided or limited whenever possible.
Despite exercising all these precautions, you may find that your body still gives in and you catch a nasty cold. The best thing to do in this case is begin supplementing with the above herbs and vitamins to lessen the symptoms and shorten the duration of your cold. Get plenty of rest, and stay out of the gym! You'll only lengthen the cold if you try to keep training. I recommend the following anti-cold stack to be taken as both a prevention mechanism and an early treatment method.
Anti-Cold Stack: The Anti-Cold Stack can be taken as both a prevention mechanism and an early treatment method. Take it twice a day as soon as you notice the onset of a cold, and throughout the remainder of your cold. Take it once a day with your morning supplements to maintain a healthy immune system.
To shorten the cold, I highly recommend Zicam Cold Remedy RapidMelts. They're cherry-flavored tablets that melt in your mouth. This boosts your body's Zinc, which as noted above, drastically assists in fending off illness.
As a bodybuilder, you should already know the importance of taking care of yourself. Listen to your body for signs that indicate something is wrong. Watch for the symptoms of overtraining, and don't be afraid to take a break from the gym! Exercising while sick not only prolongs the life of a cold, it results in poor-quality workouts that will most likely not benefit your efforts in a positive way. Wait until you're 100% to resume your training regimen. Take care of yourself and follow methods of prevention to ensure you won't have any setbacks from illness this winter.
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Take this stack twice a day as soon as you notice the onset of a cold, and throughout the remainder of your cold. Take it once a day with your morning supplements to maintain a healthy immune system.
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