training while sick?

[MickAK]

The OP asked if he would gain any benefit from training in a reduced state. He said that he knew it would be safe.

I don't see any reason not to take him at his word on that. 'Sick' can mean a lot of things.

Yes, you can gain a lot of benefit from it. Relying on your lizard brain for fine motor skills is not an easy skill to develop but I think it's an important one. When we start dry-fire practice we are typically at a low skill set. As our skill set develops, falling out of the habit of dry-fire practice is pretty common, because it's boring, time consuming, and you don't see the improvement you did when you started.

At this point I exclusively dry-fire practice while doing maintenance exercise (core, cardio, etc.). I do that because otherwise there just aren't enough hours in the day to get it done. Same reason I brush my teeth while I shower. It's an annoying maintenance thing that just needs to get done or you'll fall off.

When I started it was difficult to get my reps in proper because my body was gasping for air or in pain. After awhile the reps started to come natural again because I could do it without all my faculties focusing on the fine motor skills. I think practice while sick is pretty equivalent to practice fatigued.

If you can stand up you can practice, and safely. How you personally recover best from illness is what should determine what choice you make.

[pangloss]

If I were going have some non-trivial degree of mental impairment for a while, I'd order plastic training barrel to drop in my G19 practice gun. I don't know how long those last, but it's something I've thought about buying for years. I'm not convinced of the value of the practice under those conditions, but with COVID brain fog, the opportunity cost seems close to zero.

[MVS]

So I have to admit, I thought this thread was pretty funny at first. I mean of course you train when you are sick. After reading some of the responses I was like ok, that makes some sense. Fast forward to this morning at work talking to a coworker who just came back after 3 weeks off with COVID. He says he hasn't touched a gun in those 3 weeks as he is so mentally out of it. His symptoms have been mostly neurologic like dizziness, brain fog, whatever else. He ended up in the hospital with severe dehydration because anytime he ate or drank something he would throw up. At this point he is still not clear headed. I guess it makes sense not to mess with guns in a scenario like his.

[GJM]

Timely thread, as I just had a 48 hour bug with a significant fever and weight loss.

I would say the question is not whether you can dry fire when sick, because certainly you can. The better question is whether you are learning anything, because done right, dry fire takes more mental focus than live fire, since your brain has to replace looking at the target for hits. If your mental acuity doesn't support that level of focus, you are likely burning non productive reps.

[JohnO]

Do something else that will enhance your personal security/capability.

Get/read a book on mindset. Take stock of your kit. Do you have an IFK? Do you carry a tourniquet? Have you practiced applying it, each arm, each leg?

[DryFire]

I am on my 6th day of fighting covid, my head is not clear, I have had a fever for the entire time. I am bored silly only so many westerns to watch. was thinking of doing some dry fire practice, but with my head not being clear I am not sure it would be productive. I know I would be safe, just not sure it would be a good thing to do or not.
Do any of you train when under the weather?

Perfect practice makes perfect ... so i would weigh my ability to practice perfect. Otherwise, work on grip strength exercises for both w/h & s/h and wrist flexing. Get well.