Donating blood

[gatorinexile]

I'm getting some pressure to donate at an upcoming blood drive.

Disregarding my blatant callousness for the sick and needy, what are people's experience with giving blood and strength training? Will this adversely effect my gains?

The Red Cross says my plasma is back in 24 hours and my red blood cells are back in 4-6 weeks. Eek.

[afatgoat]

It could be you one day needing it. Quit being a prick. That being said, they won't take yours if you're freshly pierced , tat'd, or have things like herpes, hep etc.
Unless you're competing in the tour de France tomorrow, you're not losing gains.

[medwards]

How old are you? How well do you recover between workouts? I give blood once or twice a year, sometimes more. I do not exercise the day of or the day after. Eat a lot afterwards. A lot. If you've never given before, don't let them take a double red cell donation your first time. Do not give them your cell phone number, or they'll be texting you once a month to give.

[Viola]

I have more experience donating blood and then running than lifting. For me it affected performance (running) for 2-3 weeks, or at least made me feel like I was working harder. I also donated blood recently, and lifted 5-6 days later, vacation weights (60-80%). There was no noticeable effect.

Do it.

[gatorinexile]

How old are you? How well do you recover between workouts? I give blood once or twice a year, sometimes more. I do not exercise the day of or the day after. Eat a lot afterwards. A lot. If you've never given before, don't let them take a double red cell donation your first time. Do not give them your cell phone number, or they'll be texting you once a month to give.

41 and I don't recover too well. I've been taking 2-days between sessions all summer, but that was at a lower cal intake. I'm changing that now. Thanks for the tips.

I have more experience donating blood and then running than lifting. For me it affected performance (running) for 2-3 weeks, or at least made me feel like I was working harder. I also donated blood recently, and lifted 5-6 days later, vacation weights (60-80%). There was no noticeable effect.

Do it.

Thanks.

My callousness comment was tongue in cheek. I wasn't really planning on being a prick, I just didn't want to pass out while pressing.

[medwards]

I really don't enjoy giving blood, I just think it's necessary. You'll know if you feel up to training heavy. It won't be difficult to tell.

[Charlie Davies]

I'm 47, fairly weak and with poor recovery. I donated blood last month on a rest day and continued my normal program the next day. I noticed that I was more out of breath than usual at the end of each set but my strength for sets of 5 was unaffected. If you do sets of 10 deadlifts you might have trouble :-)

Makes sense to me -- your oxygen transport is down 10%, but your muscles are all still there.

[Gruner]

I had the same question a couple weeks ago. I gave blood on Sunday and had tentatively decided to do a light workout on Tuesday.

I did a search in this forum and found one person who said it didn't make any difference in their workout. Based on the overwhelming evidence of one single anecdote, I went ahead and did my regular workout, felt fine, even hit a new PR on squats. Go for it.

(But don't be a damn fool about it. If you feel like crap during your warm-up sets, don't push it.)

[quinn]

You may also consider giving platelets instead of red blood cells. Won't affect oxygen transport. The donation takes longer, though.

[Leah Lutz]

I just donate on a rest day, drink lots if water and then have a good excuse if my next training day isn't too hot.

I too do it because I feel it is very needed. It usually takes them way too long to find a vein, it hurts and I have a big bruise for days. But I can still train! =)