Just donated blood

I donated blood this morning around 11:30am. They told me not to do any strenuous activity for 24 hours. What do you guys think about lifting tonight? Is it dangerous? I felt a little light headed at first, but right now I feel fine. I could use today as an off day, but that kind of throws off my schedule for the rest of the week. Thanks in advance.

The suggested rest is not so much for how you feel but to make sure that hole in your vein seals up. I give blood regularly and always take that day off from training.

NOT A GOOD IDEA. Your body will be low on iron and red blood cells. Your body is trying to regenerate rbc’s right now. Eat some red meat to increase your iron levels and rest for the evening.
I will be donating blood tomorrow, but i take Wednesday’s off. However, if i am scheduled to give blood, but have to train instead i will give blood the following week.

After I give blood, my workouts suck for a few days. (I can even see a little strength loss, after giving 2 or 3 vials for a blood test.) Eat. Rest. Go for it, this weekend.

This has been talked about before, and everyone agrees: take the day off.

Last time I had blood drawn (not a donation, but hga1c… same thing), I worked out afterwards because they didn’t tell me not to, and it was a good 8 hours later and for the next week or so, I had the most disgusting bruise on my arm I have ever witnessed, it was four inches in diameter EASY and it was just “ewwww”. It didn’t hurt at all, but it was rather repulsive to look at. I don’t think my workout suffered either, but it was rather repulsive to look at. You can work out if you really want to, but you’ll be rather repulsive to look at :slight_smile:

First off, good for u for giving blood. I am a regular doner and those people are hella nice and grateful. I one time did workout the same day of giving blood and it was not pretty. Horrible form, and no will to finish. Even if your body can do the workout, it will not be productive at all, and you will feel like crap.

For sure just take the day off man.

Good for you, bro! On behalf of all the sick folks I work with… thank you for being a blood donor. And same with the rest of y’all. I wish more people did it. As for training on the same day, I’d say skip it for one reason: springing a leak.

When you give a pint of blood, you really don’t lose that much from your total volume. Your body is more than capable of adapting to such a minor loss. But the friggin’ hole they put in your arm is scary, dude. The smallest needle we ever used in the ol’ donor van was an 18 gauge. It looks like a damn pencil! I always had a 16 or a 14 gauge jabbed into my arm because my veins are huge. One time, I sprang a leak doing cable curls, and didn’t notice until blood was practically POURING down my arm. It was very messy.

Okay, this is just to give the opposite perspective for you to consider. Obviously, you are going to do what you think is best anyway…

…BUT…I have given up to 100 mL of blood at a time for physiology experiments through venous catheters (I think it was 14 gauge, making a much larger hole than the “butterfly” or “barrel” techniques normally used by lab techs). Against the advice of the experimenters, I worked out about 6 hours later at full intensity, with no problem (I just made sure to keep the area clean by re-cleaning the wound and putting on a fresh bandage after my post-workout shower).

…I’ve also given open muscle biopsies (we’re talking about a 3-inch long incision on the back of my forearm) and worked out the same day with no problem

Granted, the amount of blood they take when you actually donate blood (is it a pint, or is that American?) is “somewhat significant”…the poster who talked about feeling weak after giving “2 or 3 phials” for lab testing…well, it was probably just in his head. The largest phial I am aware of is 10 mL. If we assume the worst case scenario…that he gave 3, 10 mL tubes of blood…that is a total blood loss of 30 mL. Given an average total blood volume of 5 L (probably more for the big guys who use this web site)…this represents 0.6 % of total blood volume…not exactly a vampire’s banquet.

I’m not some kind of phlebotomy expert or anything, I just figured I’d throw in my $0.02…(and those are just Canadian cents…with the exchange rate, we’re talking even less).

Add my name to the list of those saying don’t do it. I’m a regular blood donor as well and always give myself the day off just to be safe. No sense risking injury or looking like someone from a B Horror movie leaking cuz I can’t wait a day to lift.