Rest days are arguably one of the most important parts of your training regimen. When you’re in the training zone, seeing progress, and working towards a specific goal it is easy for athletes to be tempted to skip rest days. A successful training regimen will leave you feeling full of energy and ready for more. In today’s world, it’s easy to think more is always better. After all, if you are feeling good now, more workouts can only be a good thing, right?
Not always. More activity is not always the answer. In fact, training harder and more often gives your body less time to recover and can cause added stress to your central nervous system, leading to overuse injuries, and burnout. Even elite athletes schedule rest days into their weekly training to prevent the negative side effects of overtraining.
Rest days allow not only your body but also your mind to recover from the training you do throughout the week. They also prevent you from burning out and losing the motivation you have for whatever training you are doing. By taking scheduled rest days, you allow your body time to repair and rebuild so you can continue to grow and get stronger in your sport. If you skip rest days, your performance can take a hit and prevent you from hitting your next training session hard.
Let’s dive deeper into all things rest and recovery.
5 Benefits of Scheduling Consistent Rest Days
They Help to Prevent Injury
Increasing the amount of training or the intensity of your training without taking rest days can leave your body and mind feeling tired. When you are tired, you are more likely to skip warmups which activate and prime your body’s muscles and help enhance your movement efficiency. Skipping your warm-up leaves you more susceptible to injury due to improper movement patterns and poor form.
Overuse injuries are a common form of injury that is seen when athletes constantly stress their body’s during training without taking rest days. Rest days are necessary for your body to repair itself. Overtraining and not allowing your body the time it needs to recover leaves you at risk for developing common overuse injuries such as stress fractures and tendinopathies which can leave you out of sport/training for three weeks or longer.
They Allow You to Train Harder
Have you ever gone to the gym and your body just feels too tired to put full effort into the workout? Your muscles are a little too sore and your body feels fatigued. This is a good sign that your body is asking you to take a break. Rest days allow your body to rest, recharge, and recover from previous workouts you did that week. If you are starting your workout already fatigued, you aren’t going to be able to train as hard. Scheduling consistent rest days will allow your body to recover and you will be able to train harder because your body will be less sore and fatigued.
They Help You Get Stronger
Microscopic tears are created in your muscles when you work out. Rest days allow your body to heal and build more muscle mass. Meaning that, allowing your body the time it needs to recover and repair those tissues you will be able to do the same workout with less effort in the future.
They Prevent Burn Out
Resting your body physically is important, but so is resting your mind. Training too hard without rest days can bring your training to a halt. Exercising releases stress hormones and working out with no days off can negatively affect your central nervous system (CNS). Your CNS is made up of your sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Your SNS is what triggers your fight or flight response (a reaction to a perceived threat or stressor). Your PNS controls homeostasis and is what responsible for the rest and digest function. If you are not taking time away from training, the constant stressor of exercise can mess with your body’s natural responses and cause your CNS to be out of whack.
Helps Build Long Term Habits
Rest days help to promote balance and create habits that can last a lifetime. If you are trying to work out every single day of the week it begins to get difficult to find time to schedule other things you enjoy. Rest days allow you to spend more time with your family and friends, do hobbies outside of the gym, or read a good book. Your goal with this should be to be able to schedule your workouts around your life rather than schedule your life around your workouts. It’s all about balance and being able to live your life while working on your fitness.
Conclusion
In short, rest days are oftentimes overlooked and hugely underrated. You need to relax and put your feet up if you want to see continuous progress in your sport. A lot of questions we receive from our hard-working clients is what to do during your rest day when you are so used to training. Here are a few great options to start with during your rest days:
Get outside and enjoy some fresh air. Go for a low-impact bike ride, walk, swim, hike, etc.
Spend time with your friends and family.
Pamper yourself and schedule a massage.
Try out a yoga class.
Relax in an infrared sauna.
Take an Epsom salt bath.
Read a book.
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