The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention says, 150 min of moderate physical activity in a week is a must. And in addition adults should do 2 strength training sessions in a week.Working out consistently is a very good approach to promote muscle growth. And while we all love doing workouts, the truth is doing them without rest is no good.
Overtraining muscles is not a good sign, and giving them a proper rest is the best thing you can do. In fitness, doing more is not always good. Sometimes results come from performing less.
Why Are Rest Days Important?
People think rest days are ‘extra’ in their routine. However, they are not extras. They are the non – negotiable part of your workout routine.
Experts recommend taking one rest day per week. As you can take between 1 – 2 according to your need.
Rest days are very helpful after very heavy intensity workouts. These days include the following benefits –
Better Mental And Physical Health
Overtraining can lead to fatigue in the body as well as the mind also. Pushing yourself in this condition can lead to poor decision making. Mental health also gets in better condition as your body rests.
Injury Prevention
Putting continuous stress on joints can lead to injury. Rest days give time to joints and muscles to regain their strength. Hence avoid injuries.
Stronger Muscles
Exercising results in making tiny little pores in muscles. These microscopic pores when repaired make muscles stronger. Which means muscles also grow on rest days and taking a day off promotes muscle growth.
Less Muscle Soreness or Pain
Working out regularly causes lactic acid to build in joints. Resting helps in maintaining a normal level of acid that gives a fresh start.
When To Take A Rest Day?
There is no exact time when you can take it.
Listening to your body is a very good approach. Ask questions from your body. A good question-answer session always helps. However you can react to some signs your body gives you to take a break.
You can consider some signs that tells you need a day off –
~ Muscle Soreness
~ Inability to perform workout
~ Moody Behavior
~ Non sleepy nights
~ Tired Before Workout
How Often Should You Take Rest Days?
How often you should take rest days completely depends on you. This depends on what your fitness goal is. What fitness goals you have, answers all questions related to this. This depends on some factors which includes,
Fitness Level
For beginners, workout sessions can be challenging at first. And while exercising causes microscopic pores in muscles, these require time to repair. For beginners it is quite hard to recover faster, in that case they can alternate rest days. Instead of resting after each day they can grow good muscle mass.
Workout Routine
The workout you choose influences your rest days. For example, if you do an upper body workout on your 1st day and a lower body workout on your 2nd day. For the 3rd day you can take a day off or you can do active recovery. It is also called rest day workout. This way you can perform 4 workouts per week and 2 days off.
The same goes with another splits only the frequency of rest changes.
What Can You Do On Rest Days?
Based on your workout intensity you can make decisions on this. If you have done a high intensity workout session which has led to soreness in your muscles. A full day rest without any activity is best.
Otherwise if you have followed a basic blueprint of workout. You can do active recovery or rest day workout. In active recovery you do moderate exercises which keeps your body warmed up and hence you recover from heavy intensity workouts.
Some are –
- Yoga
- Stretching
- Walking
- Hiking
- Cycling
- Rock Climbing