Are Rest Days Necessary Even If I’m Not Sore Or Tired?
By admin
A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a post on the importance of rest days (and even weeks) for fellow blogger Anne of FannetasticFood.com.
I was honored since I love Anne’s blog and have been a long time reader. I was even more honored when it was received with awesome feedback and follow up questions.
One question in particular stood out and I felt it was extremely fitting for where I am in my life right now.
So here it is…
Great question!
In fact, I’m sure many of you reading have probably wondered the same thing. You wake up on a “rest day” from exercise but feel amazing. You’re muscles feel strong and you have energy galore. But you don’t feel like it, so you wonder…
Maybe I should to workout! I know it’s a rest day, but I am craving a good workout! Perhaps just a run…
Yes? No? Maybe?
My hand would be up in the sky… I’ve been there, done that.
And with all the training I’m currently doing, I have my days where I’m struggling with this right now. I know I should be tired from running 17 miles this past weekend, but I’m not. So I kind of wanted to go run a few more yesterday.
Did I?
NO.
Because here’s the thing… our body is not a machine. Sure we like to think of it like the Energizer Bunny, working it and working it, but the truth is, it’s fragile.
Why you should choose the rest day
I’m not going to go into all the general reasons rest days are important. For that, you can check out the article. But I do want to discuss our desire to workout versus our need to not.
Believe it or not, we’re not all that lazy.
Current research shows that our ancestral cavemen were just as sedentary as we are today as a society. They spent a lot of time sitting around doing chores and waiting for something to happen.
So why where they more fit? Because when something did happen (let’s say a lion came around) they had to run, no sprint, for their lives. Their exercise was short but 100% intense.
We often workout too much!
We push our bodies beyond they’re levels and continue to push without even realizing it. Sometimes we just need to chill.
We don’t get results from our workouts during our workouts, we get them when we’re not working out, mostly when we’re sleeping.
That’s the point of a rest day, to make sure you’ve given your body the time to show off your hard work.
But what if you’re not tired?
But I feel great, I should exercise!
Did you know that exercise can have the same affect on the brain as heroine? It’s addicting. The more we do it, the more we crave it.
Because of those neurotransmitters firing off telling us to move, sweat, and go for a run, the body gets neglected, the feelings of tiredness are masked and instead we feel a rush of crazy energy.
…Or we imagine the rush of energy we’ll experience once we start working out and then that gets us wanting to move.
But those are chemicals talking, encouraging you to avoid the advice of others and get out to sweat another day.
Here’s the bottom line…
You NEED a rest day, at least. Even professional athletes take a rest day each week. It’s required for the mind and the body.
I honestly don’t care how wonderful you feel, if you have worked out for 5+ days, chill.
Go for a walk (or light hike), take a light yoga class (not a hot yoga), work on a puzzle, read a book. But don’t do a workout.
If you find that you’re having a hard time with it, have you really questioned your relationship with fitness? I can be so bold because I have, I’ve been on the side that is obsessed with working out too much, heck I still struggle with it.
Taking the day off…
- Allows your body to recover, allows hormones to balance, muscles to relax.
- Allows you to check in with yourself and your relationship with exercise. If you have a hard time taking a day off, you need to take 3-5 days off.
- Realize a day off isn’t going to make you gain 10 pounds.
- Decrease your risk of overtraining related injuries.
- Spend the hour you would be exercising doing something else on your to-do list. Feel productive!
How many rest days do you need?
This is a great question but one that doesn’t have a one word answer. It depends.
It depends on your fitness level, if you’re training for anything, and your job. For example, my job is fitness so of course I am going to workout a little more than most people. It just makes it more important to concentrate on proper nutrition and stretching/foam rolling.
If you’re new to exercise, it’s likely you’ll need 2-3 days of complete rest. For most people 2 days is acceptable and for few of us, we can succeed with a single rest day.
Right now, that’s where I am. Resting each Friday after 6 days of running or strength training. But I’m not afraid to take another day off if I feel I need it.
I’ve learned that over doing it isn’t going to help and will just catch up with me.
My rest days
My 100% rest day is every Friday. Instead of working out, I complete my “domestic duty day” of grocery shopping, errands, cleaning my home, etc. Sometimes Dan will ask if I want to go to the gym (Fridays often aren’t his rest days) but my response is always, “no thanks, it’s my rest day!”
It’s not as if I am sitting on my butt, I’m active but the thought of doing exercise just doesn’t cross my mind. And I love it. I need this day, and you do too!