I decided to write an article on the importance of rest in your workout regime because it’s something that I personally find difficult to do and yet is so crucial.
While some people may look forward to their rest day, I’m not one of them (and after reading Andrew’s recent post on how to remain healthy on vacation, he is clearly not one of them either. It must be in the genes!).
I love to be active and work out. When rest day comes, I often find myself feeling a bit moody and longing to hit the gym. But I don’t, because I know how important it is to give your body at least one or two days of rest per week, especially if you are training hard. So for those of you out there that feel the same way that I do, this article is for you.
The importance of incorporating rest in your workout regime:
Andrew while giving rest its due importance in Montenegro 🙂
You may think that the more you exercise the greater your results. While that may be true, our bodies will eventually hit a point of diminishing returns if we don’t give ourselves adequate time to rest and recuperate.
Why? Because when we exercise we stress our muscles and create micro-tears. It is these micro-tears that stimulate our muscles to grow. But in order for growth to happen, you need to give your muscles a break. It is actually during your rest phase that your body builds. This is exactly why you should never work the same muscle group on consecutive days. So for example, if you did a leg work out on a Monday, then you wouldn’t want to work your legs again on Tuesday. Instead, you give them a rest and if you want to work them out again in the same week, then you can do so on Thursday. This break allows sufficient time for your leg muscles to recuperate and to begin the process of building. This doesn’t mean you can’t work your chest, back, arms or other muscles – just not your legs.
So you may be thinking that you can just ensure that you are working different muscle groups every day and never take a break from working out. Well, that’s not exactly correct either. You still want to ensure that you are giving your body at least one full day of rest a week. This day of rest will enable your body to repair the damage sustained in your work out so you can go harder next time, help prevent overtraining and injury, and also reduce overall bodily stress which can impact your sleep as well as weaken your immune system.
So be sure to plan to incorporate at least one to two days of rest during the week. And if you are anything like Andrew, Martina and I, mentally prepare for it knowing that this rest day is equally as important as your training days. You can always incorporate very low intensity activity into your rest day, such as light stretching or walking. This is known as active recovery. Again, nothing too taxing on your body. Also remember to get proper sleep and to continue to maintain a clean diet.
Lastly, if you are worried that your performance will dip or that you will lose muscle mass, you won’t. In general, it takes about two weeks of no activity before you begin to notice a decline in your performance or physique (Andrew’s recent article was great evidence of this fact). So incorporate rest knowing that it will actually help improve your performance by allowing your body to repair and prepare to be hit hard on your next gym visit.
To fitness with love,
Tanya
I normally take my rest day on Sunday, which is also my chest day, well, ‘cheat meal day’ as such, which often is still a home cooked lunch. Would I benefit more from taking a rest day on a weekday, when I eat super clean?
Hi Mark. Thanks for your input. Myself and Tanya agree that at the end of the day, unless you’re approaching some bodybuilding contest or photo shoot, it does not really make a difference as to when you slot your cheat meal in.
Theoretically a cheat meal (which is supposed to contain more calories than the normal healthy meal) should be taken after the most intense session of the week (which in our case is leg day) to maximise the elevated (so-called) after-burn effect. On the other hand, having your cheat meal (or “treat meal” as we like to call it) on your rest day may have a psychological benefit in that one has a further motivation to stay disciplined during the week while looking forward for a big day of rest coupled with a treat meal. During my off season from competitions I tend to go for the latter option i.e. saving my treat meal for Sunday afternoon or evening. I then start the training week with a hard leg session on Monday which will even things out already within 24 hours.
Hope you find this helpful.
Yeah very helpful indeed. Given I start Monday with a workout, then a day working the ‘ole desk job, and then back to 1.5 hour session in the evening, I think it’s ok for me to treat myself a little on Sundays…haven’t seen adverse effects yet 😉
IF you haven’t seen adverse effects you certainly don’t need to change it 🙂 Keep it up Mark!