Regular exercise has many benefits, including keeping you fit and supporting your health. In fact, many health organizations around the world recommend it. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 150 minutes of exercise each week. With that amount of exercise, including days to rest and recover is vital.
The Purpose of Rest Days
Rest days allow your body to recover from the stresses of exercise. However, the number of rest days can vary depending on your fitness level and the intensity of your workouts. Rest days give your body time to repair and rebuild muscles and tissues, making your muscles stronger and more resilient.
Overtraining can lead to illness, injury, and burnout. Rest days help reduce these risks. If you push yourself too hard all the time, you risk injuries such as strains, sprains, and stress fractures. Moreover, overtraining can lead to hormonal imbalances, negatively affecting your overall health and hindering your progress. Exercise can be mentally taxing, and taking a day off can help reduce stress and refresh your motivation.
Exercise depletes your energy, but rest gives your body time to recover. Rest can also help you maintain consistent energy levels throughout the week and improve your performance. After a day off, you may have more strength, endurance, and focus.
What About Working Out On Your Rest Days?
In most cases, you can work out on your days off. Rest day workouts are activities you do to stay healthy that aren’t as taxing on your body. On your recovery day, you replace your routine exercise with low-intensity activities. Some examples of low-intensity activities are:
There are many more low-intensity activities you can do to stay active. Low-intensity exercise is when your effort is around 50% – 60% of your maximum heart rate. Therefore, you can keep moving without the wear and tear from your usual workouts. Moreover, light exercise still produces hormones that can help improve your mood, which makes you feel happy and relaxed.
When Should You Not Do A Rest Day Workout?
Taking one or two days off without exercise will not erase all your hard work. In fact, you don’t have to exercise every day to reach your fitness goals. You exercise every day because you enjoy it.
Still, there are some cases where you should forego a rest day workout and take a day off completely:
- if you experience pain or become injured
- your muscles always feel sore
- you’re exhausted
- you can’t sleep because you feel restless
These are some signs you may be exercising too much. It’s essential to listen to your body to take time to rest and recover properly. If you don’t listen to your body, then you’ll eventually become sick, injured, or experience burnout. As a result, you’ll likely have to stop exercising until you recover. If you stop exercising for several weeks or months, you may have to restart your fitness goals and build back the lost gains.
Keeping a fitness journal or using an app to track your workouts and progress would be best. Tracking your progress can alert you if your workouts change for the better or worse. As a result, you can adjust your routine and potentially avoid the pitfalls of exercising too much.
The Takeaway
Depending on your fitness level and how you feel, you can work out on your rest days instead of doing nothing. Rest day workouts involve doing low-intensity exercises such as walking or yoga. Furthermore, low-intensity exercises also produce hormones, which can help improve your mood, making you feel happy and relaxed while keeping your body moving.
However, it’s important to listen to your body. If you show signs of overtraining or injury, then take a break to rest and recover properly. One way to watch for signs of trouble is to keep a fitness journal and track your progress. Your journal can help you spot signs of overtraining, which allows you to adjust your workouts to get you back on track.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your activities and workouts. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect certain smartwatches and trackers to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
