We know you’ve been working on your summer body, eating clean and training hard. We love that, and we support the hustle but remember to take a breather!
Rest days are a must and should be incorporated into every single workout regime. Giving your body and mind a break will help you recharge and push harder for your goal. As a rule of thumb, you should have at least one rest day per week and throw in some easier workouts alongside the more challenging sessions.
Muscle Repair
When you train, whether that’s cycling for hours, interval training or lifting weights in the gym, you create microscopic tears in your muscles. It’s these tears that cause soreness after an intense workout or new training session. As your body repairs these tears, your muscles grow stronger, so they’re able to perform the same exercise with less effort next time. It’s not a case of working more to see more benefits, though. Muscles need time and rest to rebuild, reboot and strengthen. How much time they need depends on several factors, including genetics, age, current fitness level, how intensely and for how long you’re working out.
Reduces The Chances Of An Injury
You know those tears we were talking about? If you don’t give them rest to repair, they can become sprains, which means a lot more days sidelined. A lack of rest can also cause tendon injuries like tendinitis – inflammation caused by overuse. That’s why bodybuilders often alternate the muscle groups they use, spending time working on legs the day after chest day to ensure their pecs are fully recovered before they go hard again. Rest days are essential for giving your bones a break as well. This is particularly important for runners whose legs absorb a lot of shocks.
Help You To Sleep Well
Training too hard can cause your sleep patterns to go haywire, meaning you miss out on all the benefits. You might feel dead tired but struggle to nod off or wake numerous times in the night. This is because exercising can increase your body’s production of stress hormones, which leaves you feeling stimulated and makes it much harder to wind down. Taking few rest days should help get you back on the sleep track.
Spend Time On Other Important Things
While some consider spending time at the gym or sweating to a favorite workout a hobby, it’s important to have a personal life as well. Spend time with your loved ones. Learn or practice a musical instrument. Volunteer at your kids’ school, or visit an older adult community. Taking the time for other hobbies or to perform volunteer work will make you feel good and benefit the community. Life is much more than a ripped body, take some time out to train your mind as well.
Boost Your Immunity
No one wants all that hard training derailed by a nasty flu or virus so if you want to stay at top, make sure you take some rest. Studies have shown that exercise in moderation reduces the risk of colds and flu. But bouts of long, intense exercise and periods of hard training, make you more likely to contract upper respiratory tract infections. This is also caused by increased levels of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which suppress white blood cell functions, leaving you with your guard down. Rest days, reload workouts and adaptation weeks are all important parts of a training plan and could help boost your immunity.