The ultimate guide to rest days and how they should be used effectively in your fitness routine.
More does not always equal more. Overtraining can lead to injuries and take a toll on your mental wellbeing. In most cases it's unlikely that you need to go to the gym every day to hit your fitness goals, in fact 2-3 times a week of training it likely to work out better as it includes more rest days for your body to recover.
#1: How does exercise effect your muscles?
As you exercise, you are creating microscopic tears in your muscle tissue.
When you allow your muscles to rest fibroblasts cells repair this muscle tissue and this helps your muscles to grow and strengthen. As muscles burn more energy than fat, when you build more muscle this boosts your metabolism so you will burn more calories at rest.
#2: What are the benefits of rest days?
There are multiple benefits to added rest days to your fitness program. Here's a few.
Allows time to recover
Your cells have time to repair the tears in your muscle tissue which helps the muscle heal and grow which results in stronger muscles.
Prevents fatigue and injuries
If you over train then your glycogen levels will become low and this can lead to muscle soreness and tiredness. Including rest days ensures that you have enough energy to make the most out of your workout. Additionally, if you haven't had any rest and are feeling fatigued your likely to use the wrong form and gain an injury while training.
Improved Sleep
Exercise produces energy-boosting hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. If you workout every day these hormone level will be very high resulting in a lower quality of sleep. By adding rest days to your routine these hormones are not over produced and you are likely to get better sleep as a result.
#3: What can you do?
When weight training you can rotate the muscle groups worked to allow muscles to rest after training for 1-2 days. For example, a popular training routine which would rotates muscles groups worked would be push, pull, lower body (PPL). However, if you have a full body program you can include a rest day in between each training day. Remember 2-3 days of training each week is more than enough for most people to meet their fitness goals.
These types of routines will allow for your body to get plenty of time to rest, recover and build the muscle you are training for.
On rest days you can also focus more on diet, eating less processed foods and plenty of protein to encourage muscle growth. You can also enjoy less intense activities such as walking, yoga and swimming.
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