rest days

[balletgrrl]

Hi Cathe!

How many rest days you take during your work-out schedule? I usually do about 4 days of cardio per week, and 3 non-consecutive days of weight training which takes me thru 6 days, and I usually rest on Sundays. However, on your rotation schedules, I noticed that many times you will put in 2 rest days per week instead of 1. I really love working out and have been seeing great results, and sometimes I am afraid of resting for 2 days.

Some days I notice that I feel particularly tired, though, and can't do the same things I normally can or put up as much weight. I was wondering if this was because I am over-working myself. What would you recommend?

Alison

 

[dlp252]

I'm not an expert or anything and have only been working out for a year and a couple of months, but I think I've seen the greatest changes in my body by incorporating two rest days in my week. Those days are usually Mondays and Thursdays (not very flexible--I get shots on those days and the nurse says no weights for at least an hour afterwards...if I wait an hour I won't work out, so I just plan these as rest days). Sometimes I will throw in a low intensity aerobic workout on Mondays, but increasingly I just like to take it as a rest day.

 

[Carol122201]

I'm not Cathe, but one of the symptoms of over-training is feeling overly tired. If you need to rest, you should rest. Taking two days off a week once in a while is nothing to be afraid of. Your body is telling you something, and you should listen to it. You won't stop seeing results by taking a day off now and then. I do believe if you aren't getting good lifts it could be a sign you're over-training. I love to work out too, but because of my work schedule there are weeks I can't work out 5 or 6 days, and I really don't feel it has compromised my progress at all. On the contrary - I feel that much stronger when I have had a couple days off from working out. Just my humble opinion, of course ...

Carol

 

[kathryn]

>Some days I notice that I feel particularly tired, though, and
>can't do the same things I normally can or put up as much
>weight. I was wondering if this was because I am over-working
>myself. >
>Alison

I think you already know the answer, based on this question. As others have mentioned, feeling too tired can be a sign of overtraining. If you would take that extra day off instead of pushing through a workout with less than full intensity, I'll bet your next workout would be better, and you could push a bit more. For a while (until my schedule conflicted with it), I was doing a 3 day on/one day off rotation that worked really well for me (sometimes I would have the 3 days spread into 4 or 5, but only when I felt like it). That gave me not quite 2 days off a week (more like 1 1/2 days a week off).

 

[Jennifit]

A thought...

What I have learned over the years is to honestly listen to my body and respect it! It knows when it is hungry, when it is tired, and when it is ready to go.

I have been injury-free since I have begun to listen to my body. I take rest days when I really feel like I need to. If I am too tired to run or to pick up a weight, I don't do it, AND I don't feel guilty about it anymore.

I don't know if this helps. Take care!

jen

 

[KathyH]

Hi Alison! I normally always do 6 days of training. However, some times things pop up such as going Thurs. nite for Parent/Teacher conference so I won't be able to work out on that nite. I always take a rest day on Fri. so I rework my schedule. For instance, this week I'll do PUB, KP&C, PLB & Step Blast. I try to make sure I've worked my upper body once, lower body once, get in my cardio. Also some weeks I like to change it up & throw in yoga & pilates using a resistance band just to keep things fresh & for variety. If your feeling overworked as I sometimes do change it up & do something w/lower intensity; maybe the yoga & pilates would do you some good. That's strictly up to you though. HTH, Kathy

 

[CAgostini]

I found a rotation on fitnessvideofanatics.com (I think that's the address)entitled Cardio & Weights. It uses the following Cathe workouts: Cardio and Weights, Bootcamp, Circuit Max, Muscle Endurance and Power Hour. Each workout is done every other day with a rest day in between. I LOVE THIS ROTATION!!! The lighter weights, the cardio mixed with weights and the rest days have really agreed with me. Now, on the rest days I've been doing an altnative workout that's approx. 30 mins: Awesome abs on the ball, Pilates and T-tapp. These "rest days" have really worked for me and I'm loving it. I say rest days are invaluable to recuperation/growth/results. I have extended this rotation to inlcude The Firm Aerobic Weight Training tapes (specifically, vols. 1, 2 & 3). When I'm done with this rotation, I will mix it up with a more intensive, short rotation, then I'll return to this type of rotation.

Rest works!

Cathy