Rest week?

[mizlaur123]

Hi Cathe!
I have heard that it is good to give yourself a rest week. I'm not sure why though. Do you every take a week off to rest? If so, do you change your eating during this week to accommodate the lack of exercise? Thanks, Cathe!

Lauren

 

[LaughingWater]

Great question! I too would like to know roughly when rest weeks are thrown into a routine.

For example, my instinct would be to take a week off after a particularly heavy rotation (like Slow & Heavy). But I've also read one should consider a week off every 8 weeks or so, regardless of how you're training. So does this mean we can consider resting after a month of circuits important too?

Obviously, if I'm feeling tired and worn down, the answer is "rest." But what about when I'm sailing through 2 months of rotations beautifully? Should I still force a rest week?

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi Lauren! Rest weeks are good for the body to recover and actually gain strength and repair from a consistently high dose of output. Usually after every 8 weeks is a good time but if you are sick, feeling exceptionally fatigued, experiencing signs of overtraining, or mentally not feeling into your workouts, a rest period is good at these times too. Yes, I usually get a little stricter with my eating habits when I have a rest week but I have also noticed that when I don't nothing negative really happens either. So all is good as long as you don't make a mountainous meal out of every meal :7

 

[mizlaur123]

Thanks Cathe!!