Hello,
I started the 2 month entire Ripped W Hitt Rotation on Monday and notice that it calls for 2 days off. Is there a reason why is best to take 2 days off when doing this rotation? For the past 20+ years I've been working out 6 days a week with Sundays off all the time. I guess my question is...would it be ok if I added a workout to replace the day off during the week?
Dropping my two pennies into the fountain here, I know for myself that two full rest days a week won't work for me. I get demoralized with too much rest time. It sounds obsessive, but it isn't about weight or size at all. I can't speak for the particular HIIT rotation you're doing, but I need exercise as much mentally as physically each day. It doesn't have to be an intense workout where I'm dripping in sweat, but something that leaves me feeling invigorated. I have to make exercise a DAILY routine. I'm too good at talking myself out of working out otherwise. My serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine levels feel negatively affected on days when I don't exercise. I'm just foggier, grumpier, and less focused. I guess my point is that the exercise need is only partially physical for many of us that are more advanced...
How do your rest days make you feel? On Monday, after taking Sunday off, are you excited to get back into the swing of things? Chomping at the bit to see more progress? If you have lost your zest for working out, yet you normally love it, I say it's probably time to either switch activities or take a rest day. Are you beat from the HIIT workouts, or are they leaving you feeling great? If you feel great, I'd see no need not to keep following your one-day-off rule. As long as you listen to your body, don't have any energy loss that's persistent in day-to-day life from it, no Achilles tendon pain, and are continuing to see the results you want, I think you'd be fine continuing on with just one rest day off if that appeals to you. Results are built during rest and not during the actual workout (technically- due to repair time), but if you don't have any nagging injuries/pain or decreased immunity to illness, it's unlikely you're overtraining IMHO. Bret Contreras (The Glute Guy) has clients that train their glutes 7 days a week, for example, with fantastic results. I think that if we sleep enough, eat plenty of protein/fat/vitamins, stay hydrated, and make sure to follow somewhat of a periodization schedule (sp?) in our training, we're fine.
You could always choose to take that second rest day and make it about mobility training, Pilates, yoga, or something else non-impact. Or focus on things like training shins, rotator cuffs, rear delts, those little things we tend to overlook easily. Sometimes I find taking a day or two a week for that functional training ends up making bigger fitness gains than if I'd kept plowing through cardio and heavy weight-training. But by no means am I an expert, LOL. It's just a thought...
BTW, I think 20+ years of working out six days a week is an awesome accomplishment. You rock, lulu68!
