Why do I need an excercise "rest day"?

Gobias

Cathlete
Hi All,

I notice in many of Cathe's rotations and even Cathlete's rotations there is usually one rest day and then 6 days of excercise. Why is this? Is it considred necessary?

I really like to workout daily. Some days are harder than others, but every day I do a good hard workout. I do alternate days if I am doing upper body and lower body weight training (have a minimum of 48 hours between doing another upper or lower body workout). Also, my body does get approximately 24 hours of rest between workouts since I usually workout the same time each day (+/- an hour). And, if I am doing a lower body intensive cardio (Imax 2 or 3, HiiT, Tabatacise and the like), I do not do a lower body weight training day within 48 hours.

I do add some stretches (Lastics) and Yoga in once or twice a week as an add on (usually right before bed versus my morning daily workouts). However, I still do my daily intense workouts in the morning. (versus doing ONLY stretches or Yoga like many rotations list).

Therefore I was wondering if a rest day is necessary if I don't feel I need it. And why the "every 7th day is a rest day"? I can't imagine my body has a calendar inside that it recognizes it needs a full rest day every 7th day. Or is that to make the rotations easier to write up and plan?

I do listen to my body and when I am sick or tired or travelling, I do take time off from exercising, but I have been doing daily exercise for years and it works for me. I work from home 90% of the time and honestly, when I go inside my workout room it is like a sanctuary! When I leave my workout room and enter my home office, I know life and work and stress is waiting for me. I would much rather be doing workouts and I actually look forward to my daily Cathe-Fix.

Thanks for any info.
 
When you work your body hard, you break down tissue. In order to rebuild this tissue and make it stronger, you need rest days.

Without rest, all you do is break down the tissue and eventually injuries will occur. Injuries take time to heal. It is actually faster to just throw in a rest day once a week or every ten days as opposed to an injury, which takes several weeks to heal.
 
I know what you mean. I am one of those that needs to exercise even if I don't want to. It helps me to cope with stress, anxiety, and it also helps me sleep. When they put rest day or rest week, it doesn't mean rest as in sitting on the couch watching TV, but just active rest. Those days are to do less strenous activities, a light walk instead of running, yoga or stretching instead of lifting weights, taking the dog out for a walk, play with the kids (although that could be cardio for some :eek:), do some gardening, things like that. It means rest for your heart from strenous cardio and rest for your muscles from heavy weight lifting.

As far as choosing the 7th day as a rest day, I think it is just a style that people follow when writing rotations, but you should always listen to your body and fit the rotations to your schedule. For example, you might choose to rest on a Monday and workout as usual on Sunday. It is what works for you. I usually do longer workouts on Saturdays and Sundays and shorter workouts during the week. My rest day is usually on Friday because I like to come home early and do some cleaning around the house to get it done before the weekend. You do the changes you need to do in order to fit exercise to your schedule and resting is just taking it a little bit slower, skipping weights, and intense cardio.
 
I was also one who worked out every single day religiously for years, thinking I didn't need any rest. But then again I was never one to spend any extra time stretching or doing yoga and I ended up with very tight ligaments resulting in back/ hip and knee pain from the resultant misalignment. I'm not saying that would happen to anyone else but it certainly taught me that I'm not indestructible. It took a long time to get used to doing one stretch/ yoga workout per week without feeling guilty and I've finally come to appreciate and look forward to these days - NEVER thought I'd say that! That being said, there's certainly nothing wrong with an "active" rest day of light cardio/ walking/ even barre or something similar with no ill effects.
 
Great info given here already. I just wanted to add that I understand what OP is saying. Sometimes I don't feel like I need a rest day, so i may do a 30 min Hiit, power walk, light walk, work core or do light yoga or stretching.

On the opposite of this, some may need more than one rest day a week.

Bottom line, like you said, listen to your body. Your body will tell you when to rest - listen to it. Sometimes you might need two days in a row. But, do it. Your body will thank you for it now and later on in life.
 
This is an interesting topic. I too always, always, ALWAYS workout, 7 days a week and have done this for many years! (Not when I am sick though.) It is exceptionally hard to change your habits or way of thinking when it comes to working out. My workout space is my sancuary too, I truelly appreciate it. I feel better, sleep better etc when I workout. It took some time for me to adjust to "taking it easy".

What I learned is....(for me) I needed to give myself permission to take a day of rest, I needed to do yoga or stretching too. Walk on the treadmill instead of run OR (what I admit I usually do).....an intermediate workout. For me, it's something to work me just a little. It's just enough.

I, too, am always mindful of what muscles were worked so they can get a break.

It was not easy to change the hard wiring of my brain. But alot of the research says that you are making gains when you give yourself rest. But the bottom line, as you know, is to listen to your body.
 
I find I have to take a rest day when I know I'm starting to push too hard or accumulated fatigue or soreness (not the good kind) tells me I should.

The hard part is taking an unscheduled day or shortening a workout when following a rotation or training plan, I hate that. Mainly because I'm kind of a "check off all the boxes" kind of person.

This means I seldom work over normal levels but every so often I will push past or make a mistake in intensity, duration, etc. of workout(s). so I take a day. It works out better if I schedule the rest days & cutback weeks in ahead of time.

You may not need rest days, I do.
 
I used to take just 1 day off per week and I found myself not recovering and losing muscle instead of gaining muscle. My joints didn't recover as well. The value of the workout isn't during the workout, but rather during the recovery. Thats when the muscle is built. That goes for the heart as well, which is a muscle, in order to really build endurance, it is this rest time that is needed to repair the heart. Most of us wouldn't think to work the same muscle group in an endurance style every day, but when you don't take any rest days, thats what you have done to your heart.

Now, you might be able to get away with doing yoga on the 7th day or a stretch max. But, it seems like you are using your workout space to get away from your stress. Why not just meditate? That restores the body and mind without any stress at all. I really like guided meditations because they not only relieve stress but also help me cope the other 23 hours!
 
Hi Everyone,

There has been various advises highlighting the importance of a rest day.

It is crucial to have a break. I started working out 30 minutes 3 times and built up to 6 day for an hour or 1.5 twice or three time per week. I need a day rest with no activity at all. Sometimes I do have an active recovery day but it really does depend on how I feel.

I would like to share with you a clip posted on fitness rx discussing rest day. it is exactly the question asked by Gobias.

Ask Nicole: January 17 | FitnessRX for Women

HTH
 
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