When it comes to exercise, people often have the same thought in mind when they fully engulf their lives within the field. No days off.
Though this is not the norm amongst the population of gym goers who are simply looking to get in shape, stay in shape, or gain health by working out. The thought of ‘no days off’ will certainly cross their minds as well.
Avid gym rats who are in the gym twenty-four-seven, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year, often two or three times a day, do not have the word rest in their vocabulary.
This type of exercise can be good for most, especially if you are following a lifting plan that incorporates days that consist of very light to moderate exercise for a short period of time. This allows the body to rest, but not rest the way it should.
At the beginning of a lot of exercise programs, depending on the person and the prescribed workouts, there may be two or three rest days built in the program. The reason being, is that if a person who hasn’t worked out with high intensity goes all in right away, it can greatly damage the body.
Rest is important because it allows the body to relax, rebuild, and recover. Relaxing can aid in creating a positive mentality by way of yoga, deep breathing, and other meditative exercises. Even on rest days, you can still do something to improve your well-being.
When working out, the muscles within the body are torn down, even to the tiniest forms of muscle. In order for muscles to grow and become stronger, they need time to rest and rebuild. Recovery is highly important for this process to be completed successfully.
Recovery is a part of working out, whether you realize it or not, the body is kicked into recovery mode immediately after a workout. Though this is the case, a rest day can be of great benefit in a program where you are scheduled to lift five to seven days a week.
The argument exists that a person may feel guilty, or lazy if they succumb to engaging in a rest day. As long as you don’t take multiple rest days in a row, there is no need to feel bad about aiding the body in its recovery process.
The possibility of falling into a slump of consistent days off is highly unlikely, especially when you are eager to improve your health.
Often times, the day following a rest day can be an exciting one simply because you are looking forward to getting back into the gym.
It is often times easy to overlook the power in resting, but if you think about it, when a top-tiered athlete gets a little tweak during competition, the team doctor (most of the time) recommends resting.
When the body becomes weak, the immune system is overcome, and you are forced to go see a doctor, what are they likely to say? “Rest up”.
When you have gone ten days of exercising with little rest and you have work, studying, being a parent, aka life, thrown at you from all kinds of different ways, your body will start to shut down and you could be forced to rest against your own desire.
Never let it get to that point, take a rest. If you must, take multiple rest days, but try to avoid taking them consecutively.
Consecutive days off can lead to atrophy; the partial or complete loss of muscle.
If you are someone who is just getting into exercise, or a high competitive athlete, do yourself a favor and remember that giving your body a rest day is part of the program.
Do not feel guilty, do not feel lazy, your body will thank you and you will realize how much energy you create once you have taken that day off.
Be smart, be careful, be active, but rest as well, you won’t regret it.
