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Rest Day…from walking?

Tblackdogs
Tblackdogs Posts: 327 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
My main form of exercise is walking with some jogging thrown in. People always talk about the benefit of a rest day, but my question is do I really need to take a rest day from walking? Would there be any downside to walking an hour (or more) seven days a week? Not that I do that and some weeks I couldn't do it but some weeks I could. Just curious!

Replies

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Not from walking. We'd be horribly adapted creatures if we needed a day off from walking.
  • joh3092
    joh3092 Posts: 16 Member
    I suppose it depends on how disciplined you are. I have been power-walking every day for more than two years, I do not take a break from it out of fear taking a break will be habit forming.

    That's probably 40 plus years of bad previous habits affecting me.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I still walk 3 -5 miles on my rest days...no, you don't need a rest day from walking...
  • stif9
    stif9 Posts: 33 Member
    No you dont need to rest.
  • jms14letgo
    jms14letgo Posts: 138 Member
    I agree that you probably don't NEED a rest day from walking. The exception being if you are completely new to walking and are finding yourself sore most of the time and your muscles feel fatigued/ in need of rest.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I still walk 3 -5 miles on my rest days...no, you don't need a rest day from walking...

    Me too. :)
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
    Might be good for your sanity, but I don't think it'll matter much in terms of physical recovery.
  • WickedPineapple
    WickedPineapple Posts: 698 Member
    Agreed with the above. As long as you're not injured or something, walking everyday is great for you.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    jms14letgo wrote: »
    I agree that you probably don't NEED a rest day from walking. The exception being if you are completely new to walking and are finding yourself sore most of the time and your muscles feel fatigued/ in need of rest.

    so, if the OP is a toddler.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    jms14letgo wrote: »
    I agree that you probably don't NEED a rest day from walking. The exception being if you are completely new to walking and are finding yourself sore most of the time and your muscles feel fatigued/ in need of rest.

    New to walking? Like a paraplegic that just got just got healed by the laying of hands at a revival?
  • Tblackdogs
    Tblackdogs Posts: 327 Member
    I'm neither a toddler nor a newly recovered paraplegic. So no rest days needed. Thanks everyone!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I do walking on my rest days - along with every other day.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    Walking doesn’t require a rest day.
  • FoxyLifter
    FoxyLifter Posts: 965 Member
    Rest days are most beneficial to those lifting heavy weights. Muscle need time to repair. Light cardio (walking) and stretching (yoga) can be done every day.
  • lawtonharris
    lawtonharris Posts: 1
    :)
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
    I had to take one recently...not so much BECAUSE of the walking, but I was in enough pain that I needed to lay low for a day in addition to stretches and foam rolling.

    My legs were hurting from way too much dancing on concrete floors--both cardio dance and social dancing. I'm old, I have a bad knee, I have fibro...but it's still pretty rare that I can't get in 10,000 steps.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,665 Member
    Walking is what I do ON my rest days!
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    Walking is what I do ON my rest days!

    Me too! OP, you mention jogging. I do take rest days from my runs. but no matter what any of us say--if you feel like you need a rest day, go ahead and take one. But a healthy adult with no joint/mobility issues shouldn't require one from walking a couple hours a day.
  • snarlingcoyote
    snarlingcoyote Posts: 399 Member
    When I was young, I could run or walk every day and it was fine.

    Age has a way of catching up with you though. Now I take rest days from my run/walks. I have chronic hip bursitis, and I can either have a flare up if I run every day and have to wait 2 or 3 days in misery sitting on ice packs all day, or I can run every other day and feel good. ;)

    Now, pure walking, that's fine, I can walk all day and not have a problem, it's when you toss any jogging at all into the mix that the issue creeps up, and it's not that uncommon in women with wide hips (our hip joints are at a bad angles).
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