Are rest days necessary for me?

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  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    edited February 2015
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    30 minutes on an elliptical 6 days a week isn't crazy lol. Especially if its not full out intensity, you are young and have no health issues. Cardio is awesome. The answer to life is not heavy lifting ;)

    I love trail running and do a lot of body weight exercises and some heavy lifting. I've been pushing my limits to reach a new level so I've had to keep a close eye on my body. Last week I had 4 rest days instead of 2. But then again most of my workouts are 2 hours long with my HR averaging 165-175 (aka intense). Doing that 5 days a week gets dicy if you don't keep tabs on your calories and sleep!

    If what you are doing is enjoyable and you are listening to your body, go for it. If things start hurting, you are tired, fatigued, get headaches, or want to eat your own arm off because you are so hungry.....that's when you are overdoing it and need more rest!

    But yes - rest days are needed but how much depends on your body and your workouts (intensity etc)
  • darkbluex3
    darkbluex3 Posts: 13 Member
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    Yes yes yes! If you're a beginner, personally I think 2-3 rest days per week is ideal. This way your body can adjust to working out and have adequate time to repair. Once you get into a consistent routine, then you can lower it to 1 or 2. I think 1 full rest day a week is extremely important, because it gives your muscles a chance to heal and rebuild. I'm not a professional, this is just what's worked best for me, especially in preventing injury.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    emilyesq wrote: »
    Oh man, doing weights before cardio is going to be tough. Usually the only thing that gets me through my cardio is the idea that I get to do the fun weight training afterwards. But that's a change I'm willing to make.

    I can understand that, doing CV work inside a gym is horribly boring, although personally I find weights just as turgid.
  • monikker
    monikker Posts: 322 Member
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    esjones12 wrote: »

    If what you are doing is enjoyable and you are listening to your body, go for it. If things start hurting, you are tired, fatigued, get headaches, or want to eat your own arm off because you are so hungry.....that's when you are overdoing it and need more rest!

    But yes - rest days are needed but how much depends on your body and your workouts (intensity etc)

    I agree with this. People are telling you to do less cardio...I don't think you need to. 5 or 6 days a week sounds fine. I would just limit the weight lifting to 3 to 4 days and not use the same major muscle groups within 3 days of each other so they have time to rest. For your goals doing cardio before or after lifting is irrelevant unless it affects your energy and strength for your lifts. Otherwise, continue on. Having 1 or 2 rest days where you do no workout seems reasonable. But doing cardio on non-lifting days isn't bad at all as long as you don't overdo it. Some people even find it helpful with recovery and soreness because it stretches and warms up your muscles in a non-invasive way like weight lifting does.

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