When should I take rest days?

buffalobill41

I have been going to the gym for a little less than a month now. Generally one day i will do legs (abductor, adductor, torso rotation, butt machine, calf extension, leg extension, leg curl, leg press) and the next i will do upper body (pullups, chinups, bench and shoulder press, row, tricep pulldown, and various other dumbbell activities i don't know the names of ). I do 3 sets of 5 for each and i never do the same one two days in a row but i was wondering if i should have some rest days where i don't do any? Should i just kinda go by what my body feels or should i have days where i don't lift even if i feel fine? I work a manual labor job so i am pretty careful about not overdoing it and hurting myself (particularly on upper body since my job requires lots of shoulder activity). I realize i should probably be getting some yoga or core/stretching type stuff in there as well. I'm 5'10.5" 135 lbs so i'm really not looking to do any cardio (definitely nothing with any impact i work on my feet all day so i won't) other than i suppose to get my heart rate up. Any suggestions would be much appreciated thank you.

vorgas

The general advice is 48 hours between working a body part again.
Lots of variables in that though, but you won't go wrong.
Plenty of split workout routines available online. Get some inspiration there.

BradW99

If you have an upper body/lower body split I'd just take a rest day when you need/want to. Assuming you're not overly sore, if you feel good and want to go then go. If you like a day off then just go two days on and one off. Do both and be dynamic.