We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Today I said "Screw Exercise"!

DX2JX2
DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I normally do some light cross training on my rest days from running but this morning I said screw it. I slept an extra hour and didn't even bother putting on my fitness tracker to count steps.

You know what? I feel great! It's so nice just to relax and I never realized how anxious I really get about hitting my totally arbitrary step goal on rest days. I'm pretty sure I can actually feel my body thanking me for the break.

I wouldn't have thought that I needed a true rest day this much if you were to have asked me but I guess I did. What's surprising is that I can feel that even a light amount of work (10,000 steps and/or 30 moderate minutes on the elliptical) creates more stress on my body than I give it credit for. For the first time in a long time, I can tell that my body feels totally relaxed and refreshed.

I know I'll be out there for another 5 miles tomorrow morning (and my long run on Saturday) but just a reminder that as much as we all love our 'active recovery' days, sometimes it's not the worst idea in the world to give yourself a day of true rest.

Replies

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,559 Member
    Carpe Somnum!
  • bendyourkneekatie
    bendyourkneekatie Posts: 696 Member
    Conversely I said screw exercise yesterday and today I feel sluggish and awful:(
    I'd spent the whole morning sitting on my *kitten* at the hospital with my kid (just an allergy food challenge), but then 'tom' hit hard and also whatever pms hormones had been giving me awful insomnia all week changed and I felt like I'd been hit by a tonne of bricks and totally out of character I opted to not go for my run :(
    Hopefully the 6.5 hours of cardio I'm doing over the next three days will help me feel less like a bloated beached whale (bro).
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    heee, I did my exercise, but not what I normally do, then I sat outside in the sun with a drink.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Sounds like you needed a rest day anyway.
  • bkstein40
    bkstein40 Posts: 41 Member
    I used to be that way, worried that if I missed a day of not hitting my steps for the day the world would come to an end. But this summer I made goals to run a full marathon and 5 half marathons. So up until last week, I would take a complete rest day on Sundays where I would do just things like catch up around the house, yard work etc. and not worry if I met my step goal or not. Now I am back to Friday's as a I call it a recovery day to let things recover. Monday which is a run day is one of my best run days because I just can't wait to get back out and pound the pavement. You have to give your body time to recover, my so called rest days are my walk days. I run 4 days a week, walk 2 and recover 1. My body does thank me for it and so will yours. Sleep can also be a good way to recover as well, no guilt in that.
This discussion has been closed.