Probably a dumb question but is it counter-productive to not take a day off from working out?

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Happysoul0317
Happysoul0317 Posts: 119 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello. I have finally found a good calorie smashing workout that I can do with my back injury. I have discovered that I can, quite comfortably use my elliptical. My question is this. Why is it suggested to take a day off from exercising? Is it counter productive to not take a day off? I've heard so much bull crap on this matter. What are your thoughts?

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  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    You don't have to take a complete rest day, but days with only light activity allow your body to recover and muscles to repair. If you skip that and do heavy workouts on a daily basis you don't allow your body to recover/repair which could lead to injury.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited January 2018
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    gypsysoul0317 wrote: »
    Hello. I have finally found a good calorie smashing workout that I can do with my back injury. I have discovered that I can, quite comfortably use my elliptical. My question is this. Why is it suggested to take a day off from exercising? Is it counter productive to not take a day off? I've heard so much bull crap on this matter. What are your thoughts?

    This depends...if your exercise is just light it doesn't really matter...

    Taking a rest/recovery day is important in regards to fitness gains. A rest/recovery day doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing...a recovery day is rest from more intense training. Recovery is where you get the gains...the work is just the catalyst.

    I exercise pretty much 7 days per week...but it's not all balls to the wall. Yesterday I had a brutal interval session on my bike that left me wasted...I will ride today, but it will be an easy conversational paced 20K. Another interval session on Wednesday...conversational paced 20K on Thursday...lift on Friday...20-30 mile endurance ride on Saturday...lift on Sunday.

    Essentially, Tuesday and Thursday are my rest/recovery days...just really easy riding...and sometimes I don't ride and just do some yoga and go for a walk, etc.

    If I was going balls to the walls every single day, it would be a detriment to my fitness.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    it's all about how badly your own personal body needs rest, basically. and that's pretty hard for anyone to write a universal prescription about.

    however, i'm not sure (entirely personal opinion) that there's ever been a situation where taking one single day off from a workout routine did anyone any harm.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,975 Member
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    Agree with the others, it depends on how hard/what type of workouts and what your definition of rest is.

    I only "workout" 5 days a week, but the other two days I'm a long ways from sitting on the couch all day.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    gypsysoul0317 wrote: »
    Hello. I have finally found a good calorie smashing workout that I can do with my back injury. I have discovered that I can, quite comfortably use my elliptical. My question is this. Why is it suggested to take a day off from exercising? Is it counter productive to not take a day off? I've heard so much bull crap on this matter. What are your thoughts?

    Bit of a double-negative fest... So are rest days important? Really it depends, both on your objectives and what training you're doing to deliver those objectives.

    If you're doing low to moderate intensity, no impact, stuff like an elliptihell that's suggests that you're not training for anything specific. In that sense your objectives are presumably calorie expenditure and a bit of aerobic conditioning. You're not particularly stressing your system, so rest is somewhat less material to progress.

    In that situation the main value of rest days is mental. They're very boring machine, so a break can help adherence.

    If you're doing something more demanding, that generates significant stress, then rest periods allow recovery and consolidation. That said, rest doesn't mean doing nothing. The day after a speed session or long run I'll have a much easier session, both distance and pace. Or I might do something else, like row or cycle.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    gypsysoul0317 wrote: »
    Hello. I have finally found a good calorie smashing workout that I can do with my back injury. I have discovered that I can, quite comfortably use my elliptical. My question is this. Why is it suggested to take a day off from exercising? Is it counter productive to not take a day off? I've heard so much bull crap on this matter. What are your thoughts?

    This depends...if your exercise is just light it doesn't really matter...

    Taking a rest/recovery day is important in regards to fitness gains. A rest/recovery day doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing...a recovery day is rest from more intense training. Recovery is where you get the gains...the work is just the catalyst.

    I exercise pretty much 7 days per week...but it's not all balls to the wall. Yesterday I had a brutal interval session on my bike that left me wasted...I will ride today, but it will be an easy conversational paced 20K. Another interval session on Wednesday...conversational paced 20K on Thursday...lift on Friday...20-30 mile endurance ride on Saturday...lift on Sunday.

    Essentially, Tuesday and Thursday are my rest/recovery days...just really easy riding...and sometimes I don't ride and just do some yoga and go for a walk, etc.

    If I was going balls to the walls every single day, it would be a detriment to my fitness.

    This.

    And I would add- really if you're doing full blown training on top of a job- or multiple jobs- it's okay to "do nothing" sometimes your brain and body needs it. Don't fall for the trap that you have to be doing something every single day- you just don't need to.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    gypsysoul0317 wrote: »
    Hello. I have finally found a good calorie smashing workout that I can do with my back injury. I have discovered that I can, quite comfortably use my elliptical. My question is this. Why is it suggested to take a day off from exercising? Is it counter productive to not take a day off? I've heard so much bull crap on this matter. What are your thoughts?

    This depends...if your exercise is just light it doesn't really matter...

    Taking a rest/recovery day is important in regards to fitness gains. A rest/recovery day doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing...a recovery day is rest from more intense training. Recovery is where you get the gains...the work is just the catalyst.

    I exercise pretty much 7 days per week...but it's not all balls to the wall. Yesterday I had a brutal interval session on my bike that left me wasted...I will ride today, but it will be an easy conversational paced 20K. Another interval session on Wednesday...conversational paced 20K on Thursday...lift on Friday...20-30 mile endurance ride on Saturday...lift on Sunday.

    Essentially, Tuesday and Thursday are my rest/recovery days...just really easy riding...and sometimes I don't ride and just do some yoga and go for a walk, etc.

    If I was going balls to the walls every single day, it would be a detriment to my fitness.

    This.

    And I would add- really if you're doing full blown training on top of a job- or multiple jobs- it's okay to "do nothing" sometimes your brain and body needs it. Don't fall for the trap that you have to be doing something every single day- you just don't need to.

    Yes...sometimes I love just having a veg out day...
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Resting is a necessary part of working out, and really just as important as the workout. Muscle recovery depends on time and not working.

    Also, like it or not we're modern people and some day we have to skip a workout -- illness, doctor's appointment, injury, or a crisis. Getting freaked out because a workout is missed can be blown way out of proportion and lead to damaging black and white thinking.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,975 Member
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    I love that very rare veg day - they are very (very) rare for me, but I do savor them!!
  • Happysoul0317
    Happysoul0317 Posts: 119 Member
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    Thanks everyone. Very helpful advice!
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    edited January 2018
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    gypsysoul0317 wrote: »
    Hello. I have finally found a good calorie smashing workout that I can do with my back injury. I have discovered that I can, quite comfortably use my elliptical. My question is this. Why is it suggested to take a day off from exercising? Is it counter productive to not take a day off? I've heard so much bull crap on this matter. What are your thoughts?

    Bit of a double-negative fest... So are rest days important? Really it depends, both on your objectives and what training you're doing to deliver those objectives.

    If you're doing low to moderate intensity, no impact, stuff like an elliptihell that's suggests that you're not training for anything specific. In that sense your objectives are presumably calorie expenditure and a bit of aerobic conditioning. You're not particularly stressing your system, so rest is somewhat less material to progress.

    In that situation the main value of rest days is mental. They're very boring machine, so a break can help adherence.

    If you're doing something more demanding, that generates significant stress, then rest periods allow recovery and consolidation. That said, rest doesn't mean doing nothing. The day after a speed session or long run I'll have a much easier session, both distance and pace. Or I might do something else, like row or cycle.

    I would say that even if you're doing a low-moderate intensity whole body low impact circuit or calisthenics program the same thing is true.

    The problem is that just like taking appropriate breaks between sets, it's good to build the habit before you need it.

    There's also a fuzzy line between GPP and sport specific training PL, Marathon, etc where rest days become necessary. On the one hand there's stuff that clearly can/should be done daily. and on the other there's stuff that clearly can't shouldn't be. In the fuzzy middle there's a wide swath of it depends.
  • 1houndgal
    1houndgal Posts: 558 Member
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    I was taught by a trainer to be sure to take days off after weight lifting workouts. The big concern is rhabdomyolisis, where you break down so much muscle that your kidney can have a hard time handling the byproducts of muscle breakdown.

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