How important are rest days?

katz6910

I do some weights (not overly heavy duty or anything) but I've read so many people saying about rest days are they important and how many should you have a week? TIA

alexthebb

Rest days are important for muscle recovery and growth. Aim to have 2-3 a week, overtraining isn't going to do anything for you but injure yourself.

arl1286

I've read different things but basically your muscles need 24 hours (some say 48) to repair themselves after a hard workout. So, if you're isolating muscle groups (ex: arm day, leg day), rest days are less important, as long as you're not working the same muscle groups two days in a row. But if you're doing compound lifts (squats, bench, deadlift, clean, etc.), the rest days become more important. Most training plans I've seen have three days of lifting per week.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

It depends entirely on your routine and how heavy you lift, whether you are doing a split routine or a total body routine.

Split routine can be performed upper one day, lower the next, rest, upper, lower, rest - or something like that.

Total body with heavy weights is best with a rest day after every strength day.

Cardio can be performed on rest days, and rest days aren't necessary after cardio.

katz6910

Thanks Alex I will rest today then. I'm finding it quite addictive and I haven't had a rest day for almost 2 weeks. I'll try and aim for 1-2 a week

katz6910

Thank you, maybe I'll try splitting them up a bit more (arms legs etc)

stepplax

I've had good luck with this split:

Shoulders/Core
Back/bis
Chest/tris
Legs/Core

A lot of people go with a 3 day split. Namely, push, pull, legs. Pulls being mostly back/bi (rows, pull ups, pull downs, curls). Push being triceps, chest, shoulders for the most part. Legs are obvious! Good luck to you.

edit: and holy cow... 89 lbs! Good for you!!

katz6910

I've had good luck with this split:

Shoulders/Core
Back/bis
Chest/tris
Legs/Core

A lot of people go with a 3 day split. Namely, push, pull, legs. Pulls being mostly back/bi (rows, pull ups, pull downs, curls). Push being triceps, chest, shoulders for the most part. Legs are obvious! Good luck to you.

edit: and holy cow... 89 lbs! Good for you!!

Thank you :blushing: I've only just started the weights but I'm loving it