"Rest Day" Advice

excitedaboutfitness

Hey All!

I'm in the process of upping both the minutes per week and intensity of my workouts, and I am also planning on adding more variation in what I do. However, I am a little confused about "rest days". Right now, I usually exercise about 200 minutes per week, spread out over 4-5 days. I spend 2 days doing nothing in terms of exercise, including walking (my gym is a 20 minute walk away, each way).

I am entering this new schedule to increase my weight loss capabilities, and to hopefully gain some muscle via the Jillian Michaels DVDs

For my new schedule, I was planning on doing something similar to the following:

Monday:
- 30 minutes of Stationary Bicycling
- Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD

Tuesday:
- 55 minutes of Pilates
- 75 minutes of Yoga
- 80 minutes of Walking

Wednesday:
- 55 minutes of Zumba
- 40 minutes of Walking

Thursday:
- 55 minutes of Pilates
- Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD
- 40 minutes of Walking

Friday:
- Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD

Saturday: (Rest-ish day?)
- 75 minutes of Yoga
- 40 minutes of Walking

Sunday:
- Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD

So, Overall, my main question is: Can my Saturday line-up qualify as a rest day?

Thanks!

AmyRhubarb

Personally, I wouldn't call 75 minutes of yoga a rest on any day. Especially with 2-3 hours of exercise several days during the week - that's a lot of pressure on the body.

I know some people don't take a rest day, or are still active - which is fine, I'm not saying you have to be a couch potato to qualify it as a rest day, but the body does some of it's best work when it's at rest, recovering from all the workouts!

Make sure you are matching your calorie intake to all the exercise as well - too much exercise, not enough food and rest can result in serious burn out and exhaustion pretty quick. I'm not trying to be a downer, just going off my own experience and things I've read, both here at MFP from other users, and various fitness sites.

I love my rest days and always take at least one a week, and over the past year have found that about every 8 weeks or so my body wants more rest, and I take a full week off. I still walk my dogs, might play a game of golf with my hubs, but don't do any planned workouts. I come back feeling great, refreshed, and ready to jump back into my regular routine.