How important are rest days?

shoppie

So is it really important to actually rest and if so, how many times per week? Or can you just change what sort of exercise you are doing so you are using different muscles? For the last few months I have done 6 days of exercise DVDs, with at least one being mainly strength (as opposed to cardio) and then on day 7 done a big walk. Should I be resting? If so why?? I tend to struggle with my calories on rest days, I think I am used to having the extra from the exercise, plus my appetite is high from exercise but doesn't seem to drop when I take a day off!!! :devil:

Jesung

Depends on what you do. If you're actually doing strength training (meaning you're increasing weight as often as possible), then you need rest to properly recover for the next workout. If you're doing cardio or circuit type exercises, it doesn't really matter.