rest days?

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Emmea2729
Emmea2729 Posts: 100 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So. How many rest days do you guys give yourselves? And why?

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  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
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    4 days a week from heavy lifting because my muscles need time to recover. I also take a whole week off every 6 weeks or so.
  • magariesatto
    magariesatto Posts: 4
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    I give myself rest days when I feel like I need them. I walked five days in a row last week - the fifth day, I really noticed that I was sluggish trying to climb the hill to get home. So I took yesterday off, and today I might go for a shorter walk (1.5 miles instead of 2.5) that doesn't include a hill.

    I feel like one or two days off a week is pretty important - but it really depends on what your body is telling you.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    None...The more I move the better my body feels.
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
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    One to two days of no vigorous exercise.

    I still go on walks or hikes but no strength training or HIIT
  • motoole19
    motoole19 Posts: 11 Member
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    No rest from cardio. One day a week I do less intense cardio for a shorter amount of time. I skip two days a week from weights to allow my muscles time to heal.
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    Occasional, when I feel like it.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    4 days a week from heavy lifting because my muscles need time to recover. I also take a whole week off every 6 weeks or so.

    this, but, two of the days i do light cardio and saturday and sunday i do nothing

    Why?

    Monday is my heaviest day of lifting weekly. I take a week off occasionally to "deload" and recover fully. Deloading actually helps you build muscle faster. Mine arent quite as regular as his, but, thats dependent on volume.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
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    One day a week complete rest....2 active rest days (usually ends up being a 3 mile walk at the park with the pups)
  • CaffeinatedConfectionist
    CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
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    I take a week off occasionally to "deload" and recover fully. Deloading actually helps you build muscle faster. Mine arent quite as regular as his, but, thats dependent on volume.

    How often do you take the week off? This is something I've been playing around with casually (and occasionally without meaning to, at least in advance), but am curious to know what works for others.
  • squatsandlipgloss
    squatsandlipgloss Posts: 595 Member
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    One rest day doing Insanity. And one day is Recovery... which I hate.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    It often seems that people mistake a rest day for, sit on my *kitten* and doing nothing all day, day. I give myself 1-2 days off from vigorous exercise to allow for recovery. I do aerobic cardio 2-3 days per week on non lifting days...it depends on how I'm feeling with my lifts whether I do 2 or 3 days...sometimes I just can't run three days per week and get a full recovery from my lifting...sometimes I can; I lift 3x weekly. I make sure I'm at least generally active on days where I'm not "working out"....so I'm still moving 7 days per week.
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
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    I try to do cardio 6 days a week, then take Sunday off. On strength training, I also try to do 6 days a week, but alternate upper body workouts w/lower body the 6 days, then take Sunday completely off. Bob Harper ("Biggest Loser" trainer) is a fan of 3 days working out, 1 day off. But everyone should get a day off a week. I remember an expert talking about the communist Olympic teams & how they make them train every single day w/no break...for YEARS. He said it was phenomenal how good they are doing that, but (as an American) he didn't want to know how much better they'd be if they did get a day off a week. ;-)

    ADDED NOTE: When you're deciding what your schedule will be, you should know that experts say if you work your muscles to a certain level every day, then stop...it only takes 48 hours, of not working them at that level, to start losing muscle. Pretty sad isn't it?

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