Resting days or not

Only if YOU feel YOU need them. Personally I've never needed a rest day & it's been 16 months for me so far without one. But not everyone can do a workout a day like I HAVE to (it's a habit that I could break if I miss just one day so I do it daily).

Don't let people tell you that you MUST have a rest day, not everyone IS built the same.

Hey everyone,

Since I'm quite new to the regular exercise thing I'm a bit lost working out the best training schedule to lose the most weight. I've been doing an hour on the treadmill daily so far, but I was wondering if it is necessary to have a resting day or resting days in your weekly schedule? I still have a considerable amount of weight to lose, which means a lot of fat to burn of. But some training schedules seem to have resting days in the week. Does anyone know the optimal number of days to exercise for weight loss?

Thanks

Always have rest days otherwise you will eventually break down and either get an injury (where you are not giving yourself a chance to recover adequately) or you could get run down and if you try to train through that, you can leave yourself open to infections and viruses and that WILL put you out of action for a while.

If you have only just started out, three times per week for the first two to four weeks and then add on another day per month to a maximum of six days per week.

Overtraining is also another possibility if you do not take rest days.

Only if YOU feel YOU need them. Personally I've never needed a rest day & it's been 16 months for me so far without one. But not everyone can do a workout a day like I HAVE to (it's a habit that I could break if I miss just one day so I do it daily).

Don't let people tell you that you MUST have a rest day, not everyone IS built the same.

You are the exception rather than the rule.

I wish I could train everyday though. Unfortunately, I have a chest infection now, this was due to insisting I train through, over and above my health levels - my body did give me lots of warning signs, but I chose to ignore the lot. Lungs filling up with fluid is not nice

You need rest days. When you work out, you cause tiny tears to your muscles, which sounds a bit scary, but if you allow a day or two for your body to heal those little muscle tears, your muscles actually get stronger and more efficient over time. If you don't rest, those tiny tears will eventually start causing you problems.

Only if YOU feel YOU need them. Personally I've never needed a rest day & it's been 16 months for me so far without one. But not everyone can do a workout a day like I HAVE to (it's a habit that I could break if I miss just one day so I do it daily).

Don't let people tell you that you MUST have a rest day, not everyone IS built the same.

Don't you mostly do cardio?

Either way rest days are important. My muscles need time to rest, build and regenerate between workouts. Most peoples' do.

Going by their profile they do weights.

Regarding the cardio, rest days are vital for cardio, without fail.

Only if YOU feel YOU need them. Personally I've never needed a rest day & it's been 16 months for me so far without one. But not everyone can do a workout a day like I HAVE to (it's a habit that I could break if I miss just one day so I do it daily).

Don't let people tell you that you MUST have a rest day, not everyone IS built the same.

Don't you mostly do cardio?

Either way rest days are important. My muscles need time to rest, build and regenerate between workouts. Most peoples' do.

Going by their profile they do weights.

Regarding the cardio, rest days are vital for cardio, without fail.

I don't do 'weights' but I do resistance bands up to about 80lbs in weight. I do cardio every single day regardless though. Never had a rest day yet. Never felt the need to & I know that if I do my habit of exercising will be over cause I'll find an excuse to not do it the next day. Currently doing it with a massive chest infection.

The reason I thought you did weights was because you have the following on your profile:

Goals:
............................
...........................

Tone up more, lift more weights.

I live on a working farm. There are no rest days.

It depends on what you're doing exactly for a workout and what you consider a "rest" day. If you're just doing some walking or whatever on the treadmill, you're likely fine. If you're pushing and pulling a lot of iron, you're going to need rest to allow your muscles to recover and actually get the benefit of your workouts; hell, I take a rest week every 6th week or so of my cycle.

If you're a runner, four days is pretty good...5+ days you exponentially increase the risk of injury if you're doing a lot of distance. If you're just doing straight cardio, I wouldn't worry about it too much; your body will tell you if you need a break. That aside, use your diet control to "burn" fat and for weight control; exercise for fitness.

Are you walking on the treadmill or running?

If you are walking, you probably do not need rest days. Unless you have a heart condition or are very heavy to a point where your joints are taking a beating from even relatively low-impact exercise. If you are running, on the other hand, I wouldn't do it more than every other day as a beginner.

Rule of thumb: the harder your workout, the more important it is to give your body time to recover.

I usually don't have one, unless I'm very sore and feel that I need it. I only weight train 2-3 times a week though (I take an extra day off that if I'm really sore after 48 hours), rest is walks, and I don't mind doing that every day.

I usually don't have one, unless I'm very sore and feel that I need it. I only weight train 2-3 times a week though (I take an extra day off that if I'm really sore after 48 hours), rest is walks, and I don't mind doing that every day.

If that is the entirety of your training regimen, then I would say you have rest days 4-5 days a week. Walking is not exactly hard, unless you are really out of shape or are hiking uphill or something. A rest day doesn't mean you lie on your couch all day. The reason you need to take rest days is to allow your body to recover after strenuous activity; light activity does not interfere with recovery.

In my opinion, rest days are important as it's the way the body recovers. Without rest days, it means that each training session is potentially compromised (i.e, you'll be too tired to do a proper sprint session). Elites have rest days and the very popular P&D Advanced Marathoning plans have rest days.

To the OP. Bin the treadie and get outside if you can. It's much more motivating!