How important are rest days?

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katz6910
katz6910 Posts: 156 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
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

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  • alexthebb
    alexthebb Posts: 19
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    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
    arl1286 Posts: 276 Member
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    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
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    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
    katz6910 Posts: 156 Member
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    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
    katz6910 Posts: 156 Member
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    Thank you, maybe I'll try splitting them up a bit more (arms legs etc)
  • stepplax
    stepplax Posts: 26
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    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
    katz6910 Posts: 156 Member
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    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

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