Do You Take A Rest Day?

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  • MissBenes
    MissBenes Posts: 18
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    I'm curious if others take a rest day from exercise, and why or why not? ...and if you don't, how long have you been exercising every day?

    I haven't taken a rest day in over a yr... I want to sometimes and have been told I should but I just haven't been able to so I'm wondering what others do.

    Thanks for replies :)

    I take a rest day when I am hung over. To be honest :D
    And I've noticed that it weirdly does me good, especially when I take my training up another notch. Like, I pant and scream for two days, skip one day, and then easily get in the zone after that.
    Also, the off days were the ones when I noticed first changes on my body. So, by all means - take one rest day a week (you don't have to be hung over).
  • Tiamaria1010
    Tiamaria1010 Posts: 40 Member
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    I rest on Sunday's and my body thanks me for it!!
  • suzywuzy90
    suzywuzy90 Posts: 20 Member
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    I rest on Sunday.
  • malk2651
    malk2651 Posts: 55 Member
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    Think of it this way, the rest day is part of the program. Part of reaching your fitness goals. You may actually be slowing down progress to your fitness goal by not taking a rest day. Now as others have said it greatly depends on what your doing and the likelihood of injury.
    I've continued to exercise even when I've been injured, or sick. If I feel exhausted or something I tell myself to push thru and once I start, I'll almost be over and I force myself to do it..... I get thru each workout, how does not taking a day off slow me down?

    We're getting into "what ifs" here, so this is just my opinion.

    Would that rest time have helped prevent those injuries? Would you have gotten sick if you had rested and not pushed your body past a certain point? Would you have healed quicker or recovered from sickness faster? With the extra repair time would you have built more muscle or conditioned tendons or joints?

    Or how about this analogy, Does a car run better with proper maintenance? Or get better gas milage? Usually.

    But then again you have to know your own body. Go with what feels right to you. After all its your body.
  • jeffrodgers1
    jeffrodgers1 Posts: 991 Member
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    I take one bonafide rest day a week. I run four days a week and cross train two days a week.

    If I am feeling an injury coming on, I rest a day or two but still do active recovery (i.e. ride a bike, swim, or yoga instead of running)
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
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    For the ppl who do take rest days, do you ever feel guilty about it? How do I be ok with giving myself a day off?

    I know a couple others have said it, but I look at rest days as an important part of the whole routine. I'm like you, I felt bad about it until someone smarter (and more fit) than me convinced me that my body needed a regular break every once in a while. I actually started seeing faster improvements in both stamina and appearance when I scheduled a rest day or two during the week, plus I wasn't constantly sore somewhere or another :).
  • mou_254
    mou_254 Posts: 153 Member
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    no...not worried about not continuing the routine...because this IS the routine...u need to give yourself a break,i think...having an off day and then continuing on the next day gives me the feeling that i'm in it for the long haul! :)
  • broncosbabe
    broncosbabe Posts: 50 Member
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    I take my rest day on a Sunday and some Saturdays if I've gone out/had a big night on Friday night (very rare). I take my rest days to extremes though - I don' t even log my food those days!
  • andiebaco
    andiebaco Posts: 211 Member
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    For the ppl who do take rest days, do you ever feel guilty about it? How do I be ok with giving myself a day off?

    Once in a while I feel a tad guilty, but then I remind myself the other 6 days of the week I'm busting my butt with the training. That rest day is earned!

    This! I used to work out 7 days a week, mix of cardio and lifting. And one days I was just exhausted, so I realized that I was over doing myself, so Idecided that in order for me to keep with my habit I had to give me the opportunity to have a rest day. Usually, I fix the rest day with a fast day (5:2) so I get it compensated. My rest days are Thursdays as I like working out on weekends (because I get to be there for a longer time than on weekdays).
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    are you training for a particular event? over 90 minutes of carido per day is rather excessive?
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
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    are you training for a particular event? over 90 minutes of carido per day is rather excessive?

    For who? I do 90 mins a minimum a day. HIIT for about 40 mins then the rest just normal cardio...that's just on my bike or something else.


    Running is a minimum 60-90 mins
  • MissBenes
    MissBenes Posts: 18
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    are you training for a particular event? over 90 minutes of carido per day is rather excessive?

    For who? I do 90 mins a minimum a day. HIIT for about 40 mins then the rest just normal cardio...that's just on my bike or something else.


    Running is a minimum 60-90 mins

    Yeah, well, you can chill out now.
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    are you training for a particular event? over 90 minutes of carido per day is rather excessive?

    For who? I do 90 mins a minimum a day. HIIT for about 40 mins then the rest just normal cardio...that's just on my bike or something else.


    Running is a minimum 60-90 mins

    You obviously don't know what HIIT is, because not even an "athlete" can do HIIT for 40 minutes.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    are you training for a particular event? over 90 minutes of carido per day is rather excessive?

    For who? I do 90 mins a minimum a day. HIIT for about 40 mins then the rest just normal cardio...that's just on my bike or something else.


    Running is a minimum 60-90 mins

    You obviously don't know what HIIT is, because not even an "athlete" can do HIIT for 40 minutes.

    i am glad i wasnt the only one thinking that!
  • mperrott2205
    mperrott2205 Posts: 737 Member
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    are you training for a particular event? over 90 minutes of carido per day is rather excessive?

    For who? I do 90 mins a minimum a day. HIIT for about 40 mins then the rest just normal cardio...that's just on my bike or something else.


    Running is a minimum 60-90 mins

    You obviously don't know what HIIT is, because not even an "athlete" can do HIIT for 40 minutes.

    Lol, this with all of my this.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
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    If you don't train hard you don't need a rest day.
  • aquarabbit
    aquarabbit Posts: 1,622 Member
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    Yes. I need a day where i get too treat myself and my rest day is that day. It's my reward for working hard all week. I do all my waxing and epilating, bath, face and body mask, and catch up with DVR. It's so nice.
  • arghbowl
    arghbowl Posts: 1,179 Member
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    I abide by the policy of "You can rest when you're dead." :-P

    But in all reality, I lift heavy 4x a week and will do some lighter work the other 3 days of the week. Rarely, if ever, do I take a true "rest day," but that's mostly because it throws me off my schedule if I do. I think it's because I workout at 0430 every day... when I worked out at night I never had issues with rest days.
  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    The closest I come to a rest day is when I walk nine holes of golf, twice a week. I lift three days and do aerobics the other two.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
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    I do "something" every day, but what i do each day varies - so at the weekend it MIGHT be walking round a mall for 3 hours (and I do count that as its tiring, but I log it as walking slowly). weekdays its 20 mins aerobic or toning DVD workout, walk 15 mins to and from work (plus 20 mins lunchtime walk most days) - already up to70 mins just with that. Then in the evening its a min 20 mins but more likely 30-45 mins either more aerobics/toning or Wii Zumba. Sat/Sun generally a longish walk with hubby - 60 mins or so.

    I did a lot less on holiday - still walking a couple of times a day and I really missed my regular exercise! who'd have thought it???!

    ETA when I get back to goal weight I'll be doing a little less - my work regime is changing so i won't be able to fit in lunchtime walks - but I'm still going to do my morning stuff and at least 3 other longer sessions per week.

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