do you really need a rest day?

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1FearlessFighter
1FearlessFighter Posts: 114 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
i exercise every day ( 80 minuets of speed walking, 50 minutes of light tennis, 40 minutes of intense circuit training) and i have never had a rest day as to e it just seems like a waste of not burning any calories, but is it necessary to rest a day so that your muscles can repair or do they repair themselves in sleep?

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  • Veil5577
    Veil5577 Posts: 868 Member
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    In my opinion at least one rest day a week is necessary. Over activity can lead to injury, and injury can lead to not being able to work out anymore. That's what happened to me when I overdid things, and now I can't exercise anymore.
  • itodd4019
    itodd4019 Posts: 340 Member
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    I have not had a rest day in a very long time. For what?
    I ride, run, lift, play or something every day. Many times 2-3 times a day.

    Sweat Daily!

    I doubt the cavemen, running for their lives everyday, took a day off. They'd have gotten eaten!
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    For anyone in specific training- or with progressive programming- rest days are paramount.

    Up till the 40 min of intense circuit training- I would have said meh- you are probably fine without it.. but all those things combined makes it sound like you need a day off.

    I personally could lift every day- but I've switched to different programming and while mentally it took time to adjust I can feel that I need it. You'd be surprised what your body can adapt to and what your brain can over ride.
  • renzo211
    renzo211 Posts: 25
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    hahhaha, poor cavemen!

    Kyri, you would need to consider your goals and eating habits. If you want to build muscle, then proper dieting and resting should be a must. Also, the intensity mandates how much you should rest I think. Take in some carbs after working out according to your needs so that the amount and intensity of your exercises won't start eating your own muscles up.

    PS: Tennis is an awesome sport! I used to practice is until my legs told me no... before my knee injuries :(
  • padft7
    padft7 Posts: 1 Member
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    I actually talked to my doctor about this. I've been afraid of injury. He told me while he thinks everyday something should be done he recommended going "light" twice weekly. Instead of going all out, balls-to-the-wall, ease up and do light activity for half the time I normally would. For me that means a moderate speed walk for 35-40 twice weekly. It will mean something else for you! So far, so good!!
  • segovm
    segovm Posts: 512 Member
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    I think I'm in the cardio doesn't need a rest day camp. Our bodies are designed to be in near constant motion so "doing cardio" roughly translates to being alive in my book.

    Weight training on the other hand definitely needs a rest day if you are looking to make consistent strength gains, at least in my limited experience when I was lifting in my youth. For me it wasn't really something I even thought about, if I pushed hard on a muscle group that last thing I wanted to do the next day would be hit it again.
  • H_Factor
    H_Factor Posts: 1,722 Member
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    I think the research/science out there suggests that rest and recovery days are beneficial. You see, when you break down muscle, it needs time to heal in order to grow/progress/improve/pick your word. Its not just about a calorie burn....its about making progress with your body. I think there are several articles you could find with a google search, but here's one of them. http://www.mensfitness.com/training/the-6-best-ways-to-recover-from-your-workout

    Anyway, you really didn't give a thorough explanation of the circuit training you're doing or whether it targets the same muscles every day. I prefer full body workouts...whether with a workout program or my own program. If I'm working the entire body hard one day, I will do more of a recovery workout the next day, or work other muscles. If you keep breaking down the same muscles day after day, you're probably not making as much progress as you could be making....but, again, you didn't really tell us whether you are noticing changes or not. Anyway, you don't necessarily need to completely rest, but taking a couple of days for a recovery routine would be beneficial.

    Notably, this is one reason I like P90X3....you mix in resistance, cardio and recovery workouts...generally not working the same muscles hard any 2 days in a row. It also gives you the option of taking a rest day on the 7th day of each week or doing the stretch routine...which is a beneficial recovery routine.

    Over the years, I have come to really like the advice given by Craig Ballantyne and his Turbulence Training program. He has repeatedly recommended only 3 tough 30ish minute workouts per week, with some lower intensity/recovery stuff on the "off days".

    Anyway, you have to do what you want to do....but you may get better results if you allow your body sufficient time to rest and recover...and that may mean taking more than 1 rest/recovery day per week (depending on how often you're working/overworking the same muscles)
  • notamoment
    notamoment Posts: 190 Member
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    I stretch on my rest days for at least an hour so to me yes they are a must.
  • 1FearlessFighter
    1FearlessFighter Posts: 114 Member
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    I think the research/science out there suggests that rest and recovery days are beneficial. You see, when you break down muscle, it needs time to heal in order to grow/progress/improve/pick your word. Its not just about a calorie burn....its about making progress with your body. I think there are several articles you could find with a google search, but here's one of them. http://www.mensfitness.com/training/the-6-best-ways-to-recover-from-your-workout

    Anyway, you really didn't give a thorough explanation of the circuit training you're doing or whether it targets the same muscles every day. I prefer full body workouts...whether with a workout program or my own program. If I'm working the entire body hard one day, I will do more of a recovery workout the next day, or work other muscles. If you keep breaking down the same muscles day after day, you're probably not making as much progress as you could be making....but, again, you didn't really tell us whether you are noticing changes or not. Anyway, you don't necessarily need to completely rest, but taking a couple of days for a recovery routine would be beneficial.

    Notably, this is one reason I like P90X3....you mix in resistance, cardio and recovery workouts...generally not working the same muscles hard any 2 days in a row. It also gives you the option of taking a rest day on the 7th day of each week or doing the stretch routine...which is a beneficial recovery routine.

    Over the years, I have come to really like the advice given by Craig Ballantyne and his Turbulence Training program. He has repeatedly recommended only 3 tough 30ish minute workouts per week, with some lower intensity/recovery stuff on the "off days".

    Anyway, you have to do what you want to do....but you may get better results if you allow your body sufficient time to rest and recover...and that may mean taking more than 1 rest/recovery day per week (depending on how often you're working/overworking the same muscles)

    i am planing on getting one of the beach-body dvds in the next month or so but everyday for my training i either to a jillian Michael's dvd 45minutes on mon, tue, thu , 1 hour and a half of boxing club which is like first half hour is punching and boxing related moves with a partner and the other half hour we choose three circuits to do for 4 minutes , 1 minutes rest in between eg, skipping, crunches with medicine ball, steps with hand weights and for the last half hour its an all out cardio and ab blast eg burpees with press up, speed star jumps, and i do this on wed and fri. on saturday i do an hour of tennis and on sunday i do 2 jillian Michael dvds. i have all her collection so they are all varied and i always push myself and do all the advanced moves, i take my fitness very seriously , once i was doing the last move on the exercise and it was sprinting on a spot and my sister came in the room and she was nearly scared, loool, i was breathing heavy, eyes focused and determined , pounding everything out, not paying any attention to my surrounding but for that last minute of giving it my all and my sisters face looked almost frightened :0 haha,
  • Cycle4Life99
    Cycle4Life99 Posts: 86
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    Consult a medical professional for questions like this. No one on here is really qualified to give an answer on this. You risk irreversible damage by following poor, laymen advice.
  • 1FearlessFighter
    1FearlessFighter Posts: 114 Member
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    i thought 8 hours sleep was enough rest as thats what ive been doing seriously for the last three months
  • amandzor
    amandzor Posts: 386 Member
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    I don't know about everyone else, but I -need- a rest day.

    I find after pushing myself M-F in the gym after work every day, I ache. I can feel it in every muscle of my body.

    It's both satisfying, in that I know I pushed myself enough, and that all that work means I can take a day to chill, watch some Netflix and recover.

    This last weekend I started the 5x5 on Friday, and was super sore until today (Tuesday)

    Those squats are killers.

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