Rest days: how important are they, is guilt-free possible?

extremely important. That's when your body repairs your cells n stuff like that.... yes you absolutely should take rest days and not feel guilty.


also, are you in an "all or nothing" kind of mentality? This can be very counterproductive to long term success, because with the all or nothing mentality, you slip up one time, and feel like you've failed completely, which makes it much harder to stick to long term. You *don't* have to be perfect... you just have to be good enough. Rest is just as important as exercise itself (that is rest when you're actually doing exercise on other days... resting 24/7 isn't good that's being sedentary lol.... but yes you have workout days and rest days.) You don't have to torture yourself with your workouts either... you don't have to work out every day.... you just have to work out often enough to keep your heart and lungs healthy and your bones and muscle strong.

The best balance is whatever you're going to be able to stick to in the long term...

Super important.

Banish the guilt.

Progress isn't made while you work out. It's made while your body is repairing itself on your rest days.

Proper rest is just as if not more important than the workouts themselves.

Note that "rest day" doesn't necessarily mean sitting around doing nothing. I walk my dog 7 days per week for 2-3 miles regardless...I often do some restorative yoga on rest days. Sundays have been mandated by my wife to be rest days so that I can get the grass mowed and other yard work done as well as fixing random **** around the house. I take my kids to the zoo or pool, etc...I'm still generally pretty active. I'm just taking a rest from anything vigorous to let my body recover...recovery is extremely important to your fitness.

^^^^ This.....think recovery day rather than rest day and it can be active recovery, just keep it low impact and low(er) intensity.

Rest days are essential.

just yesterday I posted how I never take rest days

Well, today I drove to the office. I typically run or ride, or split it between a run and ride. BUT- I felt tired legs this morning. You can feel when the fatigue is deep. Taking time off of a discipline once in a while is a good idea. Listen to your body.

On the other hand, I will be playing a double header in softball tonight- so there's that.

My point- if it's a lifestyle, there's nothing that a single day should make you feel guilty.

BUT- since you made the thread, you prolly feel a big guilty, or you wouldn't need the approval.

Get up, and do 50 jumping jacks, and a plank or something.

Okay, y'all are making me feel like a lazy bum. Am I the only one who feels NO guilt for rest days? In fact, I work out M-F and count down to Saturday morning.....yep, I count down. After Monday's workout I say to myself...."1 morning down, 4 to go".....so on and so forth. lol

The two most important days of the week in RE to my fitness are Wednesdays and Sundays....because they are my rest days...these are the days that my body gets to rest and recover and build and become stronger.

They are important and should be viewed as an essential part of your fitness regimen...they are part of your workout essentially.

Note that "rest day" doesn't necessarily mean sitting around doing nothing. I walk my dog 7 days per week for 2-3 miles regardless...I often do some restorative yoga on rest days. Sundays have been mandated by my wife to be rest days so that I can get the grass mowed and other yard work done as well as fixing random **** around the house. I take my kids to the zoo or pool, etc...I'm still generally pretty active. I'm just taking a rest from anything vigorous to let my body recover...recovery is extremely important to your fitness.

What he said!