Rest Days?

sshwetas
sshwetas Posts: 8 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Currently, I am doing mostly cardio. I do high intensity interval training and weights probably 3-4 times a week (not too heavy). I go to the gym everyday.

I wanted to ask how often should you take rest days. My body is not tired but if I were to take a day off of working out, I know I would feel bad and lazy.

Replies

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    For me, I weight lift M, W, F. I run 3-4 days a week, and I usually take one or two weekend days off, depending on what I'm doing. I do move every day, though.
  • morgiee_lynne
    morgiee_lynne Posts: 141 Member
    Same I like to take 1 rest day a week. Usually on my meal prep day (sunday)
  • chely0753
    chely0753 Posts: 3 Member
    I try to take 2 rest days a week and not back to back cause otherwise ill get lazy.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    i work out only 3x a week. used to be 4.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I love my rest days, always take at least one, sometimes two, and every so often a full week - and I never feel bad or lazy for doing so.

    Rest is important and should be included in your routine. Rest doesn't mean you have to be a couch potato all day (although some rest days are just that for me! And still no guilt when they are!) - go for a walk, take an easy bike ride, shoot some hoops with the neighbor kid - whatever.
  • Foamroller
    Foamroller Posts: 1,041 Member
    Second AmyRhubarb. Walking or housekeeping is great for rest days. Especially when doing high performance Hiit. If you never allow your muscles to rest, aka GROW, you'll basically wear yourself out, get overtrained. Until you have widened your ljmits enough to sustain more training on same or other day.

    Balance is key.

    If you feel you can do more, ramp up the intensity on your excisting workout days?

    Good luck:)
  • galprincess
    galprincess Posts: 683 Member
    I take rest days when I feel I need 1
  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
    Rest is important for the body to recover.
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    Your body needs a rest. I try to go to the gym 4 times a week.

    But now the winter is setting in - All I want to do is have rest days... :smiley:
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    It is important for you to rest your body. I try to take about 1-2 rest days. I have been mostly running right now cause I pulled a muscle when lifting. When I lift it's Tue, Thurs and Sat.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    I rest when my body needs it, which is usually two days a week .
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    I'm currently doing 2 rest days a week coming off running a half marathon. Sometimes I freak out about rest days because it means I don't get to eat as much as I do on days when I run, so I don't completely rest, but I also don't push myself as hard as I do on workout days. A rest day for me might be walking for an hour, yoga, raking leaves in the yard--something that gets me up and moving, but not high-intensity.
  • sarafischbach9
    sarafischbach9 Posts: 466 Member
    I take 1-2 rest days. But on my rest days I still do the gym and do lighter stuff, like the bike or elliptical. I'm a runner and coming off a marathon that I did on Sunday November 2nd.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    I take 6 days off a week sometimes
  • DeterminedFee201426
    DeterminedFee201426 Posts: 859 Member
    2 restdays every weekend
  • skinnyforhi
    skinnyforhi Posts: 340 Member
    I take 1 rest day during the week, and 1 rest day on the weekend (2 rest days per week). I find that after a rest day, I start looking forward to my workout again. I also think rest days help rebuild muscle/prevent injury from overuse.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited November 2014
    New joggers, they say, shouldn't run more more than every other day. So I am jogging every other day.

    But I don't take days off from walking or swimming just because I think I should. I may skip days if I just don't feel like it or am sick or whatever - but I don't skip walking/swimming so that my body can rest.
  • richardositosanchez
    richardositosanchez Posts: 260 Member
    I try to take 1 - 2 rest days. I find that it re-energizes me when I start my work out routine back up.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    It really depends on the intensity of your workouts. Someone who is regularly working at a more strenuous level of effort is going to require more rest than someone who is working at a less strenuous level overall.

    In RE to weight lifting, it is important that you do not work the same muscles/groups of muscles on back to back days...in my experience, this is where rest becomes more important.

    I would also add that a rest day doesn't mean or doesn't have to mean that you just sit around doing nothing...I still go for at least a 3 mile walk on my rest days and I'm also usually doing some work in the yard or something. A rest day for me just means a rest from strenuous exertion.
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  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
    resting is the most important part of training as it is when your body gets stronger. You may be getting enough rest between sessions but if you are going hard you may not be. I would go a step further and look at periodisation if you want to increase your fitness....

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_periodization

    Any book by Joe Friel will go into how to get fit and the importance of rest in this process :-)
  • dusjujr
    dusjujr Posts: 160 Member
    2 days= one weekday and one weekend

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