Walking - How important are rest days?

The general logic would suggest you dont need a rest day for walking but surprising to me I do. That rest day may be 6-8k steps though. If you feel a little tired after busting out 15-20 day in and day out, nothing wrong with lowering it.

I do run 20 miles a week and other low impact exercises as well but by far my walking calories are a lot more, and some days I just need to only do 6000 steps.

Pawsforme wrote: »

Rest days are normally for lifting. The idea is that lifting makes tiny little tears in muscles, and that the rest day allows for repair. It's the repair that makes the muscle stronger.

For walking or any other kind of cardio -- I'd listen to your body. If it's really saying it needs a break then give it one.

you look at most programs including cardio and rest/recovery days are important. Its not just the muscles but also your bones break down and build back up. Your body is constantly breaking down and repairing itself.

Yup....I consider walking to be "active rest".....but that's me. For some, walking IS their workout. Being tired can be taken lots of ways, I wouldn't think its from overworking yourself from walking, BUT, there could be other reasons that are important. Keep an eye on it, if the fatigue continues to a crazy level, I'd suggest seeking a doctor's opinion, just to be on the safe side. Your health is important

Listen to your body.

If in doubt leave it out...

While I don't think you need a rest day from walking, I don't think you need to push yourself to hit a step goal every single day if it feels tedious. Even if your body feels OK, if you have a busy day or would have to really move things around just to go out for a walk to get the steps in, I'd say take a mental rest day so you don't feel resentful. That's the bigger reason I take rest days from the gym than needing the physical rest.

Rest is normally required when you tear down muscles and rebuild them. You need some protein too with that rest.

It gets down to how much work it is for you to do that walking. If it is challenging and taxing, I would say rest a little.

Your body adapts over time to work and what was work 6 months ago is magically almost nothing

I ride my bike lots. I rode a 50 mile trip with some friends that don't ride often on Saturday. It was at a slow pace to start and never really got close to fast. I was thinking this is almost like a walk. But it was still fun, rewarding in a different way.

Time exercising changes your effort threshold.

So after a 50 mile ride I hit it hard Sunday for a fast 30+ mile ride.

Rest when your body tells you to rest. As you get stronger and more fit, don't be afraid to push a little bit.

The body is an amazing thing. You can make it do all sorts of things you may have never thought you could do.

Congrats on continually raising the bar for yourself!

Orphia wrote: »

I've been walking over 10,000 steps a day for around 3 months. Lately I'm averaging nearly 15,000 steps a day. I've had a couple of personal bests recently of over 20,000 steps.

I've had one or two "rest days" that are 10,000 to 11,000 step days.

I do eat back most of my exercise calories, or have done for a few weeks since I worked out I was doing it wrong.

But am I pushing myself too hard? I do feel a little bit tired today.

I'm currently doing Steptember (doing 10,000 steps a day this month to raise money for cerebral palsy) and hoping I can keep up a good tally till at least the end of the month.

If you are feeling burned out to where you do not want to exercise, you are doing too much. I did that and had to take a couple of rest days, then scale back to where my normal day was 10-12,000.

earlnabby wrote: »

Orphia wrote: »

I've been walking over 10,000 steps a day for around 3 months. Lately I'm averaging nearly 15,000 steps a day. I've had a couple of personal bests recently of over 20,000 steps.

I've had one or two "rest days" that are 10,000 to 11,000 step days.

I do eat back most of my exercise calories, or have done for a few weeks since I worked out I was doing it wrong.

But am I pushing myself too hard? I do feel a little bit tired today.

I'm currently doing Steptember (doing 10,000 steps a day this month to raise money for cerebral palsy) and hoping I can keep up a good tally till at least the end of the month.

If you are feeling burned out to where you do not want to exercise, you are doing too much. I did that and had to take a couple of rest days, then scale back to where my normal day was 10-12,000.

This. When I first started exercising, I needed rest days from walking, but I have mitigating medical issues which made them necessary.

Now? I walk 7 days a week, but that's me. My step count/intensity level might be lower on my rest day from C25K and lifting. It all depends what my body is telling me.

You don't NEED a rest day from walking, but if you're feeling run down, there's certainly nothing wrong with taking one.

Orphia wrote: »

I really appreciate every one of your posts. Thank you, lovely people!

I will ease up when I feel tired, and that will restore my energy to go for more personal bests. Yay.

Out of curiousity, what are you using to track your steps and how many extra calories does it give you? I average 17,000+ a day and my Fitbit often gives me 800+calories for this (on top of 1200). I'm 5'5 and 137lbs so this seems like A LOT. I've read a ton of posts about the accuracy of Fitbit burns and such, but I just want to get an idea of what other people are actually adding to the MFP stats for steps.

WinoGelato wrote: »

Are you set at Sedentary on MFP? When I first started using MFP I chose sedentary because of my desk job and ate back my exercise cals. About 6 months into it I got a Fitbit and was averaging 10-12K steps and getting big adjustments. I went in the FitBit group and got good advice that a step count that high is hardly sedentary and that by changing my activity level I would have a higher baseline of cals to start with each day and smaller adjustments, So I switched to lightly active. Now I average 14-15K steps, have my activity level at active, and I don't even get a positive adjustment till I exceed 9000 or so steps so I feel it is much more representative of my true activity and exercise level.

I am set to sedentary - and I don't mind the big adjustments personally I kind of like seeing them, even if I don't eat them all back. I guess I just find the adjustment to be a lot because I don't really do any dedicated/"formal" cardio. I just go about my day as usual and apparently that's a lot of steps.

Right now I'm eating about 1400 a day, and sometimes 1600-1800 on weekends, losing at about the rate that I have set for MFP. I'm trying to keep a close eye on it because I'm slightly concerned I'm eating too little, but I never feel hungry, and I feel like if my Fitbit burn was correct I'd be losing much faster? Aside from eating out every now and then, my logging is tight. I just got the Fitbit on September 1st so I'll wait til the end of the month, see what happens, and maybe up my cals at that point.

WinoGelato wrote: »

^^ yeah I also found that my FitBit calorie burns changed slightly, and in fact became more accurate, the longer I had it, so definitely give it time.

Some people don't like the big adjustments because they feel pressured to eat a bunch of calories at the end of the day. I didn't feel that way but I do think if those are your average steps you are far from sedentary, and that's what I was trying to get to. A more accurate representation of my true activity level so when I actually exercise that's when I get adjustments.

Makes sense!! Thank you for your response

OP - sorry I derailed your post a bit there!

Depends how much you are walking. I'd aim for 1-2... one during the week and one on the weekend

I walk a minimum of 20,000 steps most days, up to 29,000ish, I cant crack the 30,000! I've (my body) never felt the need for a rest day.... yet.

msf74 wrote: »

Listen to your body.

If in doubt leave it out...

This. There are a load of factors that should influence if you take a day of rest. Fitness level, other activity, nutrition, how much sleep you got, what and when you ate, etc, etc.

Any of us can burn huge calories at just about any activity for consecutive days. But doing it when you are tired is more of a thing to be done when you have to do it, not by choice. If you need a rest day, take a rest day.