Should be have down days for our exercising?

Bibia2418 wrote: »

I have been doing some sort of exercise for the last month or so everyday, most days well over 10000 steps, like 5 or 6 miles a day. Should I have a down day occasionally? I have to say I am pretty exhausted. Any guidance on this will be helpful! Thanks!

Follow your body's needs. If you are tired, sore, etc. then sleep! I work out 6+ days a week (most weeks I go all 7 days) and that works well for me. I switch it up with heavy lifting on upper and lower, and only do cardio on upper days. If I get too exhausted, I (try) to listen to my body. Sounds like you are working a lot and if you are tired, then by all means, take a day off.

Rest days are important for your muscles! Without rest they can't repair themselves. It also gives your mind a little time to relax too I would say a day or two a week, depending on the intensities of your workouts

Rest days are important, but you also have to put everything into context and perspective. Generally speaking, walking would be a perfectly acceptable activity for a rest/recovery day for many people as it is a low impact and light activity...I walk a lot on my rest days and also do things like restorative yoga, yard work, etc. But this is where perspective comes into play...I'm pretty fit so doing some walking on a rest day isn't a tremendously big deal...for someone who's just starting out with their fitness and is going from not doing much to walking 5+ miles per day though...well, that can be a whole different story and that individual may very well need a rest/recovery day.

Regardless of your fitness level, it's important to listen to your body...and the more rigorous your exercise becomes, the more important recovery days will be.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Rest days are important, but you also have to put everything into context and perspective. Generally speaking, walking would be a perfectly acceptable activity for a rest/recovery day for many people as it is a low impact and light activity...I walk a lot on my rest days and also do things like restorative yoga, yard work, etc. But this is where perspective comes into play...I'm pretty fit so doing some walking on a rest day isn't a tremendously big deal...for someone who's just starting out with their fitness and is going from not doing much to walking 5+ miles per day though...well, that can be a whole different story and that individual may very well need a rest/recovery day.

Regardless of your fitness level, it's important to listen to your body...and the more rigorous your exercise becomes, the more important recovery days will be.

This is pretty much what I would say. I try to walk 13,000 on every non-weightlifting day. Walking is low impact enough that it's fine to do as a rest day activity. I figure that people who live in pedestrian friendly cities likely walk that much each day without even thinking about it so there's no reason why I need to rest from it.