Rest Days.

abreojay
abreojay Posts: 16 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
How many days, needed a week, for rest?

Replies

  • IzzyBooNZ1
    IzzyBooNZ1 Posts: 1,289 Member
    I think this is a personal thing and depends on what your current fitness level is, what exercise you do.

    Some people might do an active rest day, so just go for an easy walk or do some yoga. Others might have a zero activity day.

    You do need to allow time for your body ( and often your mind!) to recover from exercise
  • Djproulx
    Djproulx Posts: 3,084 Member
    Agree with response above. The answer is definitely, "It Depends". Couple of examples to illustrate the point: For a beginner who has never been active and is perhaps significantly overweight, a 6day/week training program (3 strength/3 cardio) may be too much at first. That person may do well with 3/4 days of work. A second example would be a fairly fit person who is primarily a runner. That person may be doing a 5/6 day/week run training plan. Depending on mileage and intensity of training, that same person may have to take an additional day during some weeks, given the stress on muscles, joints, etc.

    So again, I'd say It Depends, and the factors would include things such as your type of exercise (high intensity vs low), current physical conditioning, overall training volume and your general health(injuries, etc).
  • wilsoncl6
    wilsoncl6 Posts: 1,280 Member
    Djproulx wrote: »
    Agree with response above. The answer is definitely, "It Depends". Couple of examples to illustrate the point: For a beginner who has never been active and is perhaps significantly overweight, a 6day/week training program (3 strength/3 cardio) may be too much at first. That person may do well with 3/4 days of work. A second example would be a fairly fit person who is primarily a runner. That person may be doing a 5/6 day/week run training plan. Depending on mileage and intensity of training, that same person may have to take an additional day during some weeks, given the stress on muscles, joints, etc.

    So again, I'd say It Depends, and the factors would include things such as your type of exercise (high intensity vs low), current physical conditioning, overall training volume and your general health(injuries, etc).

    ^^^--this. There is no set standard, it varies dependent upon your bodies needs and your workout plan. I do 6 days a week and use Sunday as my break day where I just go out and do something fun, like golf or a hike, but that's because my body is used to it. You have to figure out your own bodies tolerances.
  • wishfullthinking79
    wishfullthinking79 Posts: 322 Member
    My rest days are usually unplanned rest days because something has come up that prevents me from going. On days that I don't go I feel sluggish.
  • Cindy01Louisiana
    Cindy01Louisiana Posts: 302 Member
    edited April 2016
    For me, I take a rest day when (a) I am forced to for a commitment/appointment; and/or (b) when I feel tired and just cannot muster the enthusiasm -- either of which happened to be the cause of about 4 rest days out of the last 30.

    I don't schedule rest days. I am on a healthy deficit, eat well, sleep well, stay hydrated, don't kill myself too much, and I'm on a mission! :smile:
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Pretty rare for me to not do anything, but I have days when I go at a low intensity to recover. I do hill repeats every Tuesday and so Wednesday is always an active recovery day. I'll go for a long ride but stay below 100 watts and beats per minute.
  • abreojay
    abreojay Posts: 16 Member
    These were all great. I've went through all of those predicaments. Thank all of you for your insight.

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