Skipping rest day?

me0231
me0231 Posts: 218 Member
Newbie lifter question: if you missed a workout, is it ok to skip the rest day and go back to back to make up for it or am I better off with fewer workouts for one week and back to normal routine the next?

I'm doing a full body beginner routine 3x a week.

Replies

  • edickson76
    edickson76 Posts: 107 Member
    If your schedule permits, just adjust the workout days to one day later. For example, if you normally go MWF, but you miss M, then go TThSat. Then back to MWF the following week.
  • me0231
    me0231 Posts: 218 Member
    I can't unfortunately. I usually do Sun-Tue-Fri due to my work schedule. Next week I'm away Mon to Thu, so I can do Sunday and Fri, the only other option is late Thu night or Sat and either way it'll be back to back.
  • clayelliott847
    clayelliott847 Posts: 125 Member
    You took your rest day early. Just back in there and don't let it snowball. I know I take a day off, then it snowballs into a week.
  • PPumpItUp
    PPumpItUp Posts: 208 Member
    I work out 7 days a week its no biggie as long as you structure you workout properly, I have a 48 hour rest for most of my muscle groups. Just make sure you do not work out the same muscle group back to back. For example do not do bench, squats and shoulder press Thursday because you missed it today and then do bench, shoulder press and squat again on Friday like you might normally do (just an example).
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
    It is absolutely ok to skip rest day once in awhile. Over time, your body will give you some good feedback. If you skip rest days too much, you'll start to not be able to complete the planned workout, and then you'll know :)

    Getting into the concept of recoverable volume, fatigue and deloads; over time, we accumulate fatigue by frequency of workout, increasing volume through sets, reps and weight increases and our bodies can no longer recover and build the muscle we are wanting. This is the reason for a deload.

    But back to the point, you'll be just fine as long as you get some rest once in a while and your body will tell you when that is, but moving your rest day around shouldn't be too much of an issue for folks like you and me doing the 3 day full-body thing.
  • PPumpItUp
    PPumpItUp Posts: 208 Member
    PPumpItUp wrote: »
    I work out 7 days a week its no biggie as long as you structure you workout properly, I have a 48 hour rest for most of my muscle groups. Just make sure you do not work out the same muscle group back to back. For example do not do bench, squats and shoulder press Thursday because you missed it today and then do bench, shoulder press and squat again on Friday like you might normally do (just an example).

    OP does full body, so....

    Its a beginner full body workout. The lifts are probably bench, squat, deads, and shoulder press. I doubt there are accessory lifts. OP can just do arms and calves, or shoulders, or abs, the options go on.
  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
    In your case I would do Sunday & Friday and not worry about it. Get back on you normal schedule the next week. maybe do a couple extra sets on Sunday, you will have more recovery time. Eastcoast Jim
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    ecjim wrote: »
    In your case I would do Sunday & Friday and not worry about it. Get back on you normal schedule the next week. maybe do a couple extra sets on Sunday, you will have more recovery time. Eastcoast Jim

    This^, it's fine.
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    Don't sweat it.
    Get the workout in, and also don't worry if you can't quite nail some of the lifts on your second day in a row the way you know you can after a rest day.

    I generally lift M, W, F but often shuffle things around because of work commitments.
    Last week I bailed on Friday, and work this week meant that my first workout was Tuesday. I'd had lots of rest and absolutely bossed it! Maybe I should factor more rest in more often ;)
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