REST DAYS. What does your rest day look like?

carlaringuette
carlaringuette Posts: 158 Member
Trying to get rid of the all or nothing thinking. Stuck into thinking I must get a workout in everyday or make up for it with 2 per day on the weekends when I miss one.

I know stinking thinking. Still a work in progress.

I started in October. 57 yrs old

Currently do one class Mon - Thurs
then cardio and weights Fri and Sat and a full body workout on Sunday that the trainer gave me when I joimed.

Classes are HIIT, Spin 2X, Zumba

What should a rest day look like?

I am just starting to focus on the food because I haven't gotten past the first 5 pounds. I've lost 7 and then it bumps back up. It can fluctuate 4 pounds in one day. So I only weigh once a week Clothes are looking better but I know the weight loss happens in the kitchen.

Looking to loose 70 total. 50 would be fantastic by my son's wedding in January.

Those are just side effects it's more about stress relief and getting healthy.

What does your rest day look like?
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Replies

  • powerplaymsu
    powerplaymsu Posts: 131 Member
    edited May 2019
    Been struggling with this myself. Would go weeks without rest days. Lately(since the beginning of the year) have been sleeping in a few days a week instead of up super early to the gym every day. I don't have the answer. Weeks on end wasn't good and I felt worthless when I didn't exercise and now I feel worthless for sleeping a few days a week. I actually have a plan focused around cardio, which day I lift and longer run days against a leg day-one day off a week. Never can make it happen.

    As far as the rest of the day I agree with Mike. No intentional exercise.

    Balance is the word I should have used. Searching for it as well....
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    My rest days are days with 0 intentional exercise and usually planted on the couch, unless I have errands to run.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    Oh, and I am 59 and just hit 10 pounds gone, after 3 months of logging + exercise.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    edited May 2019
    Trying to get rid of the all or nothing thinking. Stuck into thinking I must get a workout in everyday or make up for it with 2 per day on the weekends when I miss one.

    I know stinking thinking. Still a work in progress.

    I started in October. 57 yrs old

    Currently do one class Mon - Thurs
    then cardio and weights Fri and Sat and a full body workout on Sunday that the trainer gave me when I joimed.

    Classes are HIIT, Spin 2X, Zumba

    What should a rest day look like?

    I am just starting to focus on the food because I haven't gotten past the first 5 pounds. I've lost 7 and then it bumps back up. It can fluctuate 4 pounds in one day. So I only weigh once a week Clothes are looking better but I know the weight loss happens in the kitchen.

    Looking to loose 70 total. 50 would be fantastic by my son's wedding in January.

    Those are just side effects it's more about stress relief and getting healthy.

    What does your rest day look like?

    Depends...I only do what I would define as a "workout" 2-3x per week when I hit the weight room. Most of my exercise is what I would define as recreational activity...riding my bike, swimming, hiking, rock climbing, etc. I do some form of "exercise" pretty much daily most of the time, but it's not some kind of crazy intense "workout"...sometimes I do nothing at all, and that's just fine. I've been really busy this past week at work and having to work OT...I didn't do much in the way of exercise last week due to my schedule.

    When I was doing more cycling events and specifically training for those, I took a couple rest days per week to recover from long rides and more intense training on the bike...at most, I would have maybe gone for a walk on those days and that's about it.
  • BecMarty14
    BecMarty14 Posts: 351 Member
    I like to do yoga (usually with Adrienne) on YouTube on rest days and just to focus on giving my body a more healing focused activity.
    Also, quiet, slow and short distance walks around my neighborhood, breathing deeply and either daydreaming or observing nature.
    It's a physical and mental rest. Permission to breathe and just be alive in the moment.
  • runnermom419
    runnermom419 Posts: 366 Member
    Trying to get rid of the all or nothing thinking. Stuck into thinking I must get a workout in everyday or make up for it with 2 per day on the weekends when I miss one.

    I know stinking thinking. Still a work in progress.

    I started in October. 57 yrs old

    Currently do one class Mon - Thurs
    then cardio and weights Fri and Sat and a full body workout on Sunday that the trainer gave me when I joimed.

    Classes are HIIT, Spin 2X, Zumba

    What should a rest day look like?

    I am just starting to focus on the food because I haven't gotten past the first 5 pounds. I've lost 7 and then it bumps back up. It can fluctuate 4 pounds in one day. So I only weigh once a week Clothes are looking better but I know the weight loss happens in the kitchen.

    Looking to loose 70 total. 50 would be fantastic by my son's wedding in January.

    Those are just side effects it's more about stress relief and getting healthy.

    What does your rest day look like?

    This is so odd to me. Rest is rest. No yoga. No elliptical for "only" an hour. No 10 mile hike. Nothing, no intentional exercise. That is a rest day. It's how a former running coach spelled it out for me and how I've kept it.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    On my active rest days I usually get in a moderate walk on a beautiful trail, do Pilates on my Reformer or get in lots of deep stretching. Nothing that raises my heart rate and no intentional exercise/activity.
  • pierinifitness
    pierinifitness Posts: 2,231 Member
    My rest days are generally rest days and generally preceded by a tough workout day including a good running component. I generally have two a week. Age 64 here so things are a little different as you will, God willing, one day realize.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    My rest days? They involve absolutely no purposeful exercise. How much walking I do will depend on what I'm doing that day (today involved more walking than my typical Sunday), but I don't walk for exercise/fitness. I walk to get from point A to point B or because I want to get outside. The only time I take walking into consideration with regards to what constitutes a rest day for me is if I'm doing way more walking than I typically do (ex. if I'm at a conference). Typically I get one to three rest days a week. I need at least one rest day and I'm currently figuring out if I need two or not.

    Someone else mentioned mental rest - that's not a thing I ever get, but that's an entirely different conversation for me. I wish I did, but I really don't.
  • bjdavidson964
    bjdavidson964 Posts: 266 Member
    My one weekly rest day is something that doesn't involve jumping or lifting. I'll still get a brisk walk in.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,253 Member
    I have a terrible tendency to forget about rest days. But when my body reminds me WITH A VENGEANCE, they ideally involve a lot of sitting quietly in the office or at home, but nipping out every couple of hours for a slow walk of ten or fifteen minutes. My idea is to do enough to unstiffen and warm up the muscles, without any hard work.
  • littlegreenparrot1
    littlegreenparrot1 Posts: 694 Member
    Housework, gardening, cooking for prep.

    A lot of drinking tea and reading while I think about how I should do those things and don't......
  • arsoria24
    arsoria24 Posts: 110 Member
    edited May 2019
    I try to stay pretty active and have a busy family schedule like most. I workout consistently as part of my lifestyle. I don’t have a set gym schedule, if I can’t make it I can’t make it and chalk it up as a rest day. Typically for me there is always something that comes up that prevents me from going to the gym at least one day out of the week. If nothing comes up then I workout all 7 days lol. So my rest days consist of no gym/exercise everything else is the same.
  • txblondiee
    txblondiee Posts: 16 Member
    rest days for me usually consist of playing with my kids (my rest days fall on the weekend so I have more time to literally chase them around and play tag, etc), household chores, grocery shopping, etc. so I get some activity in, some days more than others. usually according to my apple watch I hit my 600 cal goal of "activity" if that helps.
  • brandigyrl81
    brandigyrl81 Posts: 128 Member
    My rest day (Saturdays) simply consists of not going the gym to workout. The other 6 days of the week, I go to the gym.
  • carlaringuette
    carlaringuette Posts: 158 Member
    Thanks ya'll. Really appreciate seeing how other people "rest". I did workout Saturday and had a nap that afternoon. I think Sunday will be my rest day since that's our church and getting ready for the week day. I will probably do like several of ya'll do and still get a gentle walk or do a Yoga relaxation dvd.

    Thanks again....
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
    As @runfiremamarun said, rest is important because that is when the body actually recovers from the stress of exercise. I'm 57 also and at our age unfortunately rest may be more important than when we were a bit younger.

    For myself, on rest days I simply don't do any structured exercise. I may lay on the couch. Then again I might work in the yard, or take a slow easy bike ride around the neighborhood with my wife. Like for me, yard work may be physical activity but it's not the running or cycling that I would normally be doing - so those muscles get a break. Some days I might have 5,000 steps and other days 20,000. So for me a rest day is not necessarily sedentary - just not intentional exercise.
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