Rest days (not cheat days)

7Liana7
7Liana7 Posts: 56 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Those who have added exercises into their regimen, what do you do on your rest days? Currently, I do cardio with a 10-inch step for 25 minutes a day. If I were to have to skip a day of my exercise I will put in at least an hour or 2 of walking (I am not a runner) so I can still keep healthy and fit on my days off. For those of you that do cardio, is there anyone you follow for videos, tips, and advice?

Replies

  • Sand_TIger
    Sand_TIger Posts: 1,099 Member
    Right now I have a bunch of weight to lose so on partial rest days (days between weight training) I walk, and do stretches/mobility exercises. Sometimes some time on my mini stair stepper as well. On Sunday, which has evolved into a more intense rest day, I still try to get in a walk but kind of slack on other things for the most part.
  • hereinmissouri
    hereinmissouri Posts: 11 Member
    During the week, I do (4) 15 minute walks during work and try to do 30 minutes of Zumba 3 nights. On Saturdays, I do Zumba and maybe get 3-4k additional steps. Sundays are my real lazy days and am good to get 3k in steps.
  • braves3134
    braves3134 Posts: 64 Member
    It all depends on how I feel. Sometimes I’ll do an active rest day where I’ll take a leisurely walk (45 minutes at 2-2.5 mph, 0-2 incline if it’s on a treadmill). Other days I’ll do nothing if I feel run down. I had trained hard (lifting and intense cardio sessions for 6 days straight leading up to the end of last week) so I did an active rest day on Thursday and took Friday, Saturday, Sunday completely off. I had maybe 4000-5000 steps total each day but I stuck to a well balanced diet and on Monday, I had one of the best upper body workouts I’ve had in months. I’m a big believer in listening to your body. I’ve had days where I was planning to have a full work out and took a rest day instead because I felt run down. I’ve had days where I was going to take a complete day off and ended up working out because I felt good and was restless lol. Good luck
  • Spencerport
    Spencerport Posts: 270 Member
    Normally do 30-45 minutes of yoga on my rest days. The stretches from yoga definitely help any muscle tightness I a may be experiencing.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,745 Member
    It depends. I always walk, since I have a large dog who needs to get out every day. We do 2-3 miles. If DH is agreeable, we'll go for a short hike later in the day. If I am in serious race training mode, most of the time I don't do anything else on my rest days. My legs are tired and need recovery time. The rest of the year, I'll do exercise bike, yoga, pilates, calisthenics, etc. on days I don't run. As others have stated, I usually clean house on my rest days as well.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    On my active rest days I'll get in a moderate walk for a couple miles, do chair workouts on Youtube, deep stretching or get in my Pilates Reformer.

    I do enough to get in a bit of movement, but I don't stress my body or sweat.

    I also walk my puppy several times a day, but I don't include that as part of my exercise. Just a bonus.
  • Kotuliak
    Kotuliak Posts: 259 Member
    I do not schedule rest days - I do rest days when I don't have time or motivation to do my cardio workout. On those days, I walk, aiming for 10,000 steps, and I do stairs, aiming for 12-16 flights. If I achieve my goals, I can feel it in my muscles. I log it as, e.g., 10,000 / 100 + 16 * 2 = 132 calorie exercise. Works well both for my weight loss and for my mental state.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I run three times a week and lift three times, my rest day is minimal activity usually light things and stuff like chores or DIY at home and outside, maybe walking a mall to have a nose around.
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
    One rest day is for napping and chores. One rest day is for hanging out with my husband.
  • helen_goldthorpe
    helen_goldthorpe Posts: 340 Member
    I used to be really bad at taking proper rest days, but I've started using them to do food prep which really sets me up nicely for the rest of the week and probably has more benefit than a bit of extra activity.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Depending on what you're doing and your fitness level, you may or may not need rest days from a physical standpoint. There was a period of a few months last year when I wasn't hitting the weight room or doing anything really other than road cycling for about 30-45 minutes daily. For me, that wasn't physically stressful enough on my body to warrant a rest day from a physical standpoint...there wasn't really anything I needed to recover from physically as I wasn't really doing any strenuous exercise. That's not to say I didn't take days off...sometimes I had to because of life and sometimes I just wanted to do something else.

    Right now I'm back in the weight room 3x per week with two on my own and one with a trainer and I'm doing 2 spin classes per week. I would count the two spin classes and the trainer workout as strenuous and my other two sessions moderate. I do need recovery days or I start feeling fatigued and unwell...I stagger them on Mondays and Thursdays. As physical activity goes, I pretty much just walk my dog in the morning as per usual. I often go to the gym as well, but all I do is go sit in the sauna for 20-30 minutes and then get a hydro massage for 10 minutes and just relax.
  • Joanna2012B
    Joanna2012B Posts: 1,448 Member
    I only take rest days when I am tired or can't get my workout in. I think I have balanced it nicely between running, cycling, now swimming and weights. I won't feel bad if I wake up and really don't want to run...that is when I know I need a rest!
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,508 Member
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  • thenewkayla
    thenewkayla Posts: 313 Member
    I rest on Sundays.. Wednesdays and Thursdays.
    I have 2 kids that keep me busy. I like to binge on Netflix and play games.
    Deep clean and laundry.
    Sometimes go out and drink
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    I bank calories for my rest days, which come once a week. Then I mostly rest during them. Sometimes I might dance, take a walk, or other light activity, but I don’t do purposeful exercise except for the 10 minutes of calisthenics which I do every morning.

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