Best time for rest days

szmiggle
szmiggle Posts: 19 Member
What is the best time for your body to break up your training? I work out 5 to 6 days per week. Most weeks take Friday off... does it really matter?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    szmiggle wrote: »
    What is the best time for your body to break up your training? I work out 5 to 6 days per week. Most weeks take Friday off... does it really matter?

    depends on what you're doing.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Your body doesn't really know what day of the week it is. Are you asking if rest days need to be evenly spaced?
  • szmiggle
    szmiggle Posts: 19 Member
    Your body doesn't really know what day of the week it is. Are you asking if rest days need to be evenly spaced?

  • szmiggle
    szmiggle Posts: 19 Member
    More or less... I guess I like structure and routine. But to your point should they be evenly spread?
  • szmiggle
    szmiggle Posts: 19 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    szmiggle wrote: »
    What is the best time for your body to break up your training? I work out 5 to 6 days per week. Most weeks take Friday off... does it really matter?

    depends on what you're doing.

  • szmiggle
    szmiggle Posts: 19 Member
    I like to break up my training to upper and lower body and do HIIT in between
  • jflongo
    jflongo Posts: 289 Member
    bahh, who needs rest!!!

    I take a break from Weights usually 2 days per week, but I still walk / jog on the treadmill on those days.

    From time to time, I'll completely take 1 day off.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    It really depends on what you are doing.

    How do you feel? How is your workout performance? Are you making improvements/progressing over time? Are you feeling beat up and constantly battling muscle pain and fatigue? Are you reaching your goals?

    I'm sure our goals and schedule is different but right now I take at least 3-4 rest days. Usually lift 3-4x per week, two consecutive and two separated by a full rest day. Each day is very heavy leg focused so I'm beat and I need those days off. In the past I would add some cardio to my non-lifting days but very light moderate cardio works best for me as to not interfere with my poor legs.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,168 Member
    Depends on your current fitness level, the nature of your exercise (modality, intensity, duration), how/whether you're fueling the exercise, and more. How would we be able to answer, based on what you've said?
  • fitom80
    fitom80 Posts: 154 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Firstly there's a difference between rest and recovery - rest is recovery but not all recovery is rest.
    Not all exercise needs rest to recover from.

    Not all people and their particular exercise routines needs rest at all, there's many people who exercise daily but manage their training load and stress to ensure adequate recovery.

    If you need or plain just want rest days then the day following your most intense workout of the week would make sense.
    A set rest day per week without regard to your training schedule sounds more suitable to fitting your exercise into your social life rather than part of a training program (which is fine of course).

    To directly answer your original question - the best time to take rest is when your body needs it and that depends on a lot of factors relating to your training program, your goals and your capabilities.

    exhaustive answer (e.g. the most influencing real life factor for me is stress at work and lack of sleep. Under this circumstances I am not able maintain 6x per week (50-60min) str. workouts and sooner or later I am facing overtraining (and hand in hand most of the time overwork too) Under normal conditions it's OK.
  • jflongo
    jflongo Posts: 289 Member
    We need to know what you are doing?

    Are you training for a 1/2 Ironman, working out 2 hours a day, plus long hours on the weekend?
    Are you training for a 1/2 or full Marathon?
    Are you training for powerbuilding?
    Are you training for bodybuilding?
    Are you training for Crossfit?

    Or are you just doing weight training to get in better shape?

    Let us know exactly what you are doing, what your fitness level is, and do you feel exhausted all the time?
  • szmiggle
    szmiggle Posts: 19 Member
    jflongo wrote: »
    We need to know what you are doing?

    Are you training for a 1/2 Ironman, working out 2 hours a day, plus long hours on the weekend?
    Are you training for a 1/2 or full Marathon?
    Are you training for powerbuilding?
    Are you training for bodybuilding?
    Are you training for Crossfit?

    Or are you just doing weight training to get in better shape?

    Let us know exactly what you are doing, what your fitness level is, and do you feel exhausted all the time?

    Mainly training to get in a better shape and healthy living. I’ve been lifting for over 5 years now...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    My preference is to exercise daily mixing up road cycling and mountain biking for 5 rides weekly and to lift 2x per week. I don't really need a recovery day during the week for this as I am well conditioned for it, and my rides aren't super intense...most road rides are done at a conversational pace...mountain biking can be more vigorous depending on if I'm doing a lot of climbs and descents or if I'm on a relatively flat single track whipping around, but I'm lucky to get in one mountain session per week as I have to actually load up the bike and get to and from the mountains...so time availability becomes an issue, particularly during the work week.

    In the winter I do spin classes a couple of days per week and lift 3x per week. It is a more rigorous regimen compared to cycling season as spin classes are pretty vigorous combined with lifting...so I usually take 2 recovery days and just do some walking or yoga or something of that nature. I usually break them up throughout the week...usually Mondays and Thursdays are recovery days in that scenario
  • jflongo
    jflongo Posts: 289 Member
    szmiggle wrote: »
    jflongo wrote: »
    We need to know what you are doing?

    Are you training for a 1/2 Ironman, working out 2 hours a day, plus long hours on the weekend?
    Are you training for a 1/2 or full Marathon?
    Are you training for powerbuilding?
    Are you training for bodybuilding?
    Are you training for Crossfit?

    Or are you just doing weight training to get in better shape?

    Let us know exactly what you are doing, what your fitness level is, and do you feel exhausted all the time?

    Mainly training to get in a better shape and healthy living. I’ve been lifting for over 5 years now...

    As long as you are getting good sleep and nutrition, how is your body feeling? Like I said I do a mix of powerlifting / bodybuilding workouts 5 days per week. Usually one of the off days I will walk / jog on the treadmill and maybe a rowing machine as well. Then normally I will take Sunday completely off, sometimes I still walk on the treadmill though.

    Here is what I do, and I feel fine, a little sore from time to time, but that is normal hitting weights hard.

    Monday - Squat workout, then finish with leg / calves workout
    Tuesday - Off weights, walk / jog
    Wednesday - Bench workout, then finish chest workout a little tris
    Thursday - Shoulders
    Friday - Deadlift workout, then finish back workout, a bis
    Saturday - Arms, arms, arms
    Sunday - usually off completely

    I am following a powerlifting program, so last week squat / bench / deadlift was all 65 - 67% of max 4 x 10's. This week 70% of max 5 x 5's on all the main lifts.
  • happysquatter
    happysquatter Posts: 91 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Firstly there's a difference between rest and recovery - rest is recovery but not all recovery is rest.
    Not all exercise needs rest to recover from.

    Not all people and their particular exercise routines needs rest at all, there's many people who exercise daily but manage their training load and stress to ensure adequate recovery.

    If you need or plain just want rest days then the day following your most intense workout of the week would make sense.
    A set rest day per week without regard to your training schedule sounds more suitable to fitting your exercise into your social life rather than part of a training program (which is fine of course).

    To directly answer your original question - the best time to take rest is when your body needs it and that depends on a lot of factors relating to your training program, your goals and your capabilities.

    ^^This is pretty much the best answer anyone can give you

    Without knowing your training program; the exertion level you're putting in and at least a few weeks of your lifting history, it'll be hard to be more specific.

    A heavy deadlift after weeks of build up work can take upto or longer than a week to recover from. Note: recover means, to be able to perform at intensity again in the gym and not necessarily recover in the sense of day to day activities