Rest day restlessness

KristiiAly
KristiiAly Posts: 40 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Do any of you experience restlessness on your rest day? I’m relaxing my body, but my body wants to get up and move! I took a walk earlier and for a couple of hours I felt good. Now I’m feeling restless again! Any tips on what you guys do on rest day?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I don't take deliberate rest days, I do take recovery days though.
    If a rest day is forced on me by circumstance then I would be restless too as I enjoy being active.

    Are you sure rest is the right option for whatever it is you are trying to achieve?
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,749 Member
    I usually run 5 days a week. On the other two days, I may do some sort of cross-training like stationary bike, pilates, hiking, mowing the lawn or shoveling snow, etc, or I may have an actual rest day when my body tells me it's tired or I have a lot of errands to run. Either way, I usually enjoy my rest days since it is good for me to take a break from running to let my body recover. I still walk the dog a couple of miles, on both running days and rest days, which helps.
  • KristiiAly
    KristiiAly Posts: 40 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    I don't take deliberate rest days, I do take recovery days though.
    If a rest day is forced on me by circumstance then I would be restless too as I enjoy being active.

    Are you sure rest is the right option for whatever it is you are trying to achieve?

    Honestly, I’m not sure! When I did yoga, I didn’t really take a rest day but I did get burnt out after about 2 months.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    For me, a rest day is also a mental rest day. And that is much needed so I don't burn out. I usually don't do anything except usual house chores.
  • KristiiAly
    KristiiAly Posts: 40 Member
    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    I usually run 5 days a week. On the other two days, I may do some sort of cross-training like stationary bike, pilates, hiking, mowing the lawn or shoveling snow, etc, or I may have an actual rest day when my body tells me it's tired or I have a lot of errands to run. Either way, I usually enjoy my rest days since it is good for me to take a break from running to let my body recover. I still walk the dog a couple of miles, on both running days and rest days, which helps.

    Yes!! Today I took my dog on a couple half mileish walks. He is a Siberian Husky, so I know he enjoys the walks!! I usually take him to my apartment’s dog park so he can run his energy out, but this week he has really seemed to enjoy himself /more/ walking with me.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    I do take a regular rest day, usually Sunday, but I've found over literally years of activity that works well for me. It's not something I'd urge universally on everyone else.

    I don't necessarily do zero activity (other than home chores) on that day. I might go for an easy stroll, do some yoga, do some yard/garden work (in season), or something like that.

    You mention being burned out after doing yoga daily for 2 months. Did you perceive that burnout to be physical or mental, or both?

    If you feel twitchy on your official rest day, do something, but keep it mild intensity. If you don't feel twitchy, don't do anything special. Maybe mix up your choices rather than doing the same exercise(s) day after day, and if doing something mild on the rest day, it needn't be the same thing every time. Consider mixing in yoga, active video game, maybe dancing to music, take an easy-pace walk, stretching, whatever. That (mixing it up) can help with the mental dimension of burnout, IME.

    When you've been at this for a while, you'll get more attuned to your own personal indicators of mental burnout or physical overdoing, I predict, and be able to adjust your routine to something that works for you. It can be a little more challenging for the first few months, when we're really getting to know those body signals (or getting reacquainted with them).
  • KristiiAly
    KristiiAly Posts: 40 Member
    @AnnPT77 The burnout was both mental and physical. I decided to go on a few walks with my dog! I ended up burning a lot of calories lol. I recently quit smoking so each time I wanted a cig, I went outside to walk instead. I do have designated leg, arm, and core days; in addition to my daily 7 minute HIIT with my Alexa (excluding the rest days) and my random walks. Hopefully this doesn’t end up burning me out, my rest days are my off days.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    I lift 5-6x per week (depending on my work schedule) and my days off from the gym are days I tend to take "extra" walks with the pupper, do my meal prepping, and generally get *sh....tuff* done - mowing the grass in warmer weather etc. It's movement but doesn't contribute to systemic fatigue or further tax my recovery abilities.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    KristiiAly wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    I don't take deliberate rest days, I do take recovery days though.
    If a rest day is forced on me by circumstance then I would be restless too as I enjoy being active.

    Are you sure rest is the right option for whatever it is you are trying to achieve?

    Honestly, I’m not sure! When I did yoga, I didn’t really take a rest day but I did get burnt out after about 2 months.

    Varying the intensity of what you do, varying the volume of what you so, varying what exercise/activity you do are valid alternatives to rest days. As is simply taking scheduled or ad hoc rest days if that suits you of course.
    Mentally I don't find the vast majority my exercise and activity draining or a chore as I enjoy it. Physically bits of me are recovering while others are getting worked, I don't tend to get general fatigue unless I'm combining a hard training block and losing weight before a big event.

    I have a capacity for unpleasant and/or boring training towards a speciific goal that is higher than some people's but recognise that it's a limited resource that I shouldn't abuse.

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