To rest or not to rest? That is the question

*echo echo echooooo*

I try to work out at least 5x a week, and try to rest at least two days; Friday and Sundays. I think It's important for your body to repair itself by taking rest days.

I've gotten so hardcore about exercising that I want to do everyday. However, I think to myself.. I should take a rest day. So the last two Sundays I've not worked out. On the other days I'm mixing up my routines weekly with strength, dance, yoga, cardio etc. I think this has helped majorly. And throwing in the yoga class is a good way for me to have a more laid back workout. :yawn:

I see others on here that post to take a rest day, so I'm doing it. And it's usually a day when I'm terribly busy running errands and doing things around the house. I'm just not "working out".

If it comes up that the day is another day of the week, then so be it. That works too.

I think if you're mixing up what muscle groups your working, you should be good. Rest days are important because your body is rebuilding/repairing what you've broken down in your last work out i.e. building muscle. So make sure you're not working the same muscles over and over again.
Personally, I think you shouldn't be lifting everyday. I would mix some type of aerobic exercise (running, cycling, etc) in and lift every other day.

I do 5 - 6 days a week, sometimes double days if i am training for a competition, doing days back to back is not a problem.

I have a pretty busy schedule with work, my social life and including my fatherly duties. Sometimes I have to work out when time permits so sometimes I work out on back to back days. However, I make sure to target different muscle groups on those days. I'm trying to get a feel for other peoples take on whether a days rest in between is the way to go.

If the muscle groups are diff then you should be okay. It's probably not optimal for a max 1 rep lift but who cares? Just geting into the gym is hard enough.

I've worked out 3-4 days in a row. 2 main lift days, one light lift day (small muscle groups) and a cardio day/b-ball etc..

This... if you're mixing it up properly, you should be alright. You should be able to notice any abnormal soreness if you overdo it, and if you're naturally getting rest days due to schedule.. you should be fine!

I do cardio daily with a rest day on Sundays but strength training is Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday... I don't do leg strength training because I have very bad knee's so I train back and shoulders on 1 day and arms and chest on the other.. whatever I do on tuesday I repeat on Saturday's workout. I train to tone so I do high reps low weights....... I like giving myself 48 hours between weighttraining days for recovery..... Goodluck!!!