Rest Days - Do You Actually Rest?

LoveActually
LoveActually Posts: 177 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I find it extremely difficult to avoid any type of exercise on my rest days. Even when I'm in a heap of pain (usually unrelated to sore muscles), I feel like I should do something.

So I'm wondering, what do you guys do? 100% rest day? Throw in some abs and cardio at home?

Replies

  • Nastasha915
    Nastasha915 Posts: 124 Member
    I think rest days are important because they give your body a chance to heal so that you can give it 100% in your workout tomorrow. But if you must do something, try something low impact like going for a walk or a swim.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    The only time I take a 100% rest day is when my schedule doesn't allow me to do anything (either kids' schedules are busy or traveling for work or whatever else). A "planned rest day" is simply a light day for me... gotta keep the muscles working and the blood flowing.
  • zellagrrl
    zellagrrl Posts: 439
    I do active fun stuff. Like running around with the dog at the dog park-- I try not to just be sedentary, but I don't do any structured abs/cardio.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Most of the time it will be an active recovery day (walking, swimming, biking etc at a leisurely pace).
  • Stasha17
    Stasha17 Posts: 28
    No, I just cant really rest. My rest day is probably a day were I will ride bikes or walk instead of run.
  • Maude_Lewbowski
    Maude_Lewbowski Posts: 395 Member
    NO REST FOR THE WICKED! :devil:
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    I do stress relief yoga on my rest day. In terms of exercise value this provides, it's close to nothing. It is very invigorating however, and stretches feel SO good. On the weekends, we also take my two year old out for walks and such, and I don't really count that either, since it's usually a gentle stroll and not in any way stressful physically.

    For me, it's important to have a schedule where I do *something* around the same time every day, when it comes to exercise. If I do nothing one day, it becomes pretty easy to do nothing the next, and the next, and we all know where that leads.
  • flyingwrite
    flyingwrite Posts: 264
    Some days they just happen, but I try to do something every day unless I'm sick.
  • AlyiEli2017
    AlyiEli2017 Posts: 81 Member
    I try to rest twice a week. I dont want my body to be too sore or shut down. So twice a week.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    I take two per week. I walk and do yoga. I think rest days are mentally tougher on me than work out days.
  • Abells
    Abells Posts: 756 Member
    NO REST FOR THE WICKED! :devil:

    boom!
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    No not really, I think 4 miles of walking and whatever I do when I roll out of bed on to the floor in the morning (a plank, a few sets of crunches or some pushups) is the smallest amount I can do in a day.
  • susieq101178
    susieq101178 Posts: 305 Member
    Rest days make me feel guilty, but I do take them - occasionally I'll do a short yoga video or goof off with the Wii Fit, but I almost always have at least one full rest day a week, sometimes two. Never more than that though. This is mostly because I don't want to break my routine . . . that always seems to be my downfall when trying to lose weight/get in shape in the past. Plus, I also need those one or two evenings a week to catch up on life - kid time, housework, paying bills, etc. And I know my husband gets tired of having dinner ready those nights I hit the gym. lol
  • gemiwing
    gemiwing Posts: 1,525 Member
    I walk slowly around the neighborhood and parks- just enjoying the scenery. Take some photographs of the old houses... notice the birds... just relax.

    Rest days are for more than just your muscles. :)
  • PlanetVelma
    PlanetVelma Posts: 1,223 Member
    In the past I wouldn't really take a full rest day, I'd walk the dogs, clean the yard, yada, yada, yada.

    I have a lot of stress in my life, so most recently I've been making an effort to use my rest days to catch up on my leisure reading. I have several books and I don't even know how many magazines that are in my reading "que".

    Okay, I typed it out and I realize that I'm a bigger nerd than I like to admit. LOL
  • mindidily
    mindidily Posts: 196 Member
    I don't take 100% rest days very often. I just have days where I don't run as far, or I go on a walk with the kids or dog instead of any running. Or I take the kids to the park and run around with them. I just listen to what my body tells me and tone things up or down from there. I just don't enjoy a total rest day unless I'm sick.
  • MystiqueASAP
    MystiqueASAP Posts: 747
    Yoga and errands.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
    depends. I do active rest. I ENJOY exercise so it's difficult for me to avoid it. If I am sore, I usually will just lift weights since my lower body is the main culprit for soreness (too many squats) lol or do some light cardio.

    100% rest days are usually accidental. haha
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    I'll go for a walk, pushing the double stroller, and sometimes some yoga. Nothing too hard, and I try to keep my heart rate down at no more than 50-60% of max.
  • cyclerjenn
    cyclerjenn Posts: 833 Member
    My rest days are spent cleaning he house or working on the yard.
  • vtgirl77
    vtgirl77 Posts: 69
    I also find it really hard to truly rest. I'll do a light cardio, abs and yoga or an easy 3 miles. This week is especially hard because I am doing a Tough Mudder on Saturday and trying not to go balls to the wall as I usually do. I'm gonna go mad! lol
  • Shock_Wave
    Shock_Wave Posts: 1,573 Member
    On rest days YES I know I absolutely rest out side of getting groceries and walking in the stores or light stuff like that. I do cardio and lift weights everyday all work week and by the end of the week I am sore every where. My CNS is tired, and my joints are tired. Takes me 2-3 days to fully recover and then I repeat the cycle of pain. The addicting part is that it makes me feel very good afterwards and along with seeing results makes it super addicting and worth while but in order to keep it up I need that rest time.

    Edit: I have had tendonitis x2 once in each elbow from over doing things so I learned right ways more is not necessarily better as your body can only take so much beating.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    I've had streaks of working out like 30 days in a row and stuff like that, but usually I take 1 or 2 rest days a week. I think it depends on the intensity of your workouts. If you're giving it 110% every day, it's probably better to rest sometimes. If you're giving it 60% every day, you may not need to take a whole day off.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    I rest on my workout days and workout on my rest days.
  • Microfiber_wechange
    Microfiber_wechange Posts: 640
    My rest day falls on Sundays. I do no exercise but we go to church. Does that count as a rest? :laugh:
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Not really. On my off days I just do cardio since it's so easy. On weekends I'm usually doing some sort of work on the house/cars/yard so I guess it's fairly rare to have a true do-nothing day.
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
    I make them busy rest days, go for a walk or something like that. Mostly because I like to eat and the more I move, the more I can eat.

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