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Let's talk about rest days!
Why are they important? What should you be doing on them? And how can you take 1-2 days off a week and not feel guilty?
First and foremost ... if you suffer from feeling guilty for relaxing or taking a rest day, you’re not alone. It’s common to feel guilty about taking a day off from your normal routine, but rest days are a vital necessity for any successful program. Giving your body time to rest may feel like you’re slacking off, but it’s exactly what it needs in order to see progress.
How to Overcome Rest Day Guilt
1. Understand that rest is a part of the process.
In the health and fitness world, there’s a common idea that doing more is better. This isn’t always true. Beating yourself up for taking a rest day and relaxing is a common trouble for many fitness and health enthusiasts.
Part of having a successful health and fitness routine is having the ability to balance work and rest. Not only is it ok to take a rest day, but it’s also actually encouraged! When you’re giving 100% effort, 100% of the time, your body needs that rest in order to repair and recover and be able to hit it hard during your next session!
2. Practice mental health check-ins
It may feel like you’re slacking off or lazy when you give your body and mind time to rest. But, it’s exactly what it needs in order to see progress! Feeling guilty about taking a rest day often results in negative self-talk. Not only are those negative thoughts bad for your self-esteem, but they can also affect your ability to be successful in the areas in that you want to succeed.
Next time any negative thoughts creep into your mind like: "I’m lazy", "I’m going to gain weight", or "I’ll lose the progress", take a step back and ask yourself if it's REALLY true (spoiler alert: it’s not).
It’s important to avoid measuring your worth based on how frequently you hit the gym or by the intensity of your workouts. This kind of mindset can be destructive to your mental health and long-term fitness goals. Start to view rest days as part of your overall health plan.
3. Add rest days to your schedule
Adding a rest day into your workout schedule is a great way to relieve some guilt. Think about it: by telling yourself that your recovery is part of your program, you’ll be more likely to follow through without feeling guilty! Treat your rest day like you would any other appointment on your calendar.
Benefits of Taking Rest Days
1. Aids muscle development
Exercise creates two types of stress on your muscles: metabolic stress and mechanical stress. Metabolic stress is when the muscle cells are depleted of energy. Mechanical stress is created when physical damage is caused to the muscle cells. During rest, the body repairs the damaged muscle and replenishes the cells with glycogen used to fuel your last workout.
Your body needs enough time to repair/refuel. Giving your body adequate rest and spacing out your workouts will not only help you feel more energized but will also give you the ability to finish every workout strong!
2. Improves performance
Taking proper rest days also improves your overall performance! Tired muscles make it difficult to maintain proper form during workouts, which can lead to injuries. Rest days allow your mind to focus and reduce your chance of injury from overuse.
3. Prevents burnout
While workouts give us a rush of endorphins and make us feel amazing, they’re also hard on our minds and bodies. If your schedule is packed full of workouts, eventually you are going to have fatigue (mentally and physically). Pushing too hard for too long causes you to experience burnout. If you are having constant muscle soreness, sleepless nights, or hitting a plateau (not making any progress), this may be your body signaling that it needs a rest day.
What to Do on Rest Days
Not knowing what to do on a rest day, especially if you have a hard time taking them, is one of the things that contribute to rest day guilt. Below are some tips on what to do on your rest days:
1. Add in low-impact movement
Even though it’s your rest day, it doesn't mean you have to be completely sedentary. In fact, adding in low-impact activity actually contributes to the muscle repairing/refueling process because you’re promoting blood flow to your muscles! Try doing a low-impact activity like walking, yoga, or an easy bike ride.
2. Eat GOOD food
Taking a rest day is not an excuse for eating a bunch of junk food. Instead, use this extra time to try a new recipe in the kitchen or even get a head start on your meal prep for the week!
3. Get outside
Sometimes the best thing to do for yourself is to get outside and do something fun! Go for a hike, take a bike ride, go for a swim, or even play a fun outdoor sport. You’ll get some fresh air, some vitamin D, and you’ll get some movement and burn some calories without even realizing it!
The bottom line on rest days
Maintaining a healthy and balanced workout routine means allowing your body and brain the time it needs to recover. Rest is a crucial component to the advancement of your fitness goals and will make your time in the gym much more enjoyable.
Most importantly, listen to your body’s needs without discernment. One day off won’t negatively impact your progress. If anything, it will help you perform better. And don’t forget to have fun on your day off! Spend time with your loved ones, entertain a new hobby, or just simply “Netflix and chill”.
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