Rest days are when you take a break from the gym, this doesn’t mean you lie on your ass and be lazy. You can focus on cardio and or other forms of exercise that will still keep ur calories and exercise in check. So what is the guideline on rest days and how can they help you? Let’s break it down.
Rest Day Guidelines
So what are the guidelines to rest days then? Well, it’s mostly accepted within the gym community that you should take two rest days per week, this will give your muscles enough time to repair and get ready for the days you are pushing hard in the gym. It’s also very accepted that you should hit the holy trinity on these days as they are just as important as gym days. The holy trinity is sleep, water, and protein getting enough of these on rest days will help your rest days go much smoother.
What Are The Benefits Of A Rest Day?
So what are the actual benefits of rest days? Well, when you go through a gym session you create tears in your muscles which take 48-72 hours to repair. This is why it is so important that you take a rest day knowing you won’t be gyming this gives your muscles time to repair and get back to their best.
Rest days also reduce the chance of you picking up an injury while gyming it also improves sleep and helps the immune system among other benefits. If you don’t give your muscles time to repair these microscopic tears I’ve talked about can become big and lead to you having to take a long time away from injury. Having a rest day can also keep you motivated as you can plan your next gym session while also being active and knowing you’re not slacking.
How Did I Find Out About Rest Days?
Noel Deyzel taught me about rest days when I watched one of his videos talking about how important they are and the general guideline about how to treat them. My kickboxing coach Michael Quinn also told me about how important they are during one of our classes and he’s someone who I always take advice from as I know he’s been through hell. I take two rest days a week on a Wednesday and a Sunday. These two days contain lots of cardio and an odd kickboxing class I’ll go into more detail in the next paragraph.
How Should I Spend My Rest Day?
So what do I actually do on rest days? This is my opportunity to share what I do and maybe you can pick up some of these habits and integrate it with what you do.
I usually walk early in the morning with my dog Kobe which benefits both of us and ticks one form of exercise off the list already, then after lunch, I will usually either go for another walk or a bike ride. Two forms of exercise that really get the blood pumping in different ways. If I go for a bike ride after lunch I will go for a walk after dinner, I do this to help me burn off those calories, and walking is the most optimal way for me to do it.
I’ve also added 30 minutes on a treadmill as I feel like it’s a good exercise while also not being that draining on the legs, I usually do this between 7 to 8 pm. Something else I’ve added is stretching in the morning as this helps muscle fatigue among other things. While I’m not gyming I make sure to still be as active as I can while keeping the blood pumping and making sure I am accountable.
Rest days are very important and definitely should be added into your regime for those days when you’re not gyming but still wanna be active. Rest days will make sure you are still active while not destroying your muscles. Trust me once you add rest days into your gym regime you will be on a different level of performance.