Believe it or not, rest days are an essential part of any fitness regimen. Your body needs this rest period to repair and strengthen itself between workouts. Continuous training, with no rest days, has actually been shown to weaken athletes.
Your body needs a day off every 7 to 14 days to replenish glycogen stores, build strength, and reduce fatigue. Rest days have not only been proven to have physiological benefits, but mental as well. A rest day can help prevent mental burnout, when you know you have a rest day coming it allows you to go harder and push through your workouts knowing you will get to reap the benefit of resting soon.
Now don’t think this means you have to sit around on the couch all day on your rest days eating ding dongs. This just means you cannot do hard core heavy building 10-20 miles run seven days a week. A rest day can be anything to an easy, low -resistance elliptical workout or a 2 to 4 easy miles on the treadmill. As long as your max heart rate is below 60%.
As stated in this article from RunnersWorld.com, long distance runner Germán Silva ran an easy three miles on this rest days, making sure to keep his heart rate below 60% of max. “These jogs may not boost VO2 max, but loosen up the muscles to fend off sluggishness.”
As long as you are keeping the intensity and volume very light, you are still reaping the recovery benefits. This goes for any exercise regimen, cardio or strength training, keep it relaxed and light on your rest days, if you must do anything at all.
Written By: Jentry
