Rest Day, Best Day: Maximize Effort and Reach Your Fitness Goals
The idea of a “rest day” has been very popular among fitness enthusiasts, especially those who lift weights. In my own workout routine, I take one rest day a week to ensure I am happy, motivated, and recharged. This allows me to maximize my workouts and reach my goals.
What does a rest day consist of?
Rest days do not have to consist of just sitting on the couch all day. Activities like riding a bike, stretching, and even sitting by the pool are a few of my favorite ways to relax and energize myself for the next week. Regardless of what your workout routine is, it is possible you could benefit from taking a rest day. Here are some of the reasons why you could benefit from incorporating a rest day into your workout routine.
1. Recovery
Rest days allow the body to recover from damage to muscle tissues during a workout and give the muscles time to repair. When our body repairs these tears and strains, our muscles will grow stronger to reduce the effort needed next time. By giving your body the time to recover, you can come back to the gym more restored. A good rule of thumb is to fit in at least one rest day a week.
2. Injury Prevention
Taking a rest day is necessary for reducing the risk of injury. By overtraining without breaks, we run the risk of injuries or developing chronic pain. This is nature’s way of forcing you to take a rest day. When adding rest days, they reduce the chances of our bodies reaching total exhaustion.
3. Sleep
Another reason to take a rest day is to achieve higher-quality sleep. When we sleep, our bodies release hormones that allow our muscles to grow. While in REM sleep, blood flow increases to the muscles, which speeds up the repair and growth of muscle during sleep. When we train too hard, our bodies produce more stress hormones, making it harder to fall asleep. Giving yourself the time to destress and relax will make you sleep better and see more progress in the weight room.
4. Immunity
Consistent and moderate exercise is great for the immune system, however overtraining can lead to an increased risk of infection. Not only do stress, adrenaline, and cortisol increase over an extended period of exercise, but they also suppress white blood cell count. White blood cells are important for battling an infection or other diseases. This leads to a risk of infection.
5. Motivation
Your motivation to work out may take a dip without rest days. By overtraining, exercising may start to feel more like a chore, as opposed to something fun or a stress reliever. By overexercising, you may also struggle to focus, and fatigue your brain from the increase of stress hormones.
Be well, Auburn.
Blake was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. He has always had a passion for film and photography, which led him to major in visual media studies and minor in business. He hopes to pursue a career in digital marketing and freelance photography and videography. When he’s not busy, you can find him working out, watching movies, or just hanging by the pool with friends. He loves to travel and plans on visiting every continent one day!
