How many rest days

Rest is needed in order for the body to repair the damage however small that has occurred. Pushing through soreness and exercising, instead of giving your body adequate rest, can be detrimental in a few ways. First, your body may take longer rest periods in order to heal, says Marcolin.

But just how much time should you give yourself? Active recovery is also recommended as it helps increase blood circulation needed for recovery. Want more tips like these? Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram. Stephanie Mansour is a health and fitness expert and weight-loss coach for women. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Share this —. Follow better. Certain signs may indicate that a person needs a rest day. If a person experiences any of the above signs, they should take a day or two to rest and recover. Exercise puts a strain on the body and mind. Exercising daily without taking a rest day can cause both physical and mental exhaustion.

According to ACE , not allowing the body to rest can cause a depletion of glycogen in the muscles. This depletion can trigger the body to use proteins for energy, meaning there is less protein available to assist muscle repair and growth. Without a rest day, muscles, joints, and other important structures do not have adequate time to repair themselves. People may also become mentally exhausted and more prone to making mistakes while training.

Continually pushing on without a rest day will eventually lead to injury. The ACE make the following suggestions for activities to do on a rest day:. If a person is not injured or physically or mentally exhausted, they may consider taking an active recovery day ARD , which is a day of gentle exercise. An older study from suggests that an ARD can help remove a buildup of lactate in the blood, helping to prevent cramping and fatigue.

Examples of gentle exercises include walking and yoga. A person should see a doctor if they believe they have sustained an injury during exercise, or if they develop an unhealthy compulsion to exercise.

In some cases, a person may know instantly that they have sustained an injury. They may experience intense pain, swelling, or inflammation. In other cases, an injury may take several weeks to become apparent. Repetitive use injuries to joints or muscles develop slowly over time. A person can often treat such injuries by following the RICE procedure :. People should consider talking to a doctor or therapist if they feel compelled to work out. According to a review , although compulsive exercising is not a recognized mental health disorder, it is associated with the following:.

If a person experiences an uncontrollable need to exercise, they should talk to a doctor or mental health professional for further advice. Take rest days and exercise less frequently so that you can make the most of your workouts by mentally recharging between them. Many people stagger their time at the gym and go through alternate bouts of exercise and inactivity, which is fine as life gets complicated and busy at times , but also not ideal.

In a perfect world, we would all be able to sustain our exercise routines…. What we mean by this is that if you workout times a week as opposed to times, it naturally becomes much easier to commit to a regular routine. In their study on creating habits for health, which you can view here , Benjamin Gardner et al state the following:. Initiation requires the patient to be sufficiently motivated to begin a habit formation attempt, but many patients would like to eat healthier diets or take more exercise, for example, if doing so were easy.

This supports the point that we have already made, and gives us some food for thought; why not make it easier for ourselves? Gym rest days are what allow us to do this, as not only they benefit us by preventing overtraining which is enough to deter anyone from exercise , but they also allow us to continue with the other parts of life without too much sacrifice.

Enjoy a Netflix binge on the weekend? When it comes to the importance of rest days for your individual exercise routine, it truly depends on your fitness goals as an individual. To make things easier, were going to give you some quick-fire tips on how you should structure your routine based on these goals! However, if you prefer low-intensity exercise or shorter, high-intensity sessions, sessions per week is may suit you more. Therefore, when it comes to considering how many rest days per week for weight loss?

Or, you could make some of these days into active rest days, where you perform an exercise such as yoga or swimming to boost physical activity. As with those who wish to lose weight, the amount of rest days per week for running that you will need depends on how intense the runs that you complete are, whether you have any events coming up marathon, etc. This would typically involve short, but high-intensity runs mixed with a longer yet easier run per week, or 3 longer runs, or shorter but high-intensity runs.

Cycling can be viewed in a similar way to running when it comes to how many rest days you should be taking per week. This is false. The ideal training routine for those asking how many rest days between workouts bodybuilders should take is times per week as opposed to 6 or 7. Rest days are essentially growth days and allow you to reach your goals much faster. Having protein on rest days maximises the recovery and growth of your muscles too, so these are the best days to stock up on it!

Hopefully now you have a much better idea of the importance of rest days, as well how many you should be taking week in week out. Interested in turning your passion for fitness into an exciting new career?

Since joining the company, she has become a qualified Personal Trainer and advanced Sports Nutrition Specialist. Outside her day-to-day role, Chloe enjoys playing the guitar, gaming and kettlebell training.