We sometimes correlate rest days with laying on the couch for six hours in stained pajamas eating tortilla chips. The more you schedule them in, the higher your chances of staying healthy and strong in order to be able to accomplish your workouts in the first place. Instead, view rest days as preventative medicine for your workout plan. If you start to question what you are doing and why you are at the gym in the first place, other than out of some sense of social obligation, then your spirit has clearly taken a hit and could use some down time.” This downgrading of your mental capacity, while bad for work and embarrassing in conversation, can be dangerous in the gym leading to injury due to mindless movement. Mentally, your cognitive abilities and coordination will be diminished. You will probably even start to find that you ‘hit the wall’ at the gym a lot easier and a lot sooner. “Physically, you will experience perpetual muscle soreness and cramping. “If you’ve been pushing too hard for too long, you will experience burnout,” says Peterson. “Your body will benefit from taking a rest day to avoid these symptoms.” “Some major signs that you need a rest day are: higher heart rate, not sleeping, frequent sickness, dehydration, and feeling depressed,” notes Aaptiv trainer Rochelle Moncourtois. Luckily, when it’s time for a rest day, your body will give you plenty of physical and mental signals. If your schedule is chock full of sweaty elliptical Tabatas, speedy cycle sessions, or unlimited dumbbell sets with no rest days, you’re eventually going to experience an injury, overtrain or suffer from fatigue. If your body isn’t ready for its next workout, try a stretching routine from Aaptiv. The point is, you’re not slacking when you take a rest day. “Rest days are equally as important as training days, because they allow for muscles, bones, fascia and connective tissue time for recovery.” Rest days also rebuild your overall stamina, endurance and strength, explains Theodore Smith, yoga teacher and co-owner of Habitat Yoga and Nutrition. During rest, especially sleep, your brain is busy solidifying the neuro connections that will lead to better balance and coordination in every movement.” And just like your body, your mind needs time to process and adjust to the activity you have been engaged in. It takes time for your body to process, uptake, and distribute the fuel needed to keep you going at your usual hectic pace. “If you go at it hard too many days in a row, your body will be running on empty, no matter how much food you eat. Joy Peterson, personal trainer and co-owner of Peterson Holistic Services, suggests viewing rest days an opportunity to recharge and refuel. Sleep and recovery are just as important as workouts themselves.” That can lead you to actually holding onto weight. “if you don’t give it adequate time to do that, you’ll keep your stress hormones elevated. “Your body has to repair itself,” says Aaptiv trainer Candice Cunningham. Even if you feel fine, a rest day is a chance to relax and slow down so that you can approach your next workout even better than before. They allow your body and mind to completely recover from hard work. However, most trainers agree on their value. When you’re aiming for certain results within a set time frame, it’s tempting to postpone rest days or write them off as unnecessary. Here’s why you should skip the shame and instead give yourself permission to add rest days to your exercise routine. But, taking time off from your workouts allows your body and mind to recover from being pushed to the limit. It may feel difficult to hit the pause button from a very active lifestyle, especially if you’re training with Aaptiv and trying your best to be healthy. No matter your fitness goals- a stronger core, completing a 5k, trying HIIT for the first time-there’s one surprising element that will help you succeed: rest.
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