Why Are Rest Days So Important?
Have you ever heard someone talk about over training? Although it’s very rare, it’s a real thing. Our bodies NEED rest. But Why?
Well for one thing getting a proper sleep helps to have better overall mental health, increases concentration and memory, have a healthier immune system, reduce stress, improve mood and even have a better metabolism. By making sure you’re getting 7-8 hours a night you will simply feel better, have more energy for your workouts and be more clear minded as well. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that foggy brain, sluggish type feeling when we’re extremely tired and let’s just say.. It ain’t fun.
When we workout our muscles tear/rip muscle fibers. When we rest and they repair, they heal coming back with slightly thicker muscle fibers. That’s how our muscles get bigger and grow. Think about it like sewing. When we first start working out and we break down muscle fibers, they are repaired with a super thin thread. As we continue to workout, the thread gets slightly thicker every time. Eventually we’d be using a thick thread meaning your muscles have gotten much much bigger. The problem is if we don’t give ourselves proper rest, those muscle fibers won’t get a chance to be fully “sewn” back together. If we train 7 days a week all we’re ever gonna do is rip muscle fibers, therefore It does us no good if they don’t get a chance to repair!
Is there a way to still train every day?
For those of you out there (like myself) who can’t go a day without doing some sort of physical workout there is a way you can still train every day without overdoing it. I call it the 50-75% rule. If you insist on doing some type of workout every day, you can’t go 100% every day. You will be too run down by the end of the week and will just burn yourself out. You have to do a little bit every day and switch up what muscle groups you’re hitting. I even suggest throwing in one active rest day of just cardio to get rid of some of that lactic acid build up in the muscle. This will ultimately help you be less sore. So yes, you can train every day, BUT you have to be very smart about it and listen to your body!
So basically the only time we actually get stronger is when we rest. If you want to maximize your gains then you need to make sure you’re getting a propers night’s sleep every night and you’re incorporating resting days during the week. Over training is real and can make you way more prone to injury so start working out smarter, not harder!
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