8 Reasons Why Rest Days Are Important With Exercise Workouts

Whether you're an athlete training for an endurance race, a sporting event, or simply building a good body and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, it is important to know your body's limits. In other words, it is important to know when to stop because when it comes to working out, more doesn't always necessarily mean better.

Exercise imposes a physical workload on your body. The type and intensity of exercise you perform matter and help achieve the output you seek.

For maximum benefits, it is always suggested by professional physical trainers to alternate between low, moderate and high-intensity workouts.

 
This particular method of structuring your workouts is called periodisation and allows your body to get the optimal amount of rest.

To achieve better results from your effort-intensive workout sessions, it is important to rest, which is essential for your body to heal. Our body faces two types of stress post workouts – metabolic and mechanical stress.

As the name suggests, metabolic stress is created by our body burning fuel stored in our body, and mechanical stress or physical stress is caused due to physical damage to muscle tissues and proteins. The recovery period allowed through periodisation allows the body to replete glycogen and repair muscle proteins.

Yes, periodisation doesn't necessarily mean you can't work out every day. It basically means spacing out high-intensity workouts and scheduling in low-intensity workouts.

Ideally, if you're exercising daily, it is important to keep high-intensity days to around 2 to 3 days, moderate exercise days to 2-3 and low-intensity workouts for the remaining days.

Alternatively, if you have rough and hectic days at work or home, it is best to skip high-intensity workouts altogether for that week. Why? Because the accumulation of too much stress on the body can do more harm to the body.

Many people think taking a rest day is equivalent to being lazy, but that's far from the truth. It is perhaps one of the most important yet overlooked days of the week for physically active people. It is important to take a full rest day every 10-12 days at least.

Whether running, walking, or working out rigorously at the gym every day, it is important to give your muscles sufficient time to heal.

Rest days help prevent overuse, which is one of the key reasons injuries occur. Rest days help give muscles time to recover and rebuild. It would also help improve your performance.

When you go on working out for days without taking a good rest day, it can lead to burnout. It is essential to take a rest day every week or every alternative week to enjoy other things, spend more time with friends and family, and focus on doing stuff you love.

It will help you de-clutter your mind and get back to your normal routine with more excitement, vigour, and energy.

Rest day helps you catch up on the lost sleep due to the hectic schedule rest of the week. Getting an optimal amount of sleep is a vital component in your body's overall growth, ability to perform well, and heal.

An optimal amount of rest and sleep is necessary for your body, especially when working out daily, to repair, recover, and rebuild muscle tissues.

During non-REM sleep, the blood flows to muscles increases, enhancing the recovery rate to a great extent. Taking a rest day is essential for your body to get that additional rest/sleep it needs to recover and get back on track fully.

Taking a break is essential to boost your immunity. Studies show that regular moderate workouts boost immunity against cold and flu. However, working out for days and weeks without taking a rest day can be counterproductive and may impact your health.

Many people and even athletes fall ill after an endurance event or a marathon. It makes the person more susceptible to upper respiratory tract infections.

Conducting high-intensity workouts day-in and day-out without taking a break increases the level of cortisol and adrenaline, suppressing the function of white blood cells to a great extent.

It makes the person vulnerable to infections in the long term. Taking rest days helps the immune system to perform efficiently.

It is no secret that working out offers tons of mental health benefits.

However, it is also important for your body to get sufficient rest and taking rest days helps improve mental clarity.

Taking a break from a routine workout would help your mind and body relax while encouraging focus, boosting your minds mood, and enhancing energy levels.

Exercising daily while maintaining a hectic work schedule can leave you with very little time with your friends and family. Taking a rest day is important for your mind and body while giving you more time to spend with your kids, friends, and family.

No matter how much you enjoy working out, there will come a time when you'll get bored of the same old workout routine.

When you feel you're getting bored of the monotonous routine, take a rest day to do things you enjoy, spend time with your family, or just Netflix and chill the whole day.

It is a kind of cheat day necessary to keep you from losing interest in things you love. Once you take a rest day, you'll be able to return to the gym or your old workout regime - reenergised and with more enthusiasm, eventually leading to better results.

As mentioned earlier, working out non-stop for weeks without a break can make your muscles sore. It damages your muscle tissues that need time to heal, repair, and recover.

Taking a rest day is important for people who are too focused on their daily exercise workout or bodybuilding.

Some people don't realize they need a break until they suffer from an injury, which could've been easily prevented by taking a rest day. Take a break and give your body much-needed rest to allow muscle recovery and repair.

Our body is a highly complex biological machine and can't digest too much of anything, including exercising. Working out is an essential ingredient for a long and healthy lifestyles.

Rest days are important not only for your body's muscles, but also as a time to recover from any damage done during workouts.

However, it can backfire if you overdo exercise, as there's a limit to how much stress your body can take. It is applicable for physical and psychological stress resulting from working out and the pain and stress that follow.

When you take a rest day, it gives your mind and body that time to relax and recover, mentally and physically.

Most personal trainers worldwide recommend taking rest days as it is important to divert your mind from workouts and add some fun to the mix. It does help in getting results faster while reducing the chances and frequencies of injuries.

Hi, I'm Gary Wagner (Coach Gaz).

I help business leaders get out of pain so they can dominate their profession & get all that they want out of life. I guide professionals passionate about achieving new levels of performance. I enable them to forge an effective and resilient physical form that feels unstoppable, enabling and empowering their personal and professional success in Melbourne.