If you take a look at any weekly workout routine, you’ll notice that it will always have a day or two of rest and recovery. When it comes to exercise, more is not always better. So, it’s not recommended to exercise every day of the week. Giving your body some recovery time in between workouts gives it enough time to heal and re-energize.
Whether you’re heading to the nearby gym for cardio, weight training, strength training, or Zumba, always keep one or two days of rest and recovery. Here’s why rest and recovery are important in a fitness program.
Benefits of Rest and Recovery Time
The following are the benefits of adequate rest and recovery.
It gives time for muscle recovery
When you exercise, the constant stretching of your muscles creates microtears in your muscles. These terms are what cause the soreness after a workout. Rest days give enough muscle recovery time for fibroblasts to repair these tears. The muscle tissues heal and grow, making them stronger.
Additionally, glycogen reserves in your muscles that are burned down during exercise are also replenished during rest days.
It reduces injury risk
Adequate rest between workouts is essential to prevent your body from being overworked. Being tired or overworked may result in a mishap during a workout. You may inadvertently drop a weight or use an incorrect technique, resulting in injury.
Skipping rest days will also put undue stress and strain on your muscles, causing overuse injuries and soreness that could require more days to recover.
Rest prevents muscle fatigue
Your muscles are working constantly during exercise, and they do too need some rest. Overworking your muscles will lead to muscle fatigue due to depleted glycogen in your muscles. Your muscles need glycogen even when you’re not working out. Proper rest will help restore your muscles’ glycogen levels so they don’t fatigue out.
Results in improved performance
When you don’t get enough rest between workouts, it can be difficult to practise your normal routine with enthusiasm. You may be less motivated to push yourself or feel burnout. Overtraining will decrease your performance over time, leading to reduced endurance, slow reaction times and reduced agility.
Having enough rest, on the other hand, will reduce fatigue and make you feel more energetic, resulting in better performance.
It helps you sleep better
Yes, working out or any physical activity does help you sleep better. But too much of it actually can hamper sleep. Physical activity increases the production of energy-boosting hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, and these hormones may be overproduced if you don’t have enough rest, preventing a good night’s sleep.
Thus, incorporating some days for rest and recovery is extremely important for a well-balanced workout routine. If you want a great workout plan with adequate rest days, then get FITPASS. Not only can you use it to find an excellent gym near you, but our built-in AI-led FITCOACH can curate workout plans tailor-made for you.
This will ensure that your workout routine has the best of all exercises as well as enough rest days for your body to recover.
FAQ’s
Rest and recovery are important in a fitness program because it gives your body time to recover, prevent injuries, prevent muscle fatigue, help you sleep better, and improve performance.
The amount of rest and recovery time you should give yourself depends on many factors like exercise type and intensity. If you’re a beginner, start with a three-day resting period. A 5-day workout routine with 2 days rest is also very common.
For light cardio: Brisk walking, slow dance and other light cardio may not require rest days.
For more intense cardio: Take rest days every 3 or 5 days.
Running: Start with three days of running and 3 days of rest. Follow up with 4 days of running and 2 days rest.
Weight Training: A five-day workout with 2 days of rest is usually typical for weight training.
It is not recommended that you work out if you’re feeling sore or fatigued. Take adequate rest, get your energy back and then you can start your workout.
Overtraining results in increased muscle soreness and muscle fatigue. You’ll feel pain in your muscles, feel tired, require more recovery time, notice a decrease in performance, have poor sleep, find workouts more challenging, and find that you’re not able to exercise at the intensity you could achieve previously.
