Is recovery/rest important?
What is recovery? Do sore muscles really indicate a successful workout? Why do I need to take rest days? How many should I take? What constitutes a rest day? Do I need to eat less on a rest day? Keep reading to know the answer to all of these questions & more.
It may seem counterintuitive to take rest days. We are living in a world where we are CONSTANTLY stimulated and we are praised for productivity. Can you imagine if we were praised for rest and taking care of our mental health as much as we were for productivity and going going going 24/7? How different our world would be—but that’s a topic for another blog post.
Let’s begin with talking about what happens to your body/muscles when you exercise. When you exercise, you are putting stress on your body. Now, remember, not all stress is “bad”. Some stress is necessary! However, if you continue to stress your body day after day, with no rest, that’s when you can run into problems. You create microscopic tears in your muscles when you strength train, so in order for those to rebuild and repair and grow, then rest is a MUST. Giving your body the rest it needs is JUST AS important as those days you are exercising.
What is recovery? Recovery is the rest time between your workouts/exercise. It’s the time your body takes to recover and rebuild in preparation for the next time you exercise. This time is necessary for your muscles, bone mass, your nervous system and your BRAIN. So it’s important for a number of reasons, not just your muscles. Too much exercise with not enough rest can also lead to injury and overuse. Very intense training with no rest can lead to increase inflammation in the body and subsequent bone resorption (loss). When this happens, you are more likely to have bone fractures. Training raises the stress hormone, cortisol in your body. When cortisol is raised constantly, your body doesn’t work as efficiently because it perceives it is in a harmful environment. This also can hinder your gains because your body is focused on keeping it safe, rather than building lean tissue. Sleep, nutrition, and recovery are all VITAL parts of your fitness. The real magic happens during the recovery.
Do sore muscles really indicate a successful workout? Sore muscles are not always an indication of a “good workout”. Your muscles usually get sore when you are putting a new load on them. So if you change your workout routine up, or do something different that you are used to, you are likely going to feel sore. The more your body acclimates to your workout routine, then you may not feel as sore from it because your muscles are getting used to the load. This doesn’t mean that the workout isn’t effective. Don’t rely on soreness to determine the quality of your workouts.
Why do I need to take rest days? Well, if you aren’t convinced yet that you need to take rest days, then I will tell you another reason. Coming from someone who used to have an unhealthy relationship with exercise, I will tell you that rest days are necessary as well to work on that relationship with exercise. I find that a lot of people fear rest days because they think they will lose progress, or that they will suddenly gain weight over night, or that they don’t want to take a rest day because they use exercise as a way to numb their feelings and to not deal with something deeper. While exercise can help to relieve mental stress, it is not a replacement for therapy. On rest days, you have to actually sit with yourself and your feelings and for some people that is very uncomfortable. It was for me! If this is you right now, know that you aren’t alone and that there are other ways to deal with emotions besides over-exercising.
How many rest days do I need to take? This will vary depending on your current training routine/exercise programming. I recommend 1-2 per week for most people. This also depends on your fitness level/stress level in life. So really you have to figure out what works for YOU—not what works for your friend or relative. We are all VERY different. If you are lifting heavy, then I’d recommend NOT training the same muscle groups on back to back days, take at least 1 day between muscle groups, if not 2.
What constitutes a rest day? I love this question. Okay, so as human beings, we are made to move. Our bodies/brains thrive off of movement. Everything works better when we move consistently. We are not meant to sit all day like a lot of people do for their jobs. A rest day is going to look different for different people. I will tell you what my rest day looks like—I go for a walk every day (about 45-60 minutes). I do this on rest days as well. Sometimes that is my rest day. My job is not a sedentary job, I rarely am sitting down. If you do have a sedentary job, I recommend taking small walk breaks throughout the day, if you can’t get outside to walk, then do something beside your desk. Some rest days I will walk & do a yoga class. Since I am focusing on strength training right now, on my rest days I do not weight lift, I give my muscles time to recover on these days from the stress of weights. (*note: rest days look different during different phases of your life/what you are currently doing for your main exercise) If you are a runner, then perhaps your rest days would be going for a walk instead of a run, or going to yoga. I think yoga is an amazing tool for recovery, not just for your body but for your brain as well. The mind-body connection is so important. So basically, a rest day means you are RESTING from your normal exercise routine/stress you are putting on your body on the days you do workout. As you can tell, this will look different for different people. Adjust as needed and LISTEN to your body. And remember a rest day still includes movement! (Of course there are sometimes where you need a couch potato day but these are few & far between, our bodies thrive off of movement)
Do I need to eat less on rest days? No. You don’t. So your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the number of calories that you burn in a day. That number is broken down into your BMR (basil metabolic rate), this is the number of calories you burn at rest (if you are laying in a bed all day). BMR accounts for 70% of the calories you burn throughout the day. Your BMR can increase by having more muscle mass (another reason to strength train). The next thing that makes up your TDEE is called NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis), this is all of the activity you do throughout the day that isn’t intentional exercise, so this includes things like, fidgeting, taking the stairs at your office, bringing in the groceries from the car, etc. NEAT accounts for 15% of your calorie burn throughout the day. So you can increase your NEAT by parking further away at the store, taking the stairs when you can, etc. The next thing that makes up your TDEE is called TEF (thermic effect of food), this accounts for about 10% of your daily calorie burn and it is the number of calories it takes for your body to digest the food you consume. The last thing that makes up your TDEE is called EAT (exercise activity thermogenesis), this is the number of calories you burn from exercise and it makes up about 10% of your calorie burn throughout the day. I broke this down because a lot of people believe that their exercise burns FAR more calories than it actually does. The point of exercise is NOT to just burn calories, sure it does that, but the point is to become stronger, more flexible, to work on heart health, etc etc. (I could go on about this all day and will probably write a blog post at some point about it). So all of this to say, you do not need to eat less on days you are less active.
How do I not feel bad about a rest day? Rest days can create anxiety for habitual movers. Hopefully after reading this blog post, you can see all of the benefits of taking a rest day. If you are still struggling to rest, I recommend going for a walk in nature as your rest day activity, plan a fun event, or try a new form of self care that day. Remind yourself, that you rest day is just as productive as your workout day and that you are helping yourself reach your goals. Don’t be afraid to take an extra rest day if you are feeling tired/stressed. Intense exercise on an already stressed body is NOT doing yourself any favors. If you are struggling to rest or feel the compulsive need to exercise daily, this may be a sign of a bigger issue, do not hesitate to reach out to a professional for support.
I hope this blog post was helpful. Whether you are exercising or resting today, I hope you enjoy the day and remember to thank your body for being there for you and take care of it like it has taken care of you for so long.
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