When it comes to creating a balanced fitness programme, whether you’re training for a marathon, you enjoy heavy lifting at the gym or just love prancing around dancing every day… there is one component of a quality fitness routine that is the same across the board…REST DAYS!
So, why are rest day’s so important? Let me tell you…
Muscles need to recover in order to repair and grow. Simples. Without rest, you won’t grow and if you’re looking to pop a booty you gotta give it time to recover! (as well or as quickly as you could have). 💪🏽
- Makes sure your muscles are fresh for the next training session/training week. If you train every single day into the ground with no rest, your intensity will reduce dramatically.. making every workout less efficient & progression may even slow down.🔥
- Prevent injury & over training. Your joints and central nervous system need time to take a break and let your body know you’re not trying to kill it! Your body was made for survival, and the more you try and battle with it, the more you’re asking for it to battle against you (i.e lose muscle and store fat!!).🕺🏽
- A constant state of restlessness can make it hard for your body to relax and therefore sleeping patterns can be interrupted, leading to fatigue, poor decisions, poor diet, poor training, increase cortisol (stress hormone) and more fat storage!!🏃🏽♀️
- Too much exercise will lead to you burning out! You’ll become physically and mentally drained and you’ll find it hard to drag yourself to the gym. Your health is TOO IMPORTANT to let that happen. Take those breaks, chill out, restore your energy and come back refreshed. 🙏🏻
So, if your feeling like you might be getting ill or your feeling a little sore, don’t feel bad about not going to the gym. You HAVE to remember that the rest part is just as important as the exercising.💪🏼
If you’re a go-hard-at-every-workout kind of person (like me), or you just hate the idea of taking a day completely off from exercise, try out some active recovery, such as:
– Walking
– Cycling
– Swimming
– Yoga
– Dancing
Active recovery allows you to keep moving, still get the endorphins going, put your mind at ease whilst giving your muscles and joints the rest they need to bounce back stronger than ever🙌🏻
Remember to give your body time to rest & recover, because you LOVE your body. Not because you hate it.🤗😘