The Importance of Rest Days

January 11, 2013 / Health & Fitness

Rest Day

Do you feel guilty when you take a rest day?  If you said “yes,” then you may be at risk for overtraining.  I used to fall into this category until I started to learn more about the mechanics of muscle adaptation and recovery.  Did you know that rest and recovery periods are actually a time of growth?  It’s true, our body uses the rest time between our workouts to repair and strengthen itself.


If you are participating in an intense workout routine, then most likely you have experienced some sort of “micro trauma” in your muscles along with a depletion of your muscle glycogen energy stores.  Therefore, it is extremely important to allow your body a chance to repair the damaged muscle tissue and replenish your energy stores through recovery.  When we do not allow our body enough time to recover then it will continue to breakdown, and this stress can lead to injury.  


So, if you want to improve your performance you need to remind yourself that it is OK to take a day off.  In fact, the reason that many athletes change up their routine throughout the year and modify the time and intensity of their workouts is to allow for recovery and growth.  

 

For more information: Rest and Recovery After Exercise - Improve Sports Performance