I get a lot of crap from some of my friends about taking days off from exercise (they think I don’t take enough of them). In reality, I think I take too many of them. I know what you’re thinking, this is what a person who doesn’t take enough days off would say.
But it’s the truth, I promise.
Go ahead, take a look at the “Follow Me On Strava” link here. What’s my run/ride/swim workout count for the week? If you’re reading this on a Monday, I’ll bet you all the money in my pocket it’s zero. In fact, even at my most active times, when I’m at the height of training, you’ll never see me workout more than five days a week, leaving me two rest days.
I know the importance of rest (or recovery) days. It’s the only part of training that I do consistently.
Building rest/recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that your body and muscles adapt to the stress that exercise causes – a time the experts say is when the real training effect takes place. So, in essence, the rest days are just as important as the workout days.
Rest and recovery allows your body and muscles to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues (muscles). Building muscles (which in addition to building endurance is what we’re doing when we train) is the process of tearing and repairing. Basically, muscle tissue breaks down during workouts and rest and recovery days allow them the time to rebuild themselves. This is why proper nutrition, a good balance of protein and complex carbohydrates is important to maintain, even on your rest days.
So yeah, I get it. And more importantly I do it really well.
