Are Rest Days Important or No?

No matter how much you love to exercise, your body needs regular time away from the gym to rest, recover, and rebuild. Depending on how intense you train, you may need anywhere from 1 to 3 days off, each and every week, with an additional extended rest or de-loading week every second to third month.

Active rest involves replacing your scheduled workout with another, less intense form of movement. Not to be confused with complete rest, an active rest day doesn’t involve sitting on the couch, catching up on your shows (although it sounds good) and tossing back junk food. Schedule your active rest days when you schedule your workouts, making it a regular part of your plan. There are many benefits of active rest, aids recovery and decreases delayed onset muscle soreness, reduces over-use and repetitive strain injuries, increases exercise enjoyment and bolsters your immune system.

Some examples of active rest can include low intensity cardio, walking outdoors, swimming, golfing, yoga and even getting a nice massage. Whether your aiming to increase muscular size, strength or endurance, taking a day off between workouts is a great strategy for avoiding injury and ultimately reaching your health and fitness goals sooner.