Rest Days
- Thread starter keropi
- Start date
I think some people take the "resting" concept a bit too far.
The trick is to listen to your body. If your body is telling you that you're tired, you should call it a day. Of course, even that's taken to extreme measures as people think once they breathe hard it means they should rest.
The answer is listen to your body carefully. Understand the difference between being lazy and actually your muscles need a break. If you feel like running, then go right on ahead. No sense in stopping just because of someone saying rest 48 hours.
The trick is to listen to your body. If your body is telling you that you're tired, you should call it a day. Of course, even that's taken to extreme measures as people think once they breathe hard it means they should rest.
The answer is listen to your body carefully. Understand the difference between being lazy and actually your muscles need a break. If you feel like running, then go right on ahead. No sense in stopping just because of someone saying rest 48 hours.
If I understand your question correctly, you're doing cardio and strength training during the same workout period?
If so, then yeah, you'd need at least 24-36 hours of recovery time. Remember, it's not only your muscles that need to recover, if you're doing some serious resistance training... your nervous system needs to recover also.
If so, then yeah, you'd need at least 24-36 hours of recovery time. Remember, it's not only your muscles that need to recover, if you're doing some serious resistance training... your nervous system needs to recover also.
I think with cardio work the only thing that may require you to take breaks is if it is high impact cardio, such as running. It's important that you give ample time to let your joints recover, just like weight lifting requires the time to let your muscles rebuild themselves stronger.
You do need a rest, if you are doing cardio workouts, but it doesn't necessarily have to be 48 hours.
24 hours is pretty much enough for your muscles to recover.
24 hours is pretty much enough for your muscles to recover.
You guys do realize that if you only rest 24 hours you will be working out every day right???
If you're pushing yourself hard, taking 1 or 2 days off per week is neccessary for recovery of the muscles and nervous system. Otherwise you will eventually burn out.
I was mostly referring to the time inbetween workouts. Yes, I agree fully that you need 1-2 days a week of total body rest for recovery.
I've also heard that after 6-8 weeks of hard training, you should do either a week completely off or with light exercise. I recommend it, I'm on my last recovery week day and I feel REALLY good, ready to go back to the gym and start my new cutting session! (I've increased my body weight 10 pounds total and I'm actually half a percent light on the fat as compared to when I started.)
Rest is good. Too much rest causes atrophy.
You will have plenty of time to rest once you are 6 feet under... Well, all kidding aside, I agree with all the posts here. take at least 1 rest day, perably 2 days a week. 48 hours between lifting a particular muscle group and cardio does not really need rest unless you are doing sprints or intervals.
I have to agree with Dallen on this call: listen to your body...regardless of what a text-book or trainer may tell you; if you're still sore, tight and blown from a previous workout, then it's probably not best to push it. It's really a very simple yet complicated thing....but ultimately, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY...cause if you don't, it'll likely dictate terms to you in the end! The Iron may never lie, but the body never forgets!
I firmly believe that you could take a trained person (like, say, LV) and let them do their regular workout. If you could brainwash them into forgetting they worked-out the previous day, they'd be fully capable of doing another workout the next day and not feel any different. Unless you really rip it to total failure and push it hard, most our bodies are pretty trained and used to the loads we put on them. It really comes down to how hard you pushed your body....and as macho as it sounds, pushing our bodies to such extremes on a daily, weekly, monthy, yearly basis is just not practical: if you did it, you'd soon be like many of these body-builders who look great but can barely walk!
For a newbie, they really need to give their body time to adjust to the new routine and loads your placing on the muscles....but after 6 months or a year, it's really (by my experience) not all that critical....BUT it's optimal, so we do it.
For a while I was doing weights one day, cardio the next....6 days a week, sometimes 7 days. I was not stretching enough and in no time I felt tight, worked & sore much of the time. I wasn't getting enough rest, the whole deal was out of kilt.
In the end, it's about the TOTAL PACKAGE.....weights, cardio, food, vitamins & supplements, stretching, sleep....EVERYTHING all in moderation. Listen to your body, learn what it's telling you...and know that it'll change & evolve as well. And another thing, don't forget to factor-in wear & tear: the guy who rides a bike twice a week is more likely to be walking nicely when he's in his 80's...whereas the guy who runs 40 miles per week....he's having his fun now, but those joints are wearing & tearing; do the math. My point is that there's an optimal level...so it's not about working hard, it's about working SMART. We're all headed for the same inescapable conclusion but how we arrive and our quality of life along the way is somewhat up to us.
100-calories worth of quality dark chocolate every 3 days
I firmly believe that you could take a trained person (like, say, LV) and let them do their regular workout. If you could brainwash them into forgetting they worked-out the previous day, they'd be fully capable of doing another workout the next day and not feel any different. Unless you really rip it to total failure and push it hard, most our bodies are pretty trained and used to the loads we put on them. It really comes down to how hard you pushed your body....and as macho as it sounds, pushing our bodies to such extremes on a daily, weekly, monthy, yearly basis is just not practical: if you did it, you'd soon be like many of these body-builders who look great but can barely walk!
For a newbie, they really need to give their body time to adjust to the new routine and loads your placing on the muscles....but after 6 months or a year, it's really (by my experience) not all that critical....BUT it's optimal, so we do it.
For a while I was doing weights one day, cardio the next....6 days a week, sometimes 7 days. I was not stretching enough and in no time I felt tight, worked & sore much of the time. I wasn't getting enough rest, the whole deal was out of kilt.
In the end, it's about the TOTAL PACKAGE.....weights, cardio, food, vitamins & supplements, stretching, sleep....EVERYTHING all in moderation. Listen to your body, learn what it's telling you...and know that it'll change & evolve as well. And another thing, don't forget to factor-in wear & tear: the guy who rides a bike twice a week is more likely to be walking nicely when he's in his 80's...whereas the guy who runs 40 miles per week....he's having his fun now, but those joints are wearing & tearing; do the math. My point is that there's an optimal level...so it's not about working hard, it's about working SMART. We're all headed for the same inescapable conclusion but how we arrive and our quality of life along the way is somewhat up to us.
100-calories worth of quality dark chocolate every 3 days
We're finally getting somewhere! Ok, I didn't know that your nervous system needed recovery time. This makes perfect sense as to why when my body gave out I felt like I did...anyone care to share more info on this(nervous system and working out)
Also, does anyone know what happens when you don't give your nervous system recovery time? Anyone experienced it?
Now that I know what happened, I can get over this mental block I've been having. I've been too scared to push myself like I used to because I've been scared of it happening again...I haven't been able to move to the next level, which has caused slow/less results, which has been pretty disheartening.
It's taken a huge toll on my workouts because I've been scared to run/sprint like I've grown to love doing--I was scared of how I would feel when my heart rate came down because last time it happened was after I sprinted my quickest.
and tic--yea, I wish you only had to rest when you were six feet under, but I've learned the hard way that this is not true
Usually when people think they overtrained its because there nervous system didnt get enough rest rather than their muscles. Its hard to explain but i guess you will feel wired yet tired all the time and have trouble sleeping.
John Berardi - Overtraining - Part 1
John Berardi - Overtraining - Part 2
John Berardi - Overtraining - Part 1
John Berardi - Overtraining - Part 2
Those are good articles.
..and I really think more people should be informed about the realities of training and what the risks are with "overdoing it"
I was wondering why it took me so long to recover after it happened to me. Going to the gym was part of my everyday process..so I went...but I had lost all motivation and it didn't make sense that I went from giving it all I had to having a hard time doing basic things like riding the bike to warm up.
thanks for the info