The Importance Of Having A Rest Day

You may be eager to exercise every day but be careful not to overdo it and make sure that you have a rest day.

It is Sunday right now as I write this, a quarter past five in the early evening here in Berkshire, England and I am happy to say that I have spent the entire day doing nothing for today I decided to have a rest day.

During the last seven days I have run twice and cycled intensively. Yesterday I plotted a new course in my local area that includes excellent undulating hills for my bike and I to enjoy. I pushed myself hard once again and arrived home swimming in sweat and aching from the exertion. But, ultimately feeling incredibly happy as those endorphins raced through my brain. I fell into bed last night feeling elated and exhausted and was asleep before I even felt the warmth of my bed sheets covering my body.

Exercise is wonderful and often leaves me feeling tired, happy and almost in a state not far removed from feeling stoned as Youtuber Mango.Margaux recently explained.

Consistent exercise and wonderfully healthy eating is the best way to achieve fitness and good health of course but you must be careful. It is all too easy to become carried away by the joy that exercise gives you and to overdo it.

Consistency is the key to success but you must give yourself some rest days. Days where your activity level is as reduced as possible. After my lung bursting, fat burning efforts during the last seven days today has been my rest day. 

I have spent the day either on my sofa or, like now, laying on my bed working on my laptop. I have read, written, e-mailed and generally completed a great deal of work whilst barely moving my body. 

Today I ache but it is not a painful ache or the ache of a body that is telling me that it has had enough activity. It is the ache which I enjoy, it tells me that I have worked hard and that my form is working well.

But I must rest and so must you. Rest days are of paramount importance because without them you open yourself up to damage from over exercising and falling foul of injury. Given that consistency is the key to exercise an injury meaning you have to break from your regimen will break that consistency and leave you having to re-build your fitness. Two years ago I developed the early signs of shin splints. I ignored those early warning bells and ended up having to do no exercise for three months. Had I listened to my poorly shins at the outset of their cries I would only have needed to rest for two weeks at the most. Two weeks rest is far better than three months immobility. 

So make sure that you rest and rest well. This evening I will be taking to my bed at exactly 8pm to ensure that my body receives the maximum amount of rest that it requires. And even if I am not tired enough to sleep I will be laid down and quiet giving my muscles a chance to continue their natural work of repair and growth.

Rest days are imperative and should not be considered as a day lost in your quest for fitness. They ought to be considered as an important part of your exercise regimen for without them you may find that an enforced rest, pain and recovery becomes your new routine.