How Many Days of Rest Between Workouts?

How Many Days of Rest Between Workouts?

When you’re committed to your fitness goals, it’s not uncommon to let “rest days” slip to the bottom of your priority list. But recovery is just as important to good health as exercise — it helps build strength, improve fitness, and reduce your risk of injury.

So, how many days of rest between workouts are needed to experience these benefits?

Ideally, you should rest between 48 and 72 hours between training days. If you enjoy vigorous exercise, the American Council on Exercise recommends 1 rest day every 7 to 10 days.

Below, we explain how rest days work to promote future workouts and what you can do to keep your body moving (and building) better.

Why Rest Days Help Future Workouts

Whether you’re new to the gym or a five-star athlete, rest days and recovery time can make or break you in an instant. and long term physical health. When you’re exercising lightly, your body is working hard—at the molecular level—to make the necessary preparations for your next workout.

In particular, rest days encourage:

• Muscle repair and growth – During exertion, your muscle fibers receive “small tears” from physical stress. When you have time to rest after training, these tears have time to heal and grow, creating stronger muscles. In sports science, this process is known as muscle hypertrophy.
• Increase in glycogen – Glycogen is the main fuel your body uses during exercise. Strength training depletes your reserves, which are in your muscles and liver. Rest days – with the help of a high carb meal after a workout – allow your body to replenish its stores. This helps with muscle repair and growth and helps prevent muscle fatigue.
• Hormonal overload -Physically speaking, your body sees exercise as a form of stress. As a result, cortisol (stress hormone) begins to rise during training. If you exercise a lot or regularly, rest days will help you avoid a catabolic state: when your body may start breaking down muscle, instead of repairing it. Relaxation also helps your endocrine system to function properly, which can reduce your risk of developing hormonal imbalances.

To a large extent, rest days help you avoid overtraining, which can leave you feeling more fatigued after a period of exercise. By viewing rest days as an important part—not the enemy—of your diet, you can see stronger, more sustainable results from the effort you put in while working out.

Understanding Active vs. Passive Recovery

Different types of exercise may require different types of recovery time. For example, you may not want to rest all day if your favorite exercise is gentle yoga.

Rest days are especially important for those involved in high-intensity or endurance training, where muscular hypertrophy can occur. For this reason, it is important to distinguish between “active” and “idle” recovery time:

• Get well soon it may include low-impact exercises to keep moving and tone your muscles. Typical fitness days can include exercises such as:
  • Walking fast
  • Swimming
  • Yoga
  • Stretching
• A steady recovery includes no exercise—total physical relaxation. This is good if you are participating in higher education, especially on a regular basis. Today, feel free to read, do what you love, or just relax on the couch as a workout for the day. Enjoy!

Don’t Forget Post-Exercise Recovery

Rest days are important, but you can help your recovery significantly by doing some simple things right after your training session.

Here are some things you can do to support your body as you go through the recovery period:

• Cool down – Before you leave the gym, make sure you get in 10 minutes of walking. Low-intensity exercise helps your heart rate and blood pressure get back up.
• Stretch it out – Stretching helps reduce muscle soreness and promote flexibility. It is thought that stretching along with cool down periods can help prevent your muscles from drying out and hurting down the line.
• Hydrate – If you’re doing it right, you can lose a lot of moisture while exercising. Some people can lose up to 2 quarts of water (and salt) in one hour of intensive training. Ideally, adults drink 16 to 24 oz. drinking water or sports drinks after work.
• Add oil – Nutritious foods after exercise help restore glycogen stores and promote muscle repair and growth. Your ideal post-workout meal will depend on the type of exercise you’ve done, as well as your needs. To keep things simple, carbs are good for recovery, while protein helps with muscle repair and growth.

Create Holistic Health at Chuze Fitness

After some time off, indulge yourself in a workout at Chuze Fitness. With one of the most valuable memberships you can find, you can enjoy access to premium memberships, clean gym equipment, countless group classes, and a gym where you can train while having fun. Need childcare? Chuze Fitness has it too. Please note that this service is not available at every Chuze Fitness, be sure to check your local Chuze website.

Break the habit and win again with a free travel for 7 days today.

Source:

Health care. Are Rest Days Necessary for Exercise?

https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/rest-day#benefits

NCBI. Effects of Differences Between Resting Tests on the Reproducibility of a 10-Repetition Stress Test: A Study of Recreationally Resistance Trained Men and Athletes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6719818/

Health care. Muscular Hypertrophy and Your Fitness.

https://www.healthline.com/health/muscular-hypertrophy#definition

Runner’s World. Cortisol and exercise: What you need to know.

https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/health/mental-health/a60125903/cortisol-and-exercise/

Very good. Why You Need Rest and Recovery After Exercising. https://www.verywellfit.com/the-benefits-of-rest-and-recovery-after-exercise-3120575

Mayo Clinic. Exercise: How to warm up and cool down. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20045517

Johns Hopkins Medicine. Sports and Hydration for Athletes: Q&A with a Dietitian.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/nutrition-and-fitness/sports-and-hydration-for-athletes

Reviewed By:

Ani is the Vice President of Fitness at Chuze Fitness and oversees the group fitness and team training department. He has 25+ years of experience in club management, personal training, group fitness and coaching. Ani lives with her husband and son in San Diego, CA and enjoys hot yoga, snowboarding and all things cool.