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Worried a rest day means you’ll lose everything you’ve been working for? A little rest can go a long way between regular, hard workouts – we asked a former Olympian and a fitness coach to tell us why
Summary
1The science behind rest
“When you train or push yourself through a workout, your muscles sustain microscopic damage – known as microtears...”
2Why rest is best
Rest days are particularly important if you’ve been under a ton of stress, have slept badly for several nights or are feeling unwell...
3Adding rest to your regime
Rather than waiting until your body breaks down, it’s best to create a routine where you have a weekly rest day...
We live in a ‘you snooze you lose’ culture, but life doesn’t have to be constant go, go, go. When it comes to work, it’s imperative that we take a rest to avoid stress, burnout and poor mental health; the same goes for the gym.
Fitness pros also recognise the benefits of rest. We get the lowdown from three-time Olympian, personal trainer and owner of Roar Fitness Sarah Lindsay and Martin Sharp, fitness and lifestyle coach and founder of Sharp Fit For Life.
You need to take days off because “training can accumulate and, if not managed carefully, it can lead to over-fatiguing the muscles and the central nervous system, which in turn can reduce performance and increase the potential for injury,” says Martin. Believe it or not, a rest day is beneficial for our health and can help to make us fitter and feel more motivated too.
The science behind rest
“When you train or push yourself through a workout, your muscles sustain microscopic damage – known as microtears,” explains Sharp.1 “It sounds dramatic, but these microtears give a signal to our muscle tissue to replenish, and it’s this progressive overload process that encourages them to repair and grow bigger and stronger to better cope with the same load the next time around."
"Crucially, this means that you only reap the benefits of training when the body is at rest, relaxing and sleeping,” she continues. As you can see, it’s not just in the gym that you make progress, despite what everyone thinks.
When rest is best
Rest days are particularly important if you’ve been under a ton of stress, have slept badly for several nights or are feeling unwell. This is because increased stress and poor sleep can affect growth hormones2 and glycogen synthesis (both essential for tissue repair). That means that even if you do manage to drag yourself to training, your muscles won’t be able to mend and grow stronger the way they should.
“Worse still, when it comes to personal performance physically, you may find that your endurance, strength and speed have been affected, as well as increasing recovery times3 and increasing risk of injury due to loss of judgement, focus and awareness. So the moral of the story is that you’re better off catching up with your rest and slowing the pace,” advises Sharp.
“When you programme in rest days, you really notice the strength gains you get as a result”
Even the pros do it
“It’s vital to have structured recovery days because when you rest, the adaptations happen,” says Sarah. And she ought to know, having competed in the Olympics in speed skating in 2002, 2006 and 2010.
“When training to compete, my recovery days were never fixed per se, but absolutely essential. I used to have Saturdays or Sundays off and was usually sent home on Wednesday afternoons to rest – simply because I couldn’t produce the intensity anymore. When you programme in rest days, you really notice the strength gains you get as a result.”
“You’ll find that you’re basically trying really hard, but not achieving what you should be achieving in each session”
All pain and no gain
Our bodies are pretty good at telling us what they need, so “if you turn up to a session tired and not feeling good, you can sometimes push through it – it’s when you can’t perform that you know you have to rest,” says Lindsay. “If you don’t, your intensity slowly goes down and your productivity reduces, and you end up tired all the time as well as frustrated.
You’ll find that you’re basically trying really hard, but not achieving what you should be achieving in each session. As a result, all your sessions end up being super low-level and you’re not actually getting stronger or fitter – just more and more tired.”
“Other signs of over-training include the inability to get to sleep4 despite being tired – which is attributed to higher levels of adrenaline and the stress hormone cortisol, and the inability to wind down,” says Sharp. “Aches or pains beyond what you’d usually expect could also be a sign that your muscles haven’t recovered, as well as fatigue, increased anxiety,5 cravings, feeling more stressed, plateaus in fat loss and/or muscle gain, or a drop or plateau in performance. You may also experience an increase in brain fog and loss of concentration.”6
How to add rest to your exercise regime
Rather than waiting until your body breaks down, it’s best to create a routine where you have a weekly rest day. A rest on Friday to end the week, perhaps? Or a Monday rest day, which can serve as a nice way to ease slowly into the week and aid recovery after a heavy weekend where you’ve had more time and intention to train.
Cooling down, refuelling with food and fluids, and taking a day off after a big session, competition or race is also important – no matter what day of the week it is.
Making the most of your rest day
The good news is you don’t need to veg out on the sofa all day to call a rest day a rest day. While you can if you wish, you can also enjoy active recovery with a walk in the sunshine, perhaps with friends, or some light stretching or a gentle yoga session – and just move to feel good.
The final say
“There’s no ‘right’ way to rest, just as there’s no single way to exercise. It’s just vital to give yourself permission to step away from the gym floor and give your body the time to recover and repair, and allow the adaptations to happen,” says Sharp.
“There’s no doubt you’ll walk back into the gym more motivated, more refreshed and raring to go.”
Ready to maximize those rest days? Find out the best ways to recover after working out, with rest-day exercise ideas and our favourite post-exercise supplements from our in-house nutritionist.
The advice in this article is for information only and some of the information reflects the opinion of our in-house nutritionist and should not replace medical care. Please check with your GP or healthcare professional before trying any supplements, treatments or remedies. Food supplements must not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
- Stožer A, Vodopivc P, Križančić Bombek L. Pathophysiology of exercise-induced muscle damage and its structural, functional, metabolic, and clinical consequences. Physiological Research. 2020 Jul 16;69(4):565–98.
- Effect of sleep deprivation on overall 24 h growth-hormone secretion Brandenberger, Gabrielle et al. The Lancet, Volume 356, Issue 9239, 1408
- Erlacher D, Vorster A. Sleep and muscle recovery – Current concepts and empirical evidence. Current Issues in Sport Science (CISS). 2023 Feb 14;8(2):058.
- Ramos-Campo D, Martínez-Aranda LM, Andreu Caravaca L, Ávila-Gandí V, Rubio-Arias JÁ. Effects of resistance training intensity on the sleep quality and strength recovery in trained men: a randomized cross-over study. Biology of Sport. 2020;
- Chung Y, Hsiao YT, Huang WC. Physiological and Psychological Effects of Treadmill Overtraining Implementation. Biology [Internet]. 2021 Jun 10;10(6):515. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230380/
- Symons IK, Bruce L, Main LC. Impact of Overtraining on Cognitive Function in Endurance Athletes: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine - Open [Internet]. 2023 Aug 8;9(1):69. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37552398/
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