Why Rest is Important

Why Rest Is Important

These days when setting health and fitness goals people get so caught up in being active all the time that they forget to actually take time and let their mind and bodies recover. Counting steps, burning calories and how many minutes you’ve been active are all very popular ways of keeping a record of your ‘active time’ thanks to smart watches such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit. Now I am not saying at all that you shouldn’t use these if you want- I have an Apple watch that I wear every day. I am simply saying that you don’t need to get too caught up on being too active just to try and beat your last step count or do a full week of workouts just to get that lovely little badge. Rest and recovery is just as important in your active lifestyle as training is.

Your Muscles Need Rest

When you lift weights, you’re essentially tearing muscle fibers. Without a proper period of rest for your muscles and body to repair and grow the muscle, you’re not going to get the benefit of your training. This is why it is advised to work different muscle groups each day when weight training.

You're Performance Won't be Affected

So many people are worried that if they miss even one day of training their muscles will deflate or they won’t be able to ‘keep up’. To put it straight- this will never happen! It takes our bodies around 2 weeks for any noticeable amounts of changes to happen to our bodies and progress. Please don’t worry about taking one or two days off if you feel like you need it.

Over-Training Affects Sleep

Sleep is part of our recovery time and is also very important when thinking about rest and recovery. Training too much can put the body in a state of restlessness which can make a good night’s sleep tough to achieve. A good sleep pattern will help you be energised and consistent on your most active days.

Enjoying Exercise

Sometimes we get that feeling that we just can’t be bothered at all with any exercise. It happens to the best of us but should it be?! Having rest days will help stop us from ‘burning out’ and being too mentally exhausted to exercise. Mental state plays a huge part in our wellbeing and training so I recommend putting as much thought into your rest days and planning them as you do your workout days.

Preventing Injury

Symptoms of overtraining occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining can include feeling depressed, staleness, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury, amongst others. It’s common knowledge and hopefully common sense to know that resting will reduce the risk of injury. You know yourself when your body needs some rest so don’t ignore it. Put simply- if you overuse your joints and muscles without a break there will be a higher risk of injury than if you listened to your body and let it recover.

So guys, the moral of the story?! Make sure you take time to rest and recover when your body needs it!

Amie xx

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ABOUT ME

THE GIRL BEHIND FITNESS FORSTER

My name is Amie and I am the face behind Fitness Forster.
I am a freelance recipe developer, content creator and qualified personal trainer. I developed this website to share my passion for healthy recipes, fitness and travel.