Can someone demystify "rest" (from exercise) for me?
Solved
So I’ve looked and looked online, and the only answers I can find are "Yes, you should rest." and "Sundays are the best rest days." This really isn’t a huge help to me. I know rest is important. What I need to know is how to do it and how much of it I need.
For example, when I was playing soccer in college, it wasn’t unusual for us to have 2 practices a day, 6 days a week in the preseason, pretty much working the same muscles every day. Now, as a runner, most aggressive running plans include some form of running nearly every day of the week.
I know that in weight/resistance training, I should put a day of rest between training days of the same muscle group. But what if, for example, I get offered a pickup game of basketball after a day of upper body work? Or lower body work, for that matter? Or what if I want to hit a full body weight workout on Monday, hit the pool for a few laps on Tuesday, then weights again on Wednesday?
It just feels like if I seriously have to rest a full day between each exercise session, I’ll be resting most of my life away. Please help!
PS…I’ll ask that "alternate your days" and "yes, you should rest" be left out of the answers. What I’m looking for is specifically how long to rest and what constitutes "rest". Thanks for your help!
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Tags: Exercise
1 response so far ↓
1 cassnate //
Hi,
Please take my advice with a grain of salt, because I am no expert… but I think that the ‘rest’ concept is mainly oriented toward intensive weight training. In my opinion, I don’t think that you would be hurting yourself to play sports or go in the pool the same day or next day as a weight training day because you are using your muscles very differently than when you are doing the intense weight training.
I would simply avoid doing the weight training on the same muscle groups on consecutive days. Above all else, listen to your body. You sound like a very physical and active person, so you can probably afford to do a lot of activities as long as your body isn’t telling you that you’re over-doing it.
Lastly, as I’m sure you know, be sure to eat a lot of nutritious foods. Look how much Michael Phelps eats! haha.. good luck!