When you start your fitness journey, you are filled up with so much enthusiasm that you would not slow down &/or make rest day part of your weekly workout schedule. However, it is important to note that without rest your body will not perform efficiently & your exposure to injury is greatly increased.
During moderate to high intense workout, your body will undergo a lot of stress. Not only your heart work harder to pump blood to the muscles you are concentrating upon, your muscles will build up lactic acid. By putting your body in some sort of stress, you can build up your strength. Daily exercise offers a host of benefits even if it involves only walk.
The biggest mistake fitness freaks do is skip the rest day & continue same intense workout routines. Rest days have the following benefits:
- Allow for muscle recovery: Micro tears is an essential part of muscle building process-as they heal, your muscles become stronger. However, if you do not rest them, these micro tears can cause injuries & lead great deal of inflammation. With proper rest, you can allow your muscles to heal & prevent future injuries.
- Reduce mental fatigue: When you workout, lactic acid build up in your muscles & your muscles will tell the brain that they have become tired. By taking a rest day, you allow lactic acid to dissipate & continue to have intense workout which is not impacted by fatigue brain.
- Rebuild bone density: Bone density also take hit during workout since protein sclerostin can prevent the development of bone mass. With the right amount of rest, you will have less sclerostin & your bones would be able to recover
- Give time to review your workout: Sometimes you are so much into flow of workout that you do not get time to analyze your workout strategy. Taking a day off can help you assess whether your workout schedule is helping you inch closer to your goals or there is a need to rework your exercise schedule.
If your workout schedule does not have an off-day, make sure that you include a rest day.
