When was the last time you took a rest day? A day without exercise where you simply let your body catch up on rebuilding all of the muscle that you’ve been breaking down in your workouts and simply let it rest? If you had to pause and think about it for longer than a few seconds, it’s probably been too long. Tomorrow, take a rest day.
Rest Day
I know you have plans for tomorrow’s workout, and the workout for the day after that…and the day and days after that. But you need to rest. You, the one who thinks that the more exercise you do, the more weight you’ll lose and the more muscle you’ll build. You, who more than likely, needs a day of soul rest as much as physical rest. You. Tomorrow, take a rest day.
Your body wasn’t meant to go full steam ahead for days on end. It wasn’t meant to continually push with workouts and stretching and runs. Unless you’re a professional athlete, an Olympian, or training for a bodybuilding competition, tomorrow, take a rest day.
Did you know that you build muscle after your workout, not during it? Did you know that the muscle is build as it heals and repairs itself from the tiny tears you put in it during your weight lifting session? Why do you think the recommendation not to train the same body parts two days in a row is there? If you don’t give yourself time to rest and heal, you won’t gain muscle – you’ll just put yourself at risk for injury. Tomorrow, take a rest day.
You feel guilty about it, I know. You worry that if you take a rest day that you’ll have trouble committing to the next day. You’ll get up two mornings from now and you’ll somehow convince yourself that you need two rest days. And then three and four. You can see all of the progress you’ve made vanishing before your eyes and you haven’t even taken a rest day yet. But tomorrow, take a rest day.
Because here’s what’s going to happen if you’re pushing yourself too much and continuing to exercise every single day without a break – you’re going to get injured. You’re going to strain or pull something and you’re not going to be able to exercise at all. If you think mustering up motivation to exercise the day after one rest day is tough, try mustering up the motivation after you’ve been unable to exercise for a few weeks or months. Tomorrow, just take a rest day.
Instead of seeing it as letting yourself off easy or slacking off, see it as an integral part of your exercise routine. See it as just as important as leg day or upper body day. See it as as much needed as a sweaty cardio session. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to have an option to rest – you’ll have to, because you have no choice. Tomorrow, your schedule needs to say “Rest Day.”
Take care of yourself, friend. Take care of that amazing home on Earth called your body and give it time to relax and heal. Take a rest day and feel no guilt. Your body needs it. Tomorrow, take that rest day.