DO YOU STRUGGLE TAKING REST DAYS?

Have you ever heard or do you say yourself "no days off or " rest days are for lazy people" ?
While training hard in the gym is something I believe in its really important to understand that you are really doing yourself a disservice by not utilising rest days.
If using the terminology Rest Day just freaks you out try to adopt the thinking of a GROWTH DAY..
You see, we all need to understand that the magic doesn’t happen in the gym. The magic happens out of the gym. The magic happens when you REST aka...SLEEP and when you have slow non intense days and take it easy. You can only train as hard as you recover. If you train hard and are sore, your performance the next day isn't going to be at optimal level. If you train hard enough the days you do attend the gym than you shouldn't be able to get to the gym everyday. More isn't always better. Being better each session is more valuable. Rest days aren't optional if you want optimal results, They're apart of the plan and we must ALWAYS stick to the plan!.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND REST/ GROWTH DAYS

When we workout our muscles are broken down during said workout. When challenged enough you become weaker as you are exerting yourself to the point of the muscle tearing. They than will start to grow back stronger 24-48 hours later. Hence why it DOESN’T benefit us to train the same muscles everyday. If we do, we aren’t giving them a chance to comeback stronger. Our body requires energy/ calories in order for those muscles to grow back bigger and stronger this is why having full rest days without exerting energy will ensure our muscles are growing (hyperthrophy).

WHAT SHOULD YOUR REST DAY NUTRITION LOOK LIKE?

It’s important that we remember the equation 80/20 here. 80% of our results come from our Nutrition and Diet habits. 20% come from our training habits and program. Swap that around on your rest day which a lot of people do because they think it’s a CHEAT DAY, and you have a recipe for putting yourself backwards in your journey.

Your nutrition if anything should be the same. If your nutritional literacy** is low (have little understanding) keep it simple with fuelling yourself with foods that make you feel good and energised and focus on portion control. If your nutritional literacy is high (have more understanding) this is where you could change it up and do a lower calorie day IF you feel this suits you as its a NON Training day. This is where active rest days will come in handy.

WHAT IS ACTIVE REST?

Active rest is also a thing I would HIGHLY recommend adding in on your rest days or at least 1-2 of them. This is where you are doing some sort of activity to move your body that is low intensity and not an extra stress on the muscles and body. You are still participating in movement which everyone needs daily but allowing your muscles to recover without any added resistance or load. I personally have found I am less likely to eat poorly when I’m doing some active recovery than when I’m not doing anything deliberately like sitting watching some tru crime doco on Netflix.

My tips for active recovery/rest would be adding in any of the following activities:

1.    Walking

2.    Swimming

3.    Yoga / Meditation

4.    Flexibility / Mobility or Stretching routine

5.    House work / Chores

6.    Playing at park with Kids

7.    Sauna

8.    Float tank

9.    Bike Riding