Is It Time For A Rest Day? Use This Simple Checklist To Find Out...

Is it time for a rest day? Use this simple checklist to find out...

We’ve all been there - it’s a training day and after work you planned to go to the gym, but all day it’s hanging over you like a dark rain cloud. You’ve had a really long day, you are stressed, tired and hungry, maybe even sore from your previous session. Every fibre in your body is telling you to take a rest day and not train.

You spend the entire day mentally battling between just going and getting it done (you just know you will feel better afterwards) to you should rest, nurture and listen to your body. At lunchtime you log onto social media and see your favourite life coach telling you how they are honouring themselves with some meditation or a gentle walk along the beach - your mind's made up and you think ‘hell yes I need to rest it’s what my body is telling me it needs - I MUST listen to it!’. But later that day you log back in and suddenly are confronted by your favourite fitspo’s on their second session of the day and change your mind, decide to push through and train...it’s a mental workout in itself let alone a physical one and you haven’t even stepped foot inside a gym yet!

But were you really better off for it? It’s a controversial topic. We are forever getting mixed messages on social media telling us either:

‘Sleep is for the weak’
‘Great things only come to those that hustle’
‘Don’t make excuses of why you can’t get it done’

‘Slow down and tune in’
‘More life, less rush’
‘Relax, recharge and refresh’

No wonder we are left conflicted and confused when push comes to shove and it’s decision time!

So to help ease that weary mind I’ve put together a simple checklist to help you decide whether indeed a rest day is the best thing for you, or in fact you should drag yourself to the gym!

To start with I want to start by asking you a question; which camp do you fall into out of these two?

Novice - Experienced Gym Goer ≤ 5 sessions per week of exercise
Experienced Gym Goer - Professional Athlete ≥ 5 Sessions per week of exercise

I’m going to hazard a guess that the majority fall into category one. You train a few times a week, have been going to the gym or doing classes for a while and consider it a hobby which helps you stay fit and healthy.

And if this sounds like you then the answer 9 times out of 10 about whether you should still exercise when your body is telling you not to? You guessed it; you should be training!

Why?

It’s pretty simple stuff, we all know how good exercise is for us but unfortunately the message got lost along the line with conflicting messages telling us that when we are stressed the last thing we should be doing is adding more stress on the body through exercise. This view basically gives us a get out of jail free card when we have had a stressful day or week to run home, eat a block of chocolate or drink a glass of wine.

But the truth is that putting physical stress on the body through exercise actually helps relieve mental stress. In a recent podcast by Dan Garner (12 Evidence Based Tips To Lower Anxiety and Stress) he discusses how exercise actually lowers our stress hormones in both the short term and the long term:

Short Term exercise helps lower our stress hormones (cortisol for example) and release endorphins (the chemicals which act as natural painkillers and help improve our mood)

Longer term, exercise helps relieve physical stress by allowing us to metabolise stress hormones more efficiently, and these benefits are actually strongest when you exercise regularly!

So if we partake in exercise regularly it will not only help lower stress hormones but longer term will help us metabolise them better; a win win situation!

But what if you fall into category 2; you train nearly every day or twice a day? Most athletes in this case will perform mini audits on themselves to determine whether or not they should indeed train or take a rest day so as not to compromise health or performance:

Have your muscles felt sore persistently for more than a few days?
Are you or do you feel run down or as if you are getting sick?
Have you felt low in energy for more than a few days?
Have you noticed your mood change (moody/sad/depressed) and been that way for more than a few days?
Is your heart rate abnormal? (e.g. too high or too low)
Is your urine dark? (dehydrated)
Have you felt unmotivated to train for more than a few days?
Has your appetite changed? (less hungry, sugar cravings, craving caffeine before you train)
Have you been experiencing more than average disturbed sleep patterns?

If you answered yes to 5 or more of these it’s would be time to take a rest day and give yourself a break.

For these type of people rest days are just as important as the training itself, don’t forget when you train your body it doesn’t automatically get ‘stronger’ or ‘leaner’... that magic happens away from the gym when it’s resting and rebuilding itself from the session. So if you overtrain you deprive your body of the time and space it needs to heal; resulting in one or more of the above symptoms.

But it’s actually pretty hard to over train, so don’t get caught up using an athlete's methodology when you are in fact a regular gym goer. Even when athletes take ‘rest’ it is usually active; swimming, yoga, walking etc - very occasionally would they just slump on the sofa and feel sorry for themselves!

Not moving is very rarely the answer. And if you are feeling considerably tired or run down? It may be time to address lifestyle factors which may not be giving your body sufficient time and space needed to recover.

And in the short term it’s fine to decrease workload (less sets or reps or less time training in total) but not ok to stop moving completely (unless of course you are riddled with the flu or similar!).

Exercise will help you sleep better, and promote mental wellbeing; just find something you love and enjoy and hopefully those ‘I don’t want to exercise days’ will become less and less.

Happy Training!

Kylie

xoxo