how important are rest days?

[ryuten]

hey how important are rest days? I used to do rest days twice a week last year, but then lately I feel like I've wasted a day if i dont' do anything. In the past two weeks, I've had only 1 rest day. Yea, I know it's bad cuz I was feeling so burnt out Sunday that I had to rest on Monday. Should i go back to my usual ways? like having 2 rest days a week? and just putting in 45 minutes of cardio instead of 30 on my workout days?
Is it considerred a rest day if i do 30 minutes of walking or light cycling? I feel like crap if i dont' do anything when i'm in the position to do it.
Also will my results from training be better?

[$AJ]

very

and duh, if you're burnt out then that's a clear sign you should be resting more. atleast 3days/week.

[18inch_GUNZ]

hey how important are rest days? I used to do rest days twice a week last year, but then lately I feel like I've wasted a day if i dont' do anything. In the past two weeks, I've had only 1 rest day. Yea, I know it's bad cuz I was feeling so burnt out Sunday that I had to rest on Monday. Should i go back to my usual ways? like having 2 rest days a week? and just putting in 45 minutes of cardio instead of 30 on my workout days?
Is it considerred a rest day if i do 30 minutes of walking or light cycling? I feel like crap if i dont' do anything when i'm in the position to do it.
Also will my results from training be better?

Ryuten, rest days are absolutely crucial but im sure you knew that already. You only grow bigger OUTSIDE the gym, so make sure u get plenty of sleep and maybe train only every 2nd day like i do. SHould give your joints plenty of rest too if you develop any sprains. HOpe this helps!

[ryuten]

would that count as a rest day if i did 30 minutes of walking/ light biking that?

[$AJ]

you do know rest day doesn't mean to sit on your ass staring at the wall all day to preserve calories, right.

[18inch_GUNZ]

would that count as a rest day if i did 30 minutes of walking/ light biking that?

ryuten, walking for 30mins would be fine as a rest day, just dont go overboard after a legs day

[iron_on_my_mind]

You do all of your growing when you rest and eat.

2 rest days a week is way too little. You'll burn out, and not only that, you'll impede development of muscular bodyweight.

[dsoul27]

would that count as a rest day if i did 30 minutes of walking/ light biking that?

ohh hell no...you can't do anything on a rest day, call off of work and school and stay in the bed..


lol..... a walk or a bike ride is fine on a rest day. don't worry about it

[ryuten]

what really? 2 rests day per week is too little? i can do 3, but 4 days of training a week just seems pretty weak to me. u think i'd lose more weight resting 3 days a week than working out more often? I'm at ~26.4% bodyfat and i totally wanna get below 25% cuz that makes me no longer in the obese category.
what exactly makes a rest day a rest day? how much physical activity is allowed?

[xenithon]

Especially in your situation I would suggest 3 training (weight days) a week is plenty. What I would suggest is 3x weights (M/W/F), 3x light cardio (Tu, Th, Sa), 1x off completely (S).

[X-Zit]

If you feel that you "have" to hit up the gym everyday, go ahead and do so--just don't target the muscles--let them rest, its important to do so.
But you could do cardio or w/e--sure, thats not a problem



pz

[jmonty]

i find that 1 day of rest after 3 days of working out is a good amount of rest. with a 4 day split it seems to keep my body recovered just fine.

[AbMasterD]

withouth rest your CNS will take a beating and u will eventually feel it and then burnt out

injury is more possible when u dont take many rest days

2-3 rest days per week is optimal if ur looking at building mass

[darklight79]

hey how important are rest days? I used to do rest days twice a week last year, but then lately I feel like I've wasted a day if i dont' do anything. In the past two weeks, I've had only 1 rest day. Yea, I know it's bad cuz I was feeling so burnt out Sunday that I had to rest on Monday. Should i go back to my usual ways? like having 2 rest days a week? and just putting in 45 minutes of cardio instead of 30 on my workout days?
Is it considerred a rest day if i do 30 minutes of walking or light cycling? I feel like crap if i dont' do anything when i'm in the position to do it.
Also will my results from training be better?

Very important for systematic recovery. I never train on consecutive days. I go Like Sun, Tues, Thurs, repeat.
Imagine doing back after your squat day without a rest day in between. Tried it and my lifts were submaximal.

[xenithon]

The question of what actually constitutes a rest day though is still up in the air. I asked a number of times in previous threads without much consensus.

Some say rest days should be totally off. Day's to relax, watch grass grown, or paint dry etc. Others say rest days simply mean not hitting weights, and thus light cardio is fine.

If the latter however, should any rest day during the week be truly TOTALLY off, without any cardio?

[JOHN GARGANI]

what's a rest day??? LOL.....working 10 hour days in my office sure aren't....

a typical "rest" day for me is 8 to 10 hours out fishing.......

Ryuten: the walking is just fine!!! Rest days should not be confused with couch potato days....hours, maybe, but it should never be days unless you are ill..........

"REST" in bodybuilding is refraining from very high intensity work, that we should be doing on all our workouts.....with that in mind, why shouldn't you do a light cardio session on your "off" days.......

you could be very "active" on your off days and still be resting from high intensity work.......

[Travis04]

I've always felt that an "off" day is just a day were I don't go to the gym to lift weights...I usaully do 3-4 cardio sessions a week w/ 30-40 sessions around 3 miles w/ a 6-7 incline. The only time I don't do either is if it's a Saturday and I have to work like an eight hour shift (but I work in a wearhouse so I do lift there). The only days that I do no cardio or weightlifting is when I'm out of town on a vacation/trip or it's a holiday....

[Nainoa]

hey how important are rest days? I used to do rest days twice a week last year, but then lately I feel like I've wasted a day if i dont' do anything. In the past two weeks, I've had only 1 rest day. Yea, I know it's bad cuz I was feeling so burnt out Sunday that I had to rest on Monday. Should i go back to my usual ways? like having 2 rest days a week? and just putting in 45 minutes of cardio instead of 30 on my workout days?
Is it considerred a rest day if i do 30 minutes of walking or light cycling? I feel like crap if i dont' do anything when i'm in the position to do it.
Also will my results from training be better?

Rest days are to BBing like, having Testicles is to getting a woman pregnant... Without them, you're just shooting blanks!

I lift 3 days, light Cardio 3 days, and total rest for 2... Which means that I have one day that's an ass buster with Lifting followed by Cardio...
I just make sure that day isn't leg day!

[xenithon]

Hey Nainoa. Haven't seen you for a while. Wanted to post a question regarding Osteolysis but was waiting for you to emerge again as you seem to be the most knowledgeable on the topic

"lift 3 days, light Cardio 3 days, and total rest for 2"

3+3+2=7? Or do you work on an 8 day schedule?

[dodigago]

right now im doing 4 days on - 1 off

do you guys think I would get better results if I just do 4 days a week?

[AbMasterD]

it really depends on your body, if you are making good gains now with a 4-1 split then continue with it. when u plateau then try by adding 1 more rest day.

btw if u are not feeling rested after ur rest day then u should add more b4 you burn out

[Nainoa]

Hey Nainoa. Haven't seen you for a while. Wanted to post a question regarding Osteolysis but was waiting for you to emerge again as you seem to be the most knowledgeable on the topic

"lift 3 days, light Cardio 3 days, and total rest for 2"

3+3+2=7? Or do you work on an 8 day schedule?

When I tore my shoulder it was too heart breaking to hangout in the exercise sections, hard to talk passionately about BBing while you're slowly atrophying away 10-12 pounds of lean upperbody mass...

So I've been spending my time hanging out in the Misc sections with my rathscallion brothers down there!

But in Late August I started my comeback from the 3rd degree AC tear, so as I've been making more and more progress on the comeback trail I've been coming back up here to the Exercise sections, and try to share some of what I've learned...

I feel a bit like Odysseus lost at sea for ten years now returned to Ithica as a changed man... (Let's skip the Penelope part of that metaphor, shall we?)


Post it up and I'll give it a whack!

(Per the 8 Day lifting... Re-read the post... The answer is in the following sentence.)

[-Moores Gym-]

Rest days are CRUCIAL! don't let anyone tell you otherwise, ever!

[$AJ]

Rest days are CRUCIAL! don't let anyone tell you otherwise, ever!

yea, kkick those tpyes of people in the groin so they don't reproduce

[Dominik]

Rest days are CRUCIAL! don't let anyone tell you otherwise, ever!

Go tell that to Hola Bola. I think he trains 6 days a week and the results speak for themselves. I've found I get the best results training around 3-4 days a week, with short concentrated loading periods of up to 5 days a week.

How many rest days you take a week really comes down to your training style. Some of the HIT guys train only once a week. Count the rest days. Then you've got elite athletes who follow a carefully periodized training plan, use proper recovery techniques (stretching, massage, etc.) and train 6 days a week, sometimes all day.

The conclusion I reached is if your training is not using some form of periodization to vary the training load (intensity/volume/frequency), essentially if you just go in, blast away for an hour trying to lift more every week, going to failure every set, etc., then rest days will be critically important since there is no method to the madness. But despite what a lot of people seem to believe, that's not the only way to train.

[dodigago]

so 4 times a week is better than 4/5 days?

[$AJ]

so 4 times a week is better than 4/5 days?

depends on 10001 other factors. if, for example, you spend 5days in the gym and 20minutes a day, that's a hella lot better than 4days for 90minutes each day.

[Lavinco]

withouth rest your CNS will take a beating and u will eventually feel it and then burnt out

injury is more possible when u dont take many rest days

2-3 rest days per week is optimal if ur looking at building mass

it takes 24 hours for the Central Nervous System to recover. This is why many smart BB's lift M, W, F and do light cardio or abs on Tu, Th, and take sat and sun off.

[dodigago]

depends on 10001 other factors. if, for example, you spend 5days in the gym and 20minutes a day, that's a hella lot better than 4days for 90minutes each day.

I usually do 1 hour a day for 4/5 days now..

[SFT]

hey how important are rest days? I used to do rest days twice a week last year, but then lately I feel like I've wasted a day if i dont' do anything. In the past two weeks, I've had only 1 rest day. Yea, I know it's bad cuz I was feeling so burnt out Sunday that I had to rest on Monday. Should i go back to my usual ways? like having 2 rest days a week? and just putting in 45 minutes of cardio instead of 30 on my workout days?
Is it considerred a rest day if i do 30 minutes of walking or light cycling? I feel like crap if i dont' do anything when i'm in the position to do it.
Also will my results from training be better?

I'd say as a natural lifter going 3-4 days a week with 3-4 days of rest would be best. Just work your ass off for those days. On the rest days you can still do cardio and work like that.