Rest Day...Best Day

Today I'm taking a Rest Day from my usual active workouts and sports activities. This is a good thing, and here's why.....

#1. Your body becomes stronger when it's allowed to rest. When you do strenuous exercise, you actually are breaking down your body and breaking down muscle fibers. It's during rest periods, sleep and days off from workouts, that the repair and rebuilding process occurs. And when the body rebuilds itself, it becomes stronger.

#2. Taking a break from the rigors of workouts, can help to renew you, mentally. When you get back to your workouts the next day, you come back with renewed interest. In other words, taking periodic rest days will help you to avoid mentally burning out.

#3. As you age, your body typically needs more recovery time. When you are 25 years old, you might feel great with only taking one day off per week. When you're 50, you will probably feel better with 2 days off per week, or with one day completely off and one day of a very easy workout. Everyone is different, but generally, this is the direction we tend to go in.

My suggestion for how to include rest and recovery periods into your schedule, is to include one or two rest days per week (depending on how strenuous your workouts are, and on how your body feels). Think of these as "active" rest days, and go for an easy hike or a leisurely bike ride down at the beach.

It's also a good idea, every 8 weeks or so, to take an "easy week." Keep up with your workouts and activities, but do them at 50% of your normal intensity.

Well, that's all for today. I'm off to walk the dogs and do a few errands. Maybe I'll take a nice walk down at the beach later today. It's so beautiful out after the rain!