Why you need rest days

	You've finally got your mind into GO mode. You're mentally prepared to get into a clean diet plan and you're also working out hard in the gym, you're even getting up early to do cardio!  You've got yourself in the zone now where you just want or more likely HAVE to do some cardio or workout because you feel guilty if you don't.  But hold your horses!  too much of a good thing can be bad for you.
I know its ironic me telling you to slow down on your exercise regime, especially when I recommend you do more exercise so you can lose weight, afterall the more regularly we workout the more calories and fat we burn. So it probably sounds strange for me to discuss the importance of gaining plenty of rest between exercise sessions especially when you want to go go go.  But here goes!

This is quite a good explanation of what occurs during exercise from weightlossforall.com " When we exercise our muscles breakdown, tiny fragments of protein within the muscle cells shatter. The more we exercise during a workout the greater the muscle catabolism (degradation); it's one of the reasons why we actually become weaker as we progress through a particular routine. How quickly muscles degrade also depends on the strength of the individual and the intensity of the exercise. Obviously the stronger and fitter the person the slower the rate of breakdown, also the more effort we put into an exercise the faster the rate of muscle catabolism.
	After any workout routine the muscles need to replace all elements lost, both proteins and energy stores need replacing for muscles to make a full recovery. But if muscles are not given enough time to recover fully before another workout is repeated then the muscles progressively become smaller.
What this could mean for weight loss is a gradual decline in lean tissue, therefore lowering the metabolism over the course of a few weeks. A lowered metabolism could be disastrous for a dieter because less calories are burned overall, meaning they must either lower calorie intake even further (not always recommended) or burn more energy through more exercise which will only exasperate the problem. This can be another cause for the common weight loss plateau for those who do exercise regularly."

* make sure you try and get at least a day's rest between hard workouts.  If you have done a workout but didn't feel any soreness, don't do that body part again the next day!  its not going to help that muscle group grow any faster.  Instead work that muscle harder and more intensely next time so that you do work it and feel sore.
	* Listen to your trainer and stick to the programme.  I know you might think you will get a gold star for putting in an extra cardio session or extra leg session on your rest day but this won't help you to recover in the long run.  Rest days are there for a reason, rest.  If you don't rest and recover properly you might not have enough energy to put into your hard workout the next day.  Further still, you might not be able to work out at all because you're overtrained.  Get the point?  if its not on the plan don't do it.
* Eat all your meals.  Even if you don't feel you're hungry, don't skip meals, it will catch up on you and you're more likely to pig out. * Get plenty of sleep

If you're pushing yourself hard enough, you're going to look forward to the rest and when rest days come you won't want to do anything!  So make sure you give it all when you do train.  At the same time make sure you listen to your body and don't exhaust it. Daily exercise is fine, so long as your body can recover sufficiently quickly. The body uses rest days to build and repair muscle tissue, which decreases the risk of injury, so days off can be just as important as days on!

Sleep on it!!
Lisa, Go Figure
16 March 09