What To Do on Your Rest Days

Rest days are critical for fitness your success. Yet, making time to rest can be hard. Maybe you’re worried taking a day off will slow your progress towards your goals. Any workout creates microscopic tears to your muscles and rest days allow these muscles to heal.

Unfortunately, leaving rest days out of the equation can lead to a wide variety of setbacks, including:

• Burnout: If you get sick of what you’re doing because you haven’t had taken a day off, you’re more likely to stop altogether.

• Overtraining: This can result in illness, mental, muscular, and hormonal imbalances.

• Injuries: Without rest, your muscles become tired faster. When you’re fatigued, you’re more likely to fall out of form during exercise, which often leads to injuries.

There’s good news. Rest days don’t mean you have to—or should—sit on the couch all day. You can have a productive rest day or an active rest day.

Active rest days also speed up the delivery of nutrients to the muscles that are being repaired by increasing blood flow through your body. According to ACE Pro Jonathan Ross, “Circulation brings nutrients to the tissues, nutrients speed up recovery, and circulation is enhanced by movement,” 

The key to making your rest days productive is to choose exercises that boost your heart rate and relieve your muscles, but don’t drive you to total fatigue. Here are a few ways to do exactly that on your next active rest day.

Go Low-impact

The best way to stay productive without going overboard on rest days is to focus on activities that are low-impact. Here are a few low-impact exercises to try:

• Take a walk—long, short, around the block, whatever works for your schedule.

• Go swimming. Swimming gets your heart pumping with no impact. it’s great for thorough circulation in the body. Check out this swim club in Abuja

• Take a bike ride. Bike around your neighborhood or town or estate, or ride on a stationary bike.

• Use the rowing machine. Most gyms have a rowing machine. Ask a trainer how to use it if you’ve never rowed before to ensure you’re using proper form.

• Hop on the elliptical. Head to your gym for a slow, short-and-steady elliptical session.

Choose an Activity That Boosts Mental Health

Another way to make the most of your rest day is to use the time to focus on activities that offer mental health benefits. The following types of movement are especially beneficial for your mental health:

• Yoga: If you don’t have a membership, test out a few studios—most offer a free first week, so you can enjoy classes without the cost.

• Hike: Time outside has been shown to boost mood, focus, and self-esteem. We have several mountain trails in the city, find the nearest nature trail.

• Canoe/kayak: You get much-needed fresh air and time to work your upper body. giving you much-needed time outside. Click for our local Kayak place in Abuja

• Meditation: Meditation, just like yoga helps you link your body and your mind and adds a whole new level of recovery.

• Dance: When you dance, you can let your body be free—while staying active. Dance at home or with friends, or find a local dance studio in Abuja to take classes.

Do Foam Rolling

Foam Rolling which is a type of Self-Myofascial Release (SMR), is a great way to have a productive rest day. Deb Preachuk, a Corrective Exercise Specialist, explains the benefits:

• Relaxes the muscles, which eliminates tension and relieves aches and pains

• Reduces soreness and improves tissue recovery

• Improves range of motion

• Improved flexibility of muscles

Ultimately, foam rolling can also help your body recover faster and more efficiently. The best part is that it’s easy to do. To perform foam rolling you can use a traditional foam roller, tennis ball, or rolling stick along with the following techniques, recommended by ACE Master Trainer Jonathan Ross:

• Roll and hold: Roll along the length of your muscle, stopping to hold on a tender spot for 20 seconds; let the muscle relax into the roller.

• Pin and move: Roll to a pressure point and move the accompanying joint.

• Cross-fiber: Roll perpendicular to the direction of the muscle tissue.

Stay Active and Rest

Did we mention sleep? Sleep is when your body really heals and repairs itself. If you do all of the above without adequate sleep you are bound to exeperience burnout sooner or later. So get the zzzzz.

A productive rest day provides your body with a wide variety of benefits, including faster recovery, greater range of motion, improved mood, and more.
Use these tips to have an active recovery day, allowing you to make time for rest while reaching your fitness goals.