The Essential Ingredient: Rest
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In order to have muscles, you need to rest!
Interesting! Still a contradictory fact, right? Looks like we have been told that we can grow muscles only through hard workout.
That is partially true, but as in everything, there is a fine line between working out and making your body suffer.
Whether you are just trying to make workouts a part of your life, or you are already a gym fanatic, you should consider recovery an essential part of your healthy lifestyle.
We are giving you 3 reasons why you should rest.
- Rest prevents injury
On an intuitive level, we know that the resting is beneficial for injury reduction, but why is that true? One of the numerous reasons is preventing overuse. If you are a regular runner, you probably know your limits and the point where your legs and feet can take until you need a day off. On the other side, you should be very careful when starting and setting your limits. It’s better to take baby steps than to go for all or nothing.
- Your muscles need rest
What happens to our bodies when we lift weight? Basically, you’re tearing muscle fibers. But without a proper period of rest for your immune system to repair and grow the muscle, you’re not going to get the benefit of your training. That’s why you need to vary the muscle groups you engage on staggered days. Rest days allow your muscles, nerves, bones, and connective tissue time to rebuild.
- Overtraining affects sleep
Have you ever wondered why you can’t sleep during some nights? Is it because of the full moon? Maybe you consumed caffeine too late? Did it ever occur to you that all those physical activities put you in a constant state of restlessness? The telltale sign is an increase in your resting heart rate. Taking those rest days off can help bring down your alertness and heart rate, which can help you get a night of sound sleep.
There are some of you who are going to be afraid that all of the hard work they put into workouts is going to dip during rest days. Don't worry. You are not going to fall off track and regain all those little things you were trying to get rid of. Your body needs almost two weeks of inactivity before you start losing a noticeable amount of your progress or performance level. So, don't be afraid. A day or two off won’t make a step backwards in your workout routine.
