Do you need a gym rest day?
YOU felt the burst of energy to exercise on Monday and the drive was still there on Tuesday; however, by the time you approached ‘hump day’– Wednesday — you couldn’t even lift a finger.
How essential is it to rest? According to personal trainer Gisel Harrow, a rest day is very important in any exercise regimen and should not be overlooked.
“It helps in muscle recovery, relaxes the mind, and prevents injuries,” she said.
Harrow explained that exercise, depending on the level of training, can be taxing on the body both physically and mentally, hence the need to rest.
“A person who trains intensely should take a rest day that involves moderate cardio or activities outside of the gym. A person who is a beginner or intermediate should rest after doing two days of training — resting on the third day,” she explained.
But she cautioned that once an individual has started an exercise programme, after eight weeks of consistent training it is advised to take a full week’s rest.
“This helps in preventing overuse of muscles and preventing injuries and gives the body much needed time to repair and recover properly,” Harrow said.
She added that advantages of a rest day vary from preventing injuries, fatigue, exhaustion, to regaining energy levels, while the main disadvantage is loss of interest.
According to track and field coach Julian Robinson, resting aids in the body’s recovery, which is a significant training component.
“Proper recovery accelerates the regeneration between lessons, decreases fatigue, enhances supercompensation, facilitates using heavy loads in training, and can decrease the number and frequency of injuries as fatigue affects co-ordination and concentration, elevates muscle tension and as a result shows the greatest injury potential,” he said.
Robinson added that the recovery quality of each individual is different and depends on age, gender, environmental factors, freedom of movement, type of muscle fibre, type of exercise and energy system, psychological factors, availability and replenishment or micronutrients and even time differences.
With regards to recovery, he said there are varying techniques which include natural ways such as stretching, jogging and sleep, as well as physiotherapy, which may take the form of a massage, thermotherapy, cryotherapy, oxygenotherapy and other forms.
“The massage reduces muscle tension, fatigue and increases blood and lymphatic circulation. Thermotherapy or heat therapy includes saunas, steam baths or heat packs. Cryotherapy or cold therapy brings the reduced pain effect and oxygenotherapy can take the form of yoga and respiratory exercises,” Robinson said.
When it comes to overtraining he said the damage can last up to years as there are different levels of fatigue associated with the act, therefore rest should not be taken lightly.
