Why Take a Rest Day?
Working out is an important part of any healthy lifestyle, but it’s important for your Central Nervous System, muscle, and joints to have rest on occasion. That’s why taking a rest day once or twice a week is so beneficial for your body and mental well-being. If you’re into Crossfit, then it’s essential that you take a rest day once or twice every week. I recommend one “active recovery” day per week, and one day of complete rest! Typically, I schedule my clients active recovery days on Thursday each week and their complete rest days on Sunday. If you are unsure of what an Active Recovery day is and what it entails, you can check my YouTube video out about it here.
Take a Break, You Deserve It! Your body needs time to recover.
Crossfit is intense and can be very demanding on the body. It will challenge your muscles and put stress on your joints. If you don't give yourself time to recover between workouts, you could end up overtraining or even injuring yourself. Taking a rest day gives your body the chance to repair itself and prepare for the next workout session. Plus, giving yourself a break from exercise can help keep you motivated. When you take time off from working out, it gives you something to look forward to when you come back to the gym. You'll be able to appreciate all the hard work you've been doing as well as have a renewed sense of motivation when starting up again after your rest day.
Taking regular rest days helps keep things fresh and prevents burnout in both mind and body. Plus, with more free time during your rest days comes more room for other activities such as going for walks or seeing friends - activities that will benefit both your mental health and overall wellbeing! Sometimes it can be very hard to force yourself to rest, because you may feel guilt or FOMO. However, just know that you are doing what’s right despite what it feels like or what others tell you. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel guilty about your rest days!
So, how do you take a rest day? What does that mean? This will actually look different for everyone! If you’re just starting to workout, resting can look like lounging around the house and maybe walking the dog and going shopping. If you are someone who just can’t seem to sit still, this may look like a bike ride in the morning and a long walk in the afternoon followed by playing with your dogs at the dog park. You don’t have to completely stop doing activities you love on this day, but you should focus on fun activities outside of the gym that you enjoy doing, whether they be active or not!
Taking at least one rest day and one active recovery day per week isn't just recommended - it's essential if you want to stay healthy while doing Crossfit! Not only does it give your body time to recover from the physical demands of the sport, but also provides valuable mental health benefits too! So make sure that when planning out your workout schedule for the week that you include at least one or two days off - trust us, your body will thank you for it!
If you have any questions about rest days or active recovery days, please feel free to comment here and I’ll answer your questions right away!
