Gotta love rest days.

You are welcome, I shaved my arm pits just for you.

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After my injury I have learned that rest days are just as important for your training and increasing your fitness as tough workouts are.  If you just go go go and never take the time to let your body repair itself, you end up injured, mentally burned out or not allowing your body to reach it’s full potential.

I no longer try to sneak in a small workout or call just a few miles a rest day…..to me it is full on rest with a couple of walking trips to the refrigerator!

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What do you think about rest days?

 

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25 comments

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I am guilty of sneaking in a yoga class on a rest day….but is it not part of repairing your body stretching sore muscles? Gee I hope so….and if yoga does not count as a rest day well……I only go 60% of the time anyways!

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LOVE rest days. I love to eat my favorite foods. Watch a movie I have been just itching to see. Take the pup on an EASY walk and just enjoy RESTING. YAY!

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Rest days are perhaps one my favorite days when I’m in heavy training! I look forward to them and I savor them fully!! :) Sweet Sleeping Janae. Did you get my message about our cookies tonight. We made your cookies AGAIN and before we made them them my husband said “hurry up and quit facebooking and look up that sexy runner girl’s cookies!” ha ha. I said “It’s Hungry Runner Girl!” ha! :)

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what? I just left a comment and now it is gone!! :( booo.

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okay, nevermind, it is back…maybe my computer is just playing tricks with me. Or I just feel like giving you extra comment love tonight since you don’t get enough comments these days! Good grief! :)

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Rest days are the jam! I agree I don’t even let myself go for a walk, which I used to do. Why are runners so crazy?!

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Rest days are sooooo important! I think I maybe take a few more than needed sometimes but I’d rather do that than injure myself :) In my old job I ended up in hospital with stress from basically not having a day off for about 6 months hence a kinda wake up call to the fact that rest is important!

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I love rest days and I NEED them so much.

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Ahhh, rest days…. I do look forward to those. I plan mine on Friday’s when I am just burned out from the work week and it allows me to hang out with friends or grab dinner out at a fun restaurant. Rest days are much needed or else we might go insane!!

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I’m learning to love rest days… I used to be scared that taking a day or two off each week would undo all of my training… now I know that pushing myself is far more likely to be harmful than rest ever will be.

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LOVE rest days!!! By the end of the week, I definitely need one so that I don’t get burned out!

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I have been embracing the rest day. Not just b/c by the time I get to a rest day I am more than ready, but because I now know how much resting is fueling my body for another week of workouts.

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I LOVE my rest days :) Although I’m a waitress on the weekends so I don’t usually make it to the gym.. I don’t know if walking around a restaurant for 5-7 hours at a time is rest, but I try to make it work!

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Totally necessary, for both mind and body. The most I’ll do on a rest day to still be able to CALL it a rest day is walk or stretch.

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rest days rule. rest weeks at the beach are better :) thanks for the guest post!! It’s up today!!

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I am just as you were before. I used to classify rest days of an hour of cross training. I have gotten a lot better and take rest days (legitly) now. They are the bomb.com.

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I think I need to learn to take more! I tend to only take them when I’ve already crashed and I am so the one to try to “sneak” a little workout or count my easier workouts as rest days.

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I love them too. When I started really training for a race I finally appreciated rest days. When I am just working out with no goal, sometimes I forget to rest or don’t like to as much. But it’s so important, and gives you time to just breathe :)

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I used to be AWFUL about rest days – I would always add in a hot yoga class, swimming laps, running, etc and call it an “active” rest day. However, it seemed like it was really a cross-training day! Since I started INSANITY, I have decided to truly take a rest day. My body has thanked me, and I know it helps in preventing injury and burnout. I may still be active on rest days (taking the dogs on a leisurely stroll), but it is definitely not a workout. I am always tempted to do a workout on my rest day, and when that happens I remind myself how important it is to relax, breathe, and do something other than work out. Time with my husband, getting some sun by the pool, cooking, reading, eating dinner with my family, etc are all ways to enjoy a good rest day!

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I love them, I try to have at least one a week, if not two :)

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I love rest days! And, my runs on the days after rest days usually feel great, so I know they must be important.

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Rest days are pretty much rest days… the only thing I usually do on a rest day is maybe some yoga or light walking, which is a pretty legit rest day I think.

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I agree, rest days mean doing absolutely NOTHING. I don’t even shave on those days, so you’ve done more than I have :-)

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I struggle. Big time.

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I used to get all crazy about rest days. If I took them I didn’t think I was “allowed” to eat because I wasn’t burning any extra calories. I have learned to embrace them a lot more now and eat like a 300-pound man on those days. Sometimes you just need to re-energize with some much needed sleep and delicious treats. It will just make you stronger and faster for the next day! :)

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