The Importance of a Rest Day

Rest days are an aspect of training which we maybe don't consider to be "training" - but ask any high performing athlete, and they'll tell you that Rest Days make the difference between hitting a new PB or picking up a new injury.

 REST

verb
verb: rest; 3rd person present: rests; past tense: rested; past participle: rested; gerund or present participle: resting

    cease work or movement in order to relax, sleep, or recover strength.
    "he needed to rest after the feverish activity"
    synonyms:    relax, take a rest, ease up/off, let up, slow down, pause, have/take a break, unbend, repose, laze, idle, loaf, do nothing, take time off, slack off, unwind, recharge one's batteries, be at leisure, take it easy, sit back, sit down, stand down, lounge, luxuriate, loll, slump, flop, put one's feet up, lie down, go to bed, have/take a nap, nap, catnap, doze, have/take a siesta, drowse, sleep;

noun
noun: rest; plural noun: rests; suffix: -rest; suffix: -rests

    an instance or period of resting.ri
    "you look as though you need a rest"

They say that big, multi-stage events (such as the Tour de France) are won in bed - how a team use their rest and recovery time is one of the leading factors in a winning team. How you spend your rest days can vary depending on which stage of your training you're in; if it's a rest day dring the taper before your marathon, odds are, you'll have too much nervous energy to just do nothing. Alternatively, if it's the day's rest in a multi-day event - your stategy will probably involve a lot more rest in that rest day.

Rest days are easier to plan for and to fit into a training plan when you're working towards an event, however if you train all year round, it can seem harder to find the time.

Why take a rest day?

• Prevent overtraining -  working out every day can lead to fatigue which can increase your risk of injury
  
• Prevent tedium - training with the same routine can lose its appeal if you do the same thing every day, rest days work as a mental break from your workout as well as a physical break
  
• Improve recovery - DOMS (delayed onset muscle soresness) can really affect your training, with appropriate rest days built into your routine, you can avoid training on already sore muscles
  
• Improve sleep - whilst you shouldn't spend your entire rest day asleep, taking a day to catch up on some Zzzz's can really help your training and productivity in the following days

We asked the Tribesports community & a selection of personal trainers how they like to spend their days - and from the results, we've pulled out 3 distinctive types of rest day-ers:

1. The life admin rest day: No exercise? Fine. I'll just do my chores instead.

"Rest day = laundry day. FACT."  

Source Jon B / Tribe Sports