Rest Days

[pitbullmamaliz]

What exactly are rest days? Are you not really supposed to do anything, or are you just not supposed to jog, or what? On my rest days I've still been taking long walks (walked a 5K race today), I just haven't been doing my C25K. I read someone's blog today where they said their C25K progress drastically improved when they used a rest day as a true rest day - no long walks, hikes, etc. What are your thoughts?

 

[Bare Lee]

For me, there are rest days where I do something else, and rest days where I do next to nothing. If I run three times a week, for example, I row and do strength training on alternate days, and usually have one complete rest day on the weekend. Giving whatever body part you're working out a full 48 hours to recover is a good way to avoid over-training and injury. Then, once every 2-3 months you might consider taking a whole week off. You'll come back completely refreshed, both physically and mentally.

 

[Last Place Jason]

The purpose of rest days are to allow tissue to heal and give you a chance to assess potential injuries, especially during the transition. I'd take Bare Lee's 48 hour advice. Walking is okay as it's very low impact and works different muscles and tissues.

 

[Bare Lee]

The purpose of rest days are to allow tissue to heal and give you a chance to assess potential injuries, especially during the transition. I'd take Bare Lee's 48 hour advice. Walking is okay as it's very low impact and works different muscles and tissues.

Right, hypertrophy is a response to stress stimulus. Your body needs time to adapt to the stresses you're putting it through. Exercise is kind of like the saying that the difference between medicine and poison lies in the dosage. Exercise is like a small bit of poison with medicinal effect.

I've been following the 48-hour rule ever since I began working out 30 years ago, (although recently I've been experimenting a bit with consecutive running days). I read that somewhere in a Weider book or magazine (Weider is one of the guys who brought science to bodybuilding/strength training in the 70s). Generally speaking, the more anaerobic and/or high-impact the exercise, the greater the need for rest/healing. So to add to what Jason said, in addition to being low impact, walking is very aerobic, so the need for recovery isn't nearly as great, and you're working the leg and foot in a different way. We should probably all walk at least a mile or two every day.

 

[pitbullmamaliz]

Thank you all for the feedback!

 

[pilotrunner]

I try to build in rest days into my marathon training schedule.

In an "increasing mileage" long run week, I don't run consecutive days.

In a "fall back" week, I will run consecutive days.

The above advice you've received is spot-on in my book.

 

[Colin]

What exactly are rest days? Are you not really supposed to do anything, or are you just not supposed to jog, or what? On my rest days I've still been taking long walks (walked a 5K race today), I just haven't been doing my C25K. I read someone's blog today where they said their C25K progress drastically improved when they used a rest day as a true rest day - no long walks, hikes, etc. What are your thoughts?

It's also nice to use a "rest day" to focus on another part of your body, perhaps alternate your running with core strengthening exercises. This has been working great for me the past month as I was doing the C25K regimen. I'd follow the program and then my in between time I'd focus solely on my core and over all I feel that it's helped my running, another exercise that I've been doing is working on my O2 and CO2 tolerance levels, that's had a drastic impact on my breathing and recovery time....just food for thought!

 

[Bare Lee]

Oh, one thing: don't let rest days start piling up unless you're doing it on purpose. Pretty soon you might find it's been a week or two since you last exercised, or even years. I've become pretty fascist about exercise. I even prioritize it over work. No matter how busy or behind I am, I know I can afford at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. I'll sleep better, and wake up with good energy and concentration the next day and get that 30-60 minutes of work back through greater efficiency. It took me a long time to learn this: exercise trumps all.

 

[JosephTree]

I just run every other day. On the other side of things, I climb trees for a living, getting into a tree at least a couple days each week and also walk a couple of miles a day just in the course of inspecting properties. But, by and large, I go with a day off being a day off.

 

[Bare Lee]

I just run every other day. On the other side of things, I climb trees for a living, getting into a tree at least a couple days each week and also walk a couple of miles a day just in the course of inspecting properties. But, by and large, I go with a day off being a day off.

You got me, I gotta ask: what do you do for a living? Sounds very appealing in a backgrounding clause, now I want details.

 

[Hawkbilly]

One thing I've often wondered about (I think I do far too much wondering) about the value of "days off". I certainly believe days off from running are important, for the reasons mentioned. But I think having days where we do no exercise at all is not optimal for building and maintaining your body. I think that a day off a week is fine, but I subscribe to the 6 days-a-week of exercise model, and you just pick how many of those are running days and what else you want to do on the non-running days.

 

[Bare Lee]

I think that a day off a week is fine, but I subscribe to the 6 days-a-week of exercise model, and you just pick how many of those are running days and what else you want to do on the non-running days.

This is what works for me. Six days a week, 60 minutes a day, running 3-4 times a week.

 

[scedastic]

+1 on working core during rest days.
I've been doing lots of core work, with the stability ball, wobble board, some weights, arms. I have no idea whether it really makes a difference, but I imagine it can't hurt my form to have a stronger core and other leg muscles as well.

 

[scedastic]

I also bike or do elliptical for aerobic work on rest days. Not sure if I'm supposed to, but I workout mostly so I don't go crazy, and it coudl happen at any moment, so I have to keep working out.

 

[Bare Lee]

I also bike or do elliptical for aerobic work on rest days. Not sure if I'm supposed to, but I workout mostly so I don't go crazy, and it coudl happen at any moment, so I have to keep working out.

I also like to do aerobic work on running rest days, and I think there's a lot of benefit to doing aerobic stuff everyday. There's no reason to take a day off from aerobic workouts per se. It's often a good idea to take days off from running because of its impactful and repetitive nature. I took up rowing last year, which is very aerobic but also works completely different muscles from running and is low-impact. So it's the perfect complement. Well, except for the fact that I don't own a lake and so have to pretend I'm rowing on a machine inside.

 

[JosephTree]

BareLee, I am an arborist, taking care of people's trees in Princeton, NJ. I mostly act in a consultative sort of role, but am a better / faster / trickier climber than most of my crew, and so take lots of opportunities to train them and / or expedite their jobs. Think ropes, carribiners and chainsaws.

 

[Tristan]

The purpose of rest days are to allow tissue to heal and give you a chance to assess potential injuries, especially during the transition. I'd take Bare Lee's 48 hour advice. Walking is okay as it's very low impact and works different muscles and tissues.

+1 I remember reading that in your book and I've followed the day off routine ever since starting bf last year. I do believe pushing myself hard on a couple consecutive days was a big factor in the leg pains I was having before.

One condition that I've run into a couple times (right now being one of them) is that my every other day run, while 48hrs in between, actually is consecutive days for me. That doesnt make sense does it... let me explain. Friday morning I went out for a jog early. So my next run was going to be Sunday. But I get called in to work for saturday nightshift, so I stay up a little late friday night and sleep in saturday morning. So if I run sunday morning after I get off night shift, it will still be the next day after I just ran, I mean I will have only slept once in between, though it would be 48hrs. Often I defer running after my first nightshift anyhow since I am a bit tired in the morning, but if I do the transition well I have run before just fine.

 

[Bare Lee]

BareLee, I am an arborist, taking care of people's trees in Princeton, NJ. I mostly act in a consultative sort of role, but am a better / faster / trickier climber than most of my crew, and so take lots of opportunities to train them and / or expedite their jobs. Think ropes, carribiners and chainsaws.

Holy MovNat, you must be in fantastic shape. A few weeks ago I began to wonder what it would be like to climb trees again, recreationally. I spent a lot of my childhood in trees, and only fell out of them three times . . .

 

[JosephTree]

BL, for 55 I do pretty well. GF would be better to ask for a somewhat more objective opinion. I look at some guys my age (eg, my neighbor across the street is my age to within a few days) and am amazed at how far downhill folks can go.

The MovNat guy has one thing I know I lack these days which is resiliance or bounce. A statistic that I heard of at a Tree Conference: the height of a fatal fall goes from about 24 feet for a 20 year old to about 5 feet for a 60 year old. We just break easier as we age, not much of any way to get around it. On the plus side, some of us do learn to be really careful!

 

[Bare Lee]

BL, for 55 I do pretty well. GF would be better to ask for a somewhat more objective opinion. I look at some guys my age (eg, my neighbor across the street is my age to within a few days) and am amazed at how far downhill folks can go.

The MovNat guy has one thing I know I lack these days which is resiliance or bounce. A statistic that I heard of at a Tree Conference: the height of a fatal fall goes from about 24 feet for a 20 year old to about 5 feet for a 60 year old. We just break easier as we age, not much of any way to get around it. On the plus side, some of us do learn to be really careful!

Cool. I'm sure having a GF helps keep you young too.
I have been feeling age a bit in my joints lately, mostly my shoulders and elbows, but the muscles seem pretty good still. It stinks to get creaky, but better than dusty I guess. I may have to have a go at climbing a tree this summer.