Why Rest is as Important As A Work Out

It Pays to Do Less: Why Rest is as Important As A Work Out


Some people think that in order to reach their health goals faster, they will work out for as long as they can. However, pushing yourself too much could put you in bad shape, or worse, injure you. Of course, I’m not telling you to cancel your gym membership, or totally quit working out. What’s important is that you allot days for exercising and days for rest.

Here are some reasons why rest is as important as a working out:

Rest makes you stronger

Engaging in strenuous workouts like weight lifting, cross-fit training, or long distance running can cause some small tears in the muscles. Resting is important to help give your body the time to recover and repair muscles. Doing this will help your muscles grow stronger and will even prevent you from having injuries.

Training too hard may prevent weight loss

You may seem happy during the early stages of your workout routine because you’re experiencing weight loss. That’s because your body is in the phase of adjusting to the new workout that you’re doing. However, if you push yourself too hard and keep on doing the same exercise everyday, your body will eventually adapt to the routine and result to a weight loss plateau. To avoid this, it’s important that you have rest intervals in between your training duration so that you will continue to lose weight.

Over training can drain you mentally and physically

Over training can cause the body to produce hormones (epinephrine and norepinephrine) that can suppress your appetite. These hormones will also make you feel both mentally and physically exhausted which is detrimental to your overall health. Always remember, the balance of exercise, diet, and rest is the great combination to be healthy.

Training without rest can cause restlessness

Although studies have shown that working out can give you a boost in your mood (a runner’s high), training too hard may actually have a reverse effect. When you push yourself too hard during training and you neglect to rest, your nervous system goes into an overdrive, causing you to become restless, feel anxious, and lose focus.

Rest gives you more motivation to work out

Taking time off from your exercise gives you more motivation to go back to training because you have something to look forward to. In contrary, skipping rest days and slaving yourself at the gym may make you feel exhausted and you will just end up feeling burnout from training. Again, a perfect balance of rest and workout is what you need to effectively achieve your health goals.

In order to get the most out of your physical training, here are some of the things you should do to fully rest and recover from your workout :

  1. Get adequate sleep—meaning, seven to ten hours. It’s best if you sleep before 12mn to have a quality sleep.
  2. Hydrate—drink lots of water during workout and rest days. Drinking water helps the body to maintain its energy, helps you recover faster and improves your energy.
  3. Eat nutritious food—your food choices are important so that your body remains in its optimal state. Eat loads of fruits and veggies, and other type of foods that compliment your workouts and would help your body recover.
  4. Take a day off—having one or two days off from your training will help your body recover faster and will prevent you from having injuries.

Even though you feel like you can go more further on your training, it’s best that you listen to your body when it tells you that it needs rest. Do yourself a favor and don’t push yourself too much,take rests in between to see better results in your workouts.

Why Rest is as Important As A Work Out 1

Adam Ali

Founder & Brand Lead at iWontLose
Why Rest is as Important As A Work Out 1







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