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On rest and recovery days it is important to avoid doing the worst thing you can do for your body... nothing. Examples of rest and recovery activities are walking, static stretch exercises (after a warm up and loosening up period), dynamic stretching, swimming, water running, and riding a bike.
For optimum performance, you should strive for a multi-faceted training program that emphasizes cardio followed by strength on some days, power followed by cardio on others, and active recovery days to include low level cardio, stretching, and muscle release (massage) with no strength training.