Rest and recovery is an essential part of sport and exercise as it allows the body to repair and rebuild itself between exercise bouts. Without this element, your training and progress may be hindered, or even cause injury.
Benefits
- Replenishing energy stores such as glycogen and repairing torn muscle fibres
- Prevents muscle fatigue and will reduce soreness
- Reduces risk of injury as overtraining will not occur, reducing overuse injuries such as sprains
- Improves performance as you may be more motivated
Signs you may need a rest day
- Sore muscles
- Fatigue
- Poor sleep quality
- Emotional changes
- Reduced performance
What should you do on rest days?
Eat enough protein to facilitate recovery - 1.2-2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight spaced throughout the day.
Light exercise such as walking, yoga, or other low impact exercise to get the body moving without over-stressing the body, this may help loosen the muscles and improve flexibility.
There is no one size fits all!