Rest days are usually the days of confusion and pain. Pain is the exercise that you have done the previous day and confusion is how should you spend your day. Let us at first understand the duration of rest days before moving on to deciding that how should you spend your rest days. You can utilize your strength training rest days by checking out the progress that you have made. You can also plan out your diet and upcoming workout routine.
Rest For Building Muscle:
The duration of strength training rest days varies from person to person and also on the amount of exercise you have done. But usually, the rest day varies between 48 to 72 hours. It also depends on your body’s capability to recover. Some may recover fast while some may recover slowly. You must keep yourself moving during the rest days. You can also try some treatments to speed up your recovery process. Go for icing, heating or massage therapy.
Are Rest Days Important?
Strength training rest days play a very important role in building up your stamina. If you spend your rest days properly, you might find building up your stamina easier. It is also the best way to prevent injury. During the rest period, muscles get the time to reconstruct and grow in size, therefore, helping you in bulking up. No rest will result in overtraining which can have disastrous effects.
Method:
Rest Day Workout Routine:
You must plan your rest day like you are training. You need a workout routine for your rest days too. Doing nothing and lying still is only gonna increase your soreness. If you will care to move your body. The pain might go away within a short period of time. Consider the following routines for your rest day and see the results.
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Go For A Fun Routine
Go for an outdoor game which you enjoy the most. Gather up all your friends and find a court where you can play any game of your choice. You can even go for a bike ride or a swim. Any physical activity that makes you smile will be a good routine that you can practice on your rest day. Moreover, it will make you forget all the pain and soreness.
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Stretch It Out
Stretches can be a part of your routine because they can efficiently stretch all your muscles and make all the pain go away. You will feel more relaxed at the end. Stretches are meant to increase flexibility by opening up all your muscles. You might find it difficult to do the stretches but once you will start, you will start feeling a lot better.
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Do Yoga
Yoga helps in lengthening the muscles and increases their mobility and flexibility. It is the perfect way to keep your body moving along with fighting with the soreness in your muscles. If you have never done yoga before, it is a good time to start. Search for the easy exercises and start practicing them. A combination of yoga and strength training gives great results.
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Go For Light Cardio
If you want to keep your body moving, you can also adopt light cardio. It involves, walking, running, swimming, sprinting or interval training. Choose any one or two of them and start practicing them on your rest days. You do not have to them for a long time. Keep them light and up to the limit that they do not increase your soreness. Instead, they must cure your soreness.
It is up to you to decide that what is the duration of strength training rest days that you need. Do not be afraid to take a day or two off. Look for the signs that tell you that your body needs rest. If you will overtrain you might get injured and ultimately you will have to take rest. Why not take the rest before. Pay attention to your body and let it recover.