Name: Playbook - All Day Running Co - Rest Days
Uploaded: 2023-02-12T01:55:49.773Z
Duration: 3 min
Description: Rest Days

Rest days are an important but often overlooked aspect of training, and when you optimize the ratio of work to rest, you’ll reach your fitness goals faster, feel great and avoid workout burnout.

What is a rest day?

A rest day is exactly what it sounds like - a day off from training! While it might sound obvious, it’s important you rest on your rest days. This means doing lighter activities, active recovery and things that relax you. 
A rest day will give your body and mind the time it needs to consolidate the hard work you’ve been doing. Muscles recover, adapt and become stronger during your rest, not your workout time, and your nervous system has a chance to recover too.
Including appropriate rest in the training program can also help prevent a workout plateau or the fatigue that comes from overtraining.

What to do on a rest day

Think of rest days as a way to give back to your body. Use this time to relax and rejuvenate your body and mind in whatever way works best for you. 
If you’ve been training super hard or you’re feeling fatigued, a day spent watching Netflix or unwinding with a new book might be exactly what you need 
If you’re feeling energised, you can stay active on your rest days with light cardiofor an active recovery workout such as swimming or walking.  
Yoga is another great way to incorporate mindfulness and movement while promoting recovery, while some foam rolling may help to reduce any muscle stiffness.
Use your rest day to do meal prep for the week ahead to ensure you have healthy food that fills you up.
Breathwork, Sauna, COLD or massage




Training style and intensity

Rest days are essential for promoting recovery and long-term wellbeing. How frequently you take a rest day will depend on the amount of stress put on your body in each session.  

If you run or do high-intensity cardio workouts, it’s a good idea to rest or do low-intensity sessions like walking between each workout. You may also need more than one day in between workouts, especially when you’re starting out. As your body adapts to the training, you’ll be able to increase the frequency or intensity of your workouts.
ADRC's Training Plans contain scheduled rest and recovery days each week. Some programs also include optional workouts you can add in if you’re feeling great or leave out when you need rest.

Can a fitness tracker help me to know when I need a rest day?

Some fitness trackers can provide guidance on when your body needs rest to perform better, by measuring things like your heart rate and sleep patterns. While we still recommend listening to your body, these devices can provide some guidance if you aren’t sure whether to train. 
One metric a fitness tracker uses to determine how much strain the body is under is ‘heart rate variability’ (HRV). Your heartbeat isn’t like a metronome, each heartbeat occurs at slightly irregular intervals. These intervals are determined by your autonomic nervous system, the part of the brain that responds to stress or promotes relaxation.  

We will have more on HRV and fitness trackers in the future versions of this app.  


Check in with how you feel

Ultimately, you should listen to your body. If you feel fatigued, sore, unwell, stressed or your workouts are unusually difficult, it may be a sign that you need rest — whether it’s in your program schedule or not!

Look after your body and mind with regular rest days

When you challenge your body to learn a new training routine or motion, it’s during rest that your mind and body adapts and improves. This is ultimately how you progress!

Rest Days

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