3 Benefits Rest Has On Your Fitness Routine

How often do you incorporate intentional and mindful rest into your week?

At All Day Fit, we firmly believe in training FOR LIFE. And as a result, we must develop habits that foster being able to build fitness into our life for the long-haul… rest, being one of the most important! Some examples of intentional and mindful rest may include high quality sleep, meditation, journalling, and mobility and yoga. Here are 3 reasons why it is so important to incorporate rest into your fitness routine. 

No.1 Rest allows your muscles, joints, and body to RECOVER and grow stronger.

Rest days allow your body to repair its muscle tissues damaged from the mechanical stress during your workouts. You cannot maintain high-intensity training 100% of the time, which is why you need down-time to bounce back. When your body is able to properly recover, and this process happens more often, you will notice your overall strength increasing– which allows you to perform better in future training sessions.  

No.2 Rest creates a more sustainable fitness routine.

Scheduling days off (away from the gym) can be very beneficial! You can use the 1 hour time block to do things like: prepare meals or shop for groceries, going for a walk, massage therapy or performing much-needed mobility drills. We can reframe our “rest” days from being passive to active or proactive – and use the time we would normally set aside for our workouts, to do something to set us up for future success.

No.3 Rest prevents strain and burn-out.

The majority of us spend a large part of our day stimulated and in a “flight-or-fight” state, meaning our nervous system is heightened – we have deadlines, responsibilities, to-do lists and various other stressors. Building in moments to relax gives your body and mind breathing room and purposeful time to chill, which in turn prevents strain and burn-out.

A great results-focused fitness program will have rest strategically built-in and prescribed, so that your fitness habits last for life! Remember, fitness is more than just your time in the gym. Fitness impacts and is impacted by all the other lifestyle habits (i.e. nutrition, hydration, rest, recovery, mindset), which is why it is so important to look at those other habits while training!