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Now that it's warm weather I'm back to swimming whenever I can. Because you never can tell with the weather, I do my gym workout which is cardio and weights five times a week alternating the weights to different areas each day and I swim every night I can.
The gym workout is on my lunchbreak. My office has a gym in the building. But since I swim whenever I can, when the weather is good this means almost no breaks. This past week I did the gym workout five days and swam seven evenings after work and on the weekend.
I'm kind of tired from it all, but I also know come Later this week the weather looks iffy and I most likely won't be able to swim. So I feel I should press on with day eight and possibly nine.
I really don't feel my workouts are all the intense. I'd say they are moderate. The cardio is running inside because I still can't run outside due to an injury. Weights I alternate and do 5 times a week. Swimming seems to be less aerobic than running based on my heart rate. But it's still aerobic with light resistance from the water.
Is a rest day once a week really nessesary is you just exercise moderately? My body doesn't hurt or anything although, like I said, I'm tired and go to bed earlier. I'm also more hungry and eat more. I don't feel bad but I also wonder if I'm over doing it.
It will ultimately come down to learning your body. I don't think 7-8-9 days straight is all that bad if you're expecting lighter days in the coming week. I wouldn't push with that level for a month or two though.
If you want to try and quantify your recovery levels though, look into heart rate variability monitoring (HRV).
I always have a couple of rest days per week, even though I'm always eager to press on with my cardio & aerobics.
Just because your body isn't feeling tired, it still needs to repair itself behind the scenes; and it will get more of chance doing that when you're not putting it under further stress with continued exercise - moderate or otherwise.
if you simply can't stay still during a "rest day" go for a mild or brisk walk for an hour or so, Or do some DIY around the house - win/win!
Thanks. It's such a tough call since I don't want to miss out. I enjoy swimming a lot. It's the exercise I find the most fun.
I get a nice long walk everyday regardless. I have a young dog that HAS to go for her 5k every day. We used to run it but first I hurt my leg and now that it's healed it's too hot for her to run with all that fur. So we walk it. I don't really count that as exercise also I track it in my food/fitness app.
The answer is what L2DB gave in his/her first sentence - knowing your body. Since it sounds like you are active in general and used to a decent level of activity, and I'm guessing you are on the young side (sub 40), assuming you have a good diet with a good level of hydration and the right amount of calories to sustain the activity, it's fine.
And like your post suggests, you're modifying intensity. When I was competitively racing (road cycling), I went out every day and put in some big miles during the year (many of my most intense workouts had the shortest miles though). But I was smart about the way I trained and had a very good sense and control over of my body. I didn't really have rest days, I had recovery rides. That's a thing - it's called active recovery.
So the answer is that no, you don't need to religiously take a day off every week or whatever. But you should be in tune with your body. That comes through a high level of fitness and knowledge. I must say, your activity level sounds good. Consider looking into modifying it with some periods of time that have wider swings between intensity and active recovery. Best of luck.
Now that it's warm weather I'm back to swimming whenever I can. Because you never can tell with the weather, I do my gym workout which is cardio and weights five times a week alternating the weights to different areas each day and I swim every night I can.
The gym workout is on my lunchbreak. My office has a gym in the building. But since I swim whenever I can, when the weather is good this means almost no breaks. This past week I did the gym workout five days and swam seven evenings after work and on the weekend.
I'm kind of tired from it all, but I also know come Later this week the weather looks iffy and I most likely won't be able to swim. So I feel I should press on with day eight and possibly nine.
I really don't feel my workouts are all the intense. I'd say they are moderate. The cardio is running inside because I still can't run outside due to an injury. Weights I alternate and do 5 times a week. Swimming seems to be less aerobic than running based on my heart rate. But it's still aerobic with light resistance from the water.
Is a rest day once a week really nessesary is you just exercise moderately? My body doesn't hurt or anything although, like I said, I'm tired and go to bed earlier. I'm also more hungry and eat more. I don't feel bad but I also wonder if I'm over doing it.
For many people, a rest day once a week is really not necessary depending on what kinds of exercise you're doing and how intensely you exercise. But it requires more explanation than one sentence.
For cardiovascular exercise, it is possible to train every day. There are many runners who run every day. See this list USRSA Active USA Streak List of active running streaks and you will see 74 people who have run for over 10,000 days straight, and 456 who have run for at least 1,000 days straight. The key to exercising like this is to mix easy or recovery days with harder days of training (and also be lucky you don't get injuries or get sick). I actually know two people on the list and they are both elite runners who have won hundreds, possibly thousands of races.
Most average people are not capable of running (or swimming, biking) very many consecutive days without getting burned out. For these people, you are better off taking a day off when you start dragging.
Lifting weights is different from cardiovascular exercise. You never want to exercise the same muscles on consecutive days, and more experienced lifters will only exercise a particular body part once a week to allow growth and recovery. This typically means that experienced lifters are lifting no more than 4-5 times a week.
How do you feel? Do you feel lethargic, zapped, as opposed to spent from a good workout? Feel like you're pushing yourself to an unhealthy point, stop and rest for a day.
Most traditional programs call for set rest days. Honestly, I think people have a problem of not working out enough than working out too much. I believe most people take too many rest days because they are not pushing their bodies to the limit on workouts.
My theory is way out there and definately not viewed accurate by most.
Most traditional programs call for set rest days. Honestly, I think people have a problem of not working out enough than working out too much. I believe most people take too many rest days because they are not pushing their bodies to the limit on workouts.
My theory is way out there and definately not viewed accurate by most.
Tell us how much workout is enough? ( to deserve a rest day)
When you are younger, you may feel as if you don't need them, but eventually or even inevitably this will lead to injury. It's a good idea to have rest days. If you can implement the idea of working smarter not harder early on in your life, you will significantly increase your longevity.
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