Are “Off Days” Cheating?

I think we all know that exercise is a good thing. However, just like anything else, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. Lifting weights, running, or even sitting on a stationary bike breaks your body down over time. Without giving your body proper recovery, you can quickly send yourself into a downward spiral of overtraining and bad workouts. Rest days may often seem counterproductive, yet they may be the most important factor in whether you hit your goals or become injured, grumpy, and frail. People often come to me super motivated. I mean after all they already took the biggest step which was coming on that first day. They want to do more, more, more, and I typically end up pulling back the reigns instead. 

Taking Days Off

Off days may make more sense if you understand how the process of building muscle or building your cardiovascular system works. Here is my super oversimplified version of that. When you come into the gym and do squats you are actually creating micro-tears in the muscles along the front of your legs. Hence, your legs may feel like Jello after a workout and then sore the next day. The muscle building process does not actually start until you leave the gym. Once you rest your legs, eat protein and sleep, your muscles begin to build back. Since your body is so adaptive it will come back bigger and stronger so that next time you have to perform squats it will not be so unprepared. If you hardly give your muscles time to rest between workouts they will never get back to baseline and you definitely won’t see any improvements. Not to mention that you will feel less energized throughout the day. This can lead to downstream effects of decreased physical and mental health. 

The Importance of Sleep and Nutrition

The phrase “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” needs to be the only thing dying anytime soon. Having a bad workout is the least of your worries when it comes to being chronically under slept. Less than ideal sleep can cause several diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, dementia, and many more diseases. In fact, one study found that people sleeping six hours or less in their 50’s and 60’s were 30% more likely to develop dementia later in life than those who slept seven hours¹. Getting an average of eight hours of sleep per night deserves its own blog and maybe I will write one someday. But for now, understand that sleep is what recharges your battery and sets you up not only for a good workout but a productive energized day. 

What you eat and how you eat also plays a big role in whether you can recover from your workouts. Muscles are made of mostly protein. Thats why it is so important to eat lots of protein. Without a sufficient amount in your diet, you will stay sore longer and build less muscle. Who wants that?? When trying to lose weight, this becomes even more crucial. Without enough protein, you may lose muscle instead of fat. You should be eating between 0.6 grams to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of your goal body weight. Since I weigh 190 pounds, I try to eat 170+ grams of protein. This can be hard, but adding a protein shake as a snack can help a lot. 

Active Recovery

If you are a person who likes routine or feels the need to schedule exercise every day, you do have options. Try doing some light exercise. This extra movement can increase recovery rates and add to calories expenditure. Active recovery can look like walking, sitting in the sauna, or doing yoga.  

How to Recognize When You Need a Day Off

Your body will typically tell you when it needs a day off. It may be that you're sore all the time, workouts are getting more challenging for no reason, or you begin to get all kinds of injuries. While being sore is never the goal, you will likely feel the effects when you start your exercise journey. Soreness itself is not a bad thing. In fact, a little soreness can show that you are putting in enough effort and working the right muscles. But lots of soreness may be a good sign to take a day off and let your body recover. In an ideal world, your arms should not be sore before you start an arm workout. Another way to identify when you need a day off is if you have two or three bad workouts in a row. Your body may be tired and begging you for a day or two off. In fact, this may show up in your everyday life, too. Find that you are more irritable at home or work? Ask yourself, “have I had a lot of hard workouts recently?” It may be time for a day off. The last way to tell if you need a break is if all kinds of random injuries begin to pop up. This happens with runners or walkers a lot but can happen to anyone. For example, if I run too many days in a row my knees begin to ache. While this is not a serious injury yet, it will certainly turn into one if I do not take a couple days off. People often see these types of injuries in their joints. New hip, knee, shoulder or elbow pain could be from over-use. 

Summary

To summarize, exercise is very much a good thing. And most people should exercise more, not less! But anything can be overdone. And when in pursuit of a goal such as weight loss or becoming fitter it is easy to develop a mindset of “more, more, more.” When working out multiple days a week, it becomes necessary to plan a day off. Do not be afraid to take a rest day when you feel super sore. It will be okay to take two days off if you have nagging hip pain. In fact, have planned active recovery days in your schedule. This will help you reach your goals without breaking you down! 

1  Sabia, S., Fayosse, A., Dumurgier, J., van Hees, V. T., Paquet, C., Sommerlad, A., Kivimäki, M., Dugravot, A., & Singh-Manoux, A. (2021). Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia. Nature communications, 12(1), 2289. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22354-2