If you ever found yourself feeling bad about breaking from your workout routine to relax on the sofa, then it’s time to change your mindset about fitness. Working out is simply the stimulus. The muscle growth, the endurance building, the cardio adaptation all occur on the down time.
Here is what it looks like to let your body actually do the work.
Key insight: The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) states that it is not so much about the sheer amount of training, but consistency that is most important as going too much beyond recovery will only yield diminishing returns.
What Actually Happens When You Rest
When you’re exercising hard, or lifting weights very heavy, you are not building your body you are tearing it down. Exercise creates micro-tissues tears in your muscle, uses up your energy stores (glycogen) and puts great stress on your central nervous system.
Rest days are your body’s dedicated repair phase. During this time:
- Muscles regenerate better: The fibroblasts repair the micro-tears in your tissue and so build up muscle mass and strength over time.
- Restock up on energy: Your body restores glycogen into your muscles to have fuel available for your next workout.
- The nervous system resets: Exercise puts a lot of strain on your sympathetic nervous system, also known as your “fight or flight” system. Rest gives your “rest and digest” (parasympathetic) system the time to kick in so that your resting heart rate drops and your cortisol levels go down.
So if you experience discomfort and soreness after your workout, this is not due to lactic acid but due to the inflammatory response of your body that will aid in repairing and building new muscle fibers in the next few days.
The Danger of “No Days Off”: Overtraining Syndrome
If these challenges are continued without sufficient recovery, you move from overtaching (a normal, temporary high fatigue state) to overtraining syndrome (OTS). OTS is a systemic physical and/or mental burn-out which takes weeks or even months to overcome.
It is easily confused with general fatigue, but if overlooked, people can suffer from serious plateaus, hormonal problems and overuse injuries like tendonitis and stress fractures.
| Category | Warning Signs |
| Physical | Heavy legs, elevated resting heart rate, persistent deep soreness |
| Mental | Irritability, brain fog, sudden loss of motivation to train |
| Systemic | Poor sleep quality, frequent colds, stalled fitness progress |
Not sure if you’re pushing too hard? Use this interactive tool to visualize your risk of overtraining based on your current routine.
Overtraining Risk Assessment
How to Rest Properly: Active vs. Passive Recovery
Forgetting the guilt doesn’t mean you can’t be physically active at all. There are typically two types of rest days, and they both have their worth:
- Passive Recovery: Full recovery without any structured exercising. In case of extreme tenderness, sickness, and mental burnout, this is a must.
- Active Recovery: Activity that is light and low impact to get the blood circulating without straining muscles or nervous system. The objective is to leave feeling better than when you began.
This can be a 30 minute walk, gentle yoga or a relaxed swim or some dynamic stretches.
Follow your body’s instincts. If you are feeling tired in the morning, dreading the exercise or a joint pain that won’t go away, your body is calling for a break! Take the day off. It will be beneficial for you and your body.
