Rest 101: how (+ why) to take intentional recovery days
Recovery between workouts is just as important for your health - and your progress - as the time you spend in the gym. The time we spend training depletes energy stores and breaks the body down while the time spent recovering properly allows our bodies to rebuild muscle stronger than befoe and replenish energy stores. Without both adequate training stimulus AND adequate rest, our progress is limited and our potential for injury increases.
Here I will cover three strategies for recovering from our workouts
Active recovery (walking, stretching, light movement, self massage)
Lifestyle strategies to manage stress - self-care and sleep
Deloading intentionally programming light workout weeks
Recovery and self care often feel vaguely defined or abstract, but as an uncreative person I find concrete guidelines pretty helpful. I’ve included attainable targets for each strategy. These aren’t meant to be rigid rules, more of a jumping off point.
Strategy one: active recovery
We should be taking 2-4 days off from workouts each week.
Staying active on rest days can help improve recovery by increasing blood flow (this is how our bodies deliver nutrients to damaged muscles), reducing inflammation, and aiding in lymphatic drainage.
We call this low intensity, less structured activity NEPA (Non Exercise Physical Activity) or NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). This encompasses any movement performed outside of a structured workout.
Benefits of NEAT/NEPA
Enhances blood flow to improve recovery.
Increases overall daily energy expenditure.
The low intensity nature means we can perform NEAT every day without needing a break to recover (unlike rigorous workouts).
NEAT/NEPA modalities (how you can add them in!)
performing your dynamic warmup on a rest day (not followed by a workout).
leisurely walks and bike rides.
restorative yoga.
hobbies such as roller blading, dancing, and light social sports.
We spend such a small fraction of our times actually in the gym, so how we spend the rest of our time is extremely relevant to the progress we make towards the health and fitness goals we set.
Strategy two: lifestyle, stress management and self care
Self Care
We should all try to take time daily for self-care, even if its just 5-10 minutes.
We tend to focus on programming intentional exercise, but not on scheduling intentional stillness. Adding activities that help us to slow down helps to activate the part of our nervous system that aids in rest and recovery (the PNS, or the parasympathetic nervous system). This is essentially the opposite of the nervous system in control of our fight or flight response (which we activate during intense exercise).
Activities that help activate the PNS are often referred to as self-care. I’d encourage you to schedule a 5 minute (or longer) time each day to unwind. Here are some low cost ideas:
breathing / meditation app
spending time outside - eat lunch outdoors, go on a walk in silence, spend time with your animal (without your phone).
stretch or do a short yoga video
enjoy food slowly and without distraction
knit, bake, or do another relaxing craft
Sleep
We should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
Sleep occurs in three stages: shallow, deep and REM (rapid eye movement). The cycle repeats about every 90 minutes.
Shallow sleep: parts of your brain controlling activity and muscle movement begin to slow.
Deep sleep: energy restoration occurs (essential for workout recovery!).
REM: increase in brain activity.
Together the three stages help us to replenish the energy needed to function during waking hours. Overall, the brain requires about 1/4 of the total energy (calories) our bodies need per day.
Effects of sleep deprivation
Decreased appetite regulation.
Compromised cognitive ability.
Higher levels of stress hormones.
Negative affects on mood and energy.
Ideas for improving sleep quality
Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at a similar time each morning - including weekends if possible.
Avoid caffeine after 2pm (or earlier). The half life of caffeine for most adults is about 3-7 hours.
Avoid alcohol 3-4 hours before bed
Stop using electronics 1 hour before bed
Allow for 30-60 minutes of intentional wind down time before bed. This can double as your self care!
Use your bedroom for sleep only. No working, eating, or watching TV.
Keep your bedroom as dark and quiet as possible. Use earplugs and a eye mask if this isn’t possible.
Don’t underestimate the importance of a comfortable bed. Clean sheets regularly, make your bed, keep your room tidy, and invest in nice pillows and sheets.
Keep electronics completely out of the bedroom.
Establish a nighttime routine - drink tea, wash your face, etc.
Water + Nutrition
I’ll keep this short. We should all be drinking water. Start with about .5oz per pound of bodyweight.
Remember to stay consistent with your nutrition on rest days! This is a huge issue I see - we tend to be healthy on workout days, then let it all go on rest days. While its fine to enjoy a bit, a recovery say spent drinking alcohol, sitting on the couch, and avoiding vegetables will not really function to help much with recovery.
Deloading and extended exercise breaks
Deloading is a term used for programming intentionally light workouts periodically. There are many approaches to this (as there are many approaches to all aspects of workout programming), but here are the basics. This is something a trainer can help implement for you. That said, its a bit of a buzzword lately so having a better idea of what it means is helpful regardless of whether you plan to program for yourself or not.
Deloading typically involves decreasing your overall workload for 5-7 days every 4, 6, 8, 10, or more weeks. The frequency will depend on your needs as an athlete as well as the intensity of your program (more intense —> more deload weeks). Since these weeks are intended to promote recovery, its important to stay consistent with your other healthy habits and recovery tactics. Basically, don’t count a week vacation where you’re going out drinking, sleeping less, and eating less nutrient dense food as your “deload week".
We can decrease workload in a number of ways:
maintain the same intensity (or weight used for a lift), but decrease the number of reps performed.
reduce the load (weight used) and maintain the same number of reps.
decrease both volume and intensity but more moderately.
The strategy you choose should be the one that feels the most enjoyable as recovering from mental fatigue is just as important. If fatigue is extreme or a week deload does not result in feeling recovered and rejuvenated, consider a more complete training break.
On the other hand, if your overall training volume is relatively light or inconsistent, you may not need to think much about deload weeks. It’s an advanced strategy for athletes that train consistently month after month.