If you ask any runner, cyclist or hill walker what they did yesterday, they will usually give you a detailed answer: The distances they covered, the elevation they climbed, their speed and the condition of their legs at the end of the ascent.
But if you ask them what they are doing today, on their rest day, when they should be recovering, the answer will be considerably less clear. Rest days have something of an image problem – because they are not training days, they are not planned as rigorously as they should be, despite scientific evidence indicating that they are important.
The Cost of Skipping Recovery
From a physiological perspective, the importance of rest is undeniable. For men who train for more than seven hours each week, testosterone levels fall by 10 per cent over the course of a year of continuous training. After five years, testosterone levels drop by around 30 per cent unless sufficient rest is taken into account. This is an unseen toll that does not appear in any one week’s training record.
A similar theme comes out regarding the tracking of recovery. People who have rested after difficult training will be 2.3 times less likely to require a recovery day the next day compared to those who have kept on with rigorous training. At least one rest day per week is necessary for all athletes, while two or three might be required for those with difficult training programs or beginners to training programs.
Unfortunately, “rest” is such a vague term that it does not actually mean much. From an athlete’s point of view, a day off from a planned workout that is nevertheless active, full of errands or long shifts on your feet, may not necessarily mean a recovery day. It seems that people who continuously improve are those who consider rest to be part of their routine – a specific thing, rather than whatever time is left after training.
However, there is also a psychological aspect to this, which is usually overlooked when the discussion is about physiology. Exertion feels productive in the moment – another task completed – while rest is perceived as lagging behind, despite statistics suggesting otherwise. It is this imbalance between perceived productivity and reality that most often causes rest days to be skipped, rather than a lack of time.
What Activities Can Fit Into a Rest Day
A true day off implies finding an occupation that does not involve physical effort. For some athletes, this could be a casual game on a casino app – entertainment that does not require physical activity and can be enjoyed while watching a movie, listening to podcasts or responding to messages. This type of activity is passive by definition, as opposed to training, which makes it legitimate during a rest day.
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Signs Your “Rest Day” Is Actually Resting You
Of course, many days are deemed “rest days” even though they do not fit the definition. It might therefore be useful to see how well your rest days measure up against a couple of criteria.
- A rest day does not involve several hours of activity around the house, running errands or going on an unplanned, exhausting walk.
- During rest days, sleep becomes a bit longer or a little better, rather than the extra time being spent on something else.
- The body becomes significantly more relaxed and less tired throughout the day.
- Your diet remains intact on rest days rather than being thrown out the window because you skipped your workout.
Of course, none of these criteria needs to be fulfilled every single time, but they may be useful for keeping you on track.
Checking What You’re Signing Up For
Before committing to a new recovery gadget, subscription app, or piece of training equipment, it helps to look past the product page itself. Sites like Citizens Advice publish guidelines for consumer rights that cover what happens in case the goods or services delivered fall short of their promise, and what to do if you find it difficult to unsubscribe from a subscription that was easy to sign up for.
This becomes significantly more important the more regularly you make payments. It could be a fitness app with a monthly subscription, recovery equipment with a warranty, or a gearbox with an auto-renewal subscription. The terms and conditions may be easy to miss at first, but you will notice them as soon as money is taken out of your account.
One of the ways to ensure that the situation is under your control is to understand some basic principles that inform your rights as a customer, what the company is obliged to tell you, and what happens when you wish to cancel the subscription.
This approach can be applied to any purchase you make, whether it’s an app, a device, or a website requesting your payment card details. You only need to spend five minutes reading the terms of use, just as you would with any other purchase, such as running shoes right before the training season starts.
Building a Rest Day That Actually Works
A rest day earns its name through a definite structure.
- Plan it in the same way as you would plan a difficult training session.
- Focus on getting enough sleep, especially on that particular day, as sleep is a major factor in recovery and is probably the most neglected factor as soon as training ends.
- Continue to eat as a serious athlete would, rather than as someone who is taking a break from their diet, because the body continues with its healing process regardless of whether there is a training session or not.
- Intentionally choose relaxing activities and avoid defaulting to chores, which will make it just another physical day.
- Evaluate how you feel the next morning, as this will indicate whether it was an effective rest day.
None of this has to be complicated. A well-planned rest day often has a greater effect on the next difficult training session than an additional day of training out of guilt.
The Discipline Nobody Talks About
Pushing oneself receives all the attention since it can be seen in the form of mileage and splits, as well as the story afterwards. Getting enough rest is less flashy and, consequently, the part that many athletes will neglect when time becomes a problem.
Similarly, Casinos Analyzer is a part of the due diligence process that doesn’t receive much attention, but is useful for checking the licensing and terms for playing in a particular casino, for example. Athletes who improve year on year are not necessarily those who push themselves to the limit in training: those are the ones who can enjoy a good rest.
