Rest days. Hmm. What a concept, right? If you’ve been reading B2B for a while, I’m sure it’s no shocker that I’m not always very good at rest days. Since I teach so much, on my off days I like to try new workouts and gyms and classes, and sometimes those get in the way of my rest days. And, bottom line, I like to workout! I like to sweat once a day. I like that time where it’s just me and my music or my classes. I like being disconnected from my phone or my computer. It’s just such a big part of my life and daily routine that it feels more weird to NOT plan for a workout than it does to plan for one. BUT! Rest is SO important and since I can often use a reminder to rest, I decided to write this post in case any of you can relate.

However, since I’ve started teaching, I do honor my body more and rest at least once a week, as well as vary my workout types and intensities throughout the other days of the week. Our bodies can only go at full speed/intensity for so long before we hit a wall. Realizing this and abiding by this is so important for me now because if I get injured or suffer from overuse, then I potentially won’t be able to teach or be as good and as involved in my classes if I can still teach. So, at this time, here’s a general overview of my workouts each week

• Mondays- Low impact cardio (spinning, cardio machine, etc.) and core
• Tuesdays- Only strength training (no cardio)
• Wednesdays- Cardio (usually running) and then teaching UXF Burn where I do about 75-85% of the workout (or less, depending on what I do beforehand and/or how sore I am from the day before)
• Thursdays- SHRED and then kickboxing, which is a lot!
• Fridays- Rest because I’m usually beat after my double from Thursday
• Saturdays- Either cardio (kickboxing) or strength (BodyPump)
• Sundays- Lately my Sunday’s have been “fun” workouts: yoga, Barre, Core Fusion, etc. which is great because not only is it something new for me, it’s generally lower impact which is always a welcome change for my joints.

So, although it’s a lot (I like to move!), I really try to vary what I’m doing from day to day. There’s absolutely room for improvement, though, because sometimes I feel like I just need a break. Last week, as I mentioned, was one of those weeks. I lost my workout “mojo”, and I can only attribute that to being burned out. Unfortunately, even though I can notice this and understand this about myself, I’m still not very good at CHANGING things. Sure, I can take a rest day after I feel like this and then say I’m going to take it easy, but I just have a really hard time doing that. Once I get going at the gym, I get excited and forget that I should be taking it easy and resting.

…. maybe I should just avoid the gym during those times where I tell myself that I’m going to take it easy… what a thought!

I tried thinking about why I am like this. Why I don’t like going too long without a workout. Why I plan my day around a workout more often than not. Why I have a hard time listening to my body and giving it adequate rest when it needs it.

While I haven’t figure this out entirely, I have come to the conclusion that I’m not afraid missing a workout will make me gain 5lbs. It won’t. I’m not afraid that I will lose all my strength and muscle definition. I won’t. I’m not afraid that my cardio endurance levels will decrease. They won’t. Muscle memory (your heart is a muscle, too!) lasts for much longer than we think it does.

So, what could it be? That’s what I am trying to find out… and it’s not easy! The benefits of rest are so important for us, that it seems like no-brainer to take a rest day or a few rest days, right?

As the image above so clearly states, rest allows our muscles have a chance to repair themselves from the previous day’s workout, it’s a chance for your muscles to get stronger, it helps eliminate burn-out and over-use and is time for you to have an over all “recharged” battery. One of my favorite bloggers, Gina wrote a “Focus On” post on the importance of rest days and I often go back to that post whenever I need a little reminder about WHY I need to rest.

Someday I’ll get better at it and I’ll be able to rest as much as this little bugger.

But, I also need help from you and want to hear from you! Does anyone else suffer with giving their body enough rest like I do? How often do you rest? Do you plan it out? Any tips to help me get better at resting? Any ideas for things to do on a rest day during my normal workout time?