Rest days are an important topic but tough to give a definitive answer to. 

Acknowledge that training is a stimulus, and by adapting to the stimulus, we recover, improve and become more efficient at dealing with the demands of training. Which makes it very important.

Recovery is a complex topic, though. It’s not just about taking a day off. Adequate nutrition and sleep are essential, as are hydration and good mobility. Also what types of training you do, training intensities, how you organise your sessions and how experienced you are, all play into the rest day topic. 

Here is a general guide. You need more days of rest if:

1. In strength training, you lift heavy weights close to your max, and your workouts take about an hour.
2. You are new to exercise or getting back into exercise after a break. 
3. You do impact forms of cardio, and your progress and push your limits hitting PBs with times or distance. 

You need fewer rest days if:

1. In strength training, you don’t push super hard and aren’t overly bothered by going heavier or doing more reps. 
2. You do a mixture of training where the intensities are spread. Yoga, running, pilates, hiking etc
3. You go for light jogs to get some fresh air and clear your head. 
4. You implement active recovery days via deloads and zone 2 cardio
5. You organise your training in a way to allow for recovery within the design of the session.

Rather than considering how many you need based on an industry average? Listen to your body! Are you progressing, are you achieving the things you want, do you feel burned out, has the enjoyment dipped, do you keep getting niggles?

Taking an extra rest day is an option. But, so is not being an idiot in training and beasting the lift out of your body every session. If you like training 5-6x per week, that can be done if you are smart with how you design your training plan. 

If you have a question for me, please feel free to join in my weekly Q&As which I host on my Instagram channel. 

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