The Importance of Rest

One of the biggest mistakes that people at all fitness levels make is over-exercising. This can be especially detrimental for those trying to burn the fat. Rest is like the silence between the notes of a song – one doesn’t mean much without the other. You must know when and for how long to rest.

The effects of over-exercising cannot be understated. If you work too hard, you run the risk of – at least – slowing your fat burning program and – at worst – killing it altogether. An injury is nature’s way of telling you to take it easy. You can’t burn the fat if you can’t exercise. The key is a slow and steady program that keeps you moving to take advantage of the synergy created by resistance and endurance training along with a proper diet.

Rest is also critical in making gains for both resistance exercise – like free weights or machines – and endurance exercise or cardio.

When you exercise rigorously, you actually tear the muscle fibers and they need time to heal. The larger the muscles and the harder you work them, the more rest they need. This process can be easily felt in the form of soreness after a workout. This soreness may not manifest itself until a day or two after a hard workout. This should give you an idea of how long it takes to recover.

It would nice to be able to say, “OK, you need eight hours of sleep, three days off per week from exercise and 30 seconds of rest between each set when lifting weights.” Unfortunately, while this might work for some people in general terms, it fails to take into consideration a host of critical factors.

Age

You might think that older persons need more rest than younger ones. Actually, it all depends on your fitness level and genetics. In fact, older persons often can get by without as much sleep as younger ones with no ill effects. Many older runners are in the best shape of their lives after years of training and not only can they leave young folks in the dust, they can do it every day of the week. The same applies to lifters – there are fifty year olds benching over 400lbs. – they didn’t get that way overnight, but over a lifetime of hard training.

Fitness Level

The fitter you are, the less rest you need, right? Nope – not exactly. It turns out that for endurance sports like running this is generally true, but not for weight lifting. You actually work your separate body parts less with longer rest periods – 5 to 7 days between muscle groups – and take 2 to 3 minutes between sets as opposed to the recommended 30 seconds for newbies. This is because an advanced lifter has larger muscles that tear more and their workouts tend to be much more intense. Bench pressing 250lbs. x 6 times is not the same as bench pressing 135lbs. x 12 times

Genetics

Some people – because of superior genetics – can literally walk through walls all day every day with no problem. These people - normally professional athletes at the top of their sport - are rarer than hen’s teeth and even they need extended rest periods after heavy competition. Hence the “off seasons” in professional sports. Even normal people vary in their need for rest making it a bad idea to copy somebody else’s fitness program.

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