Me getting my beauty rest…
Stuff I Did Yesterday:
– Shopped for a metallic shirt without sequins. (Didn’t find one but got a be-sequined version anyhow because it’s always better to err on the side of too sparkly.)
– Googled “foods that do weird things to your body” after another after-beet bowel movement that makes horror movies look amateur (Fun fact: Did you know that only 14% of people* have a recessive gene that makes their poop turn red after eating beets? I AM a special snowflake!!)
– Cooked the most delicious shrimp and edamame dish using only coconut oil and sea salt. (Seriously, how did that happen? It was the laziest dinner ever and yet the yummiest.)
– Danced a little, talked a lot, wrote some stuff, deleted more, did the dishes and took my kids to a park named “Chutes and Ladders” because of its similarity to the board game (minus the snapping alligator).
It was a fun day! But did you notice what wasn’t on my list? Exercise. I did not work out yesterday. Nor did I get my sweat on Sunday or Saturday. I was really tired and still sore from my workouts Monday through Friday so I took some rest. Three straight rest days! Pause: Did you just a)react with horror, clutching your pearls and falling into a faint? Take a day off? Never! b) nod and give me props for listening to my body or c) are already adding beets to your shopping list so you too can see if you’re one of the 14% red crappers found in the wild? (You know who you are!)
Rest days are hard. (Was a more oxymoronic sentence ever written?) For some of us anyhow, forcing ourselves to step down from the plyo box, step back from the weight rack and hot-step ourselves all the way out of the gym without having a panic attack is a very real issue. You know the 80/20 rule? Well when it comes to this I think it’s closer to 95/5, as in 95% of the people use the gym 5% of the time — in which case I’d like to point out per my usual that exercising is awesome and fun and you should get you some, preferably in a sequined shirt — but 5% of the people use the gym 95% of the time. It’s you 5% (whether you work out at the gym, on the running trail or in your garage) that I’m mainly talking to.
Your muscles grow when you rest. We’ve all heard it. But it’s one of those fitness-isms that’s actually true. Exercising breaks you down and it’s the rebuilding that makes you tougher so refusing to take rest days will negate all that hard work you’ve done in the gym. Plus over-training has lots of health consequences. Some are small like an increased heart rate, irritability, excessive fatigue, weight gain (oh yes!) and soreness. But others like heart-muscle damage, thyroid dysfunction, brittle bones, amennorrhea (losing your period), and overuse injuries can have life-long impact. Not to mention all the mental health complications like OCD, depression and anxiety.
People often worry that taking a rest day will set them back in their training and delude themselves that somehow they’re the superhuman exception but in reality not resting will catch up with you. Even (especially?) Olympians take rest days. But seeing as there are a lot of misconceptions about rest days, here are my five favorite tips.
1. Rest days aren’t optional. Get in the mindset that resting isn’t “cheating”, that you’re not a “failure” and your body deserves to be treated with respect and kindness.
2. Schedule the day. Plan ahead for rest days. They have a place in every workout program – you can even call them periodization if you want to sound fancy at the juice bar. (But don’t be too rigid about your plan. If you wake up one morning feeling extra sore or sick, just take some time off.)
3. Don’t schedule the rest. Lots of workout-a-holics I know (and yes, it takes one to know one!) like to do “active rest” where they do yoga or take long walks or something else on their rest days. I’ll probably take some heat for this but I’m not a fan. First, that’s not rest, it’s cross training. And it can be too tempting to make yoga or walking into a power sport. Second, we all have lives outside of exercise (or we should) and for me it’s important to use that “extra” time to do something in a completely different area. I’m not saying you need to refuse to get off your couch and take up counted cross-stitch. But I am saying if you take your kids to the park, have fun playing with your kids and don’t take them to the park just so you can get in some extra exercise.
4. Eat to hunger. Don’t restrict your calories because you didn’t “earn them” from working out. Pay careful attention to your hunger and you will often find that you’ll be less hungry on days you don’t work out (basic math, for the win!). But there will be days where you’re ravenous. I was starving yesterday so I ate a crap ton of food. I don’t know why but I just went with it. Even though I didn’t workout.
5. Get enough sleep. Nothing messes up your system more than not getting enough shut-eye. One of the symptoms of over-training is having a hard time falling asleep and/or insomnia which can start a vicious cycle of over-exercising and under-resting.
I am by no means the expert on this and I’m certainly not perfect – if you’ve read this blog for more than 5 minutes you know how hard I’ve struggled with my propensity to workout too much and too hard. But this is why I’m writing about it. I rest now. (Usually. I still have crazy moments) And it’s made a huge difference. Exercise is all about balance and finding the right balance will take constant tweaking and adjusting but once you learn to embrace the rest day as not just an “off day” but a “productive-in-a-behind-the-scenes-way” day it’s a lot easier to do that.
What’s your philosophy about rest days? Do you have any tips to add to my list? What happens to you after you eat beets?!
*If you get random episodes of urinating red after eating beets it’s called beeturia and is actually an indication your iron levels are too low! So next time you pee pink it might be worth calling your doc to get a finger prick. Or just a great reason to eat a grass-fed-and-finished fatty steak!
:”Rest days are hard.” <-YES! I have a hard time not doing something every day – even if it's just walking. But recently I changed my mindset. And I've learned that my workouts are much more productive when I let my body do it's thing .
So true! I fall prey to momentum, too, though. I get myself all fired up and workout every day and have a hard time stopping, but then I get really run down and take a rest and have a hard time starting back up again.
TMI to say I’m in the 14% club? THAT was a startling discovery the first time I had beets. Yikes.
Good point about the momentum! I get caught up in that too.
I love me some rest days. In fact I probably take too many. Is it a good idea to up protein intake on rest days? Oh, and I found a fabulous metallic shirt that didn’t have sequins at H&M’s yesterday. I think Sears and JCPenney have some options too.
No, I don’t think there’s any need to change your macros for a rest day. Thanks for the H&M tip – I love that store!!
My husband, my good friend and I all have horror show poop after eating beets. Maybe that number is off. Maybe only 14% percent of people actually EAT beets. Lol. (First time ever commenting about my poop. I feel naked.)
Welcome to the oversharing club, Shayna! And good point about people who eat beets lol
I’m just the opposite, I have too many rest days. I am trying to put my good intentions into action, it hasn’t been easy. But I persevere! What I really need, though, is the shrimp/edamame recipe. Did you stir-fry separately? Everything in the pot together? Details, I need details! If you would be so kind. 🙂
Hahah! I think there was magic involved because I swear it wasn’t my cooking skills. All I did was heat up the pan, add some coconut oil (2 Tbsp?) throw in a bag of frozen raw peeled shrimp and then sprinkled the sea salt on top. I’m as surprised as you are!
I have a hard time with rest days because outside of formal exercise, my lifestyle is pretty sedentary. I sit in front of a computer working all day, and I feel lethargic and fatigued if I don’t DO something. So my “rest” days end up including a long walk on the treadmill, slow enough that I can read.
Anytime you can get in a good read is a good day;)
Wow – so good! I decided last month to train seriously for teh CrossFit Open next spring and have upped my CrossFit-focused workouts from 3/week to 5/week. I saw great things for about 3 weeks and then starting last week kinda bit the dust (literally – two fell doing box jumps two weeks in a row). I had taken two pretty chill rest days per week, but felt UBER discouraged. “I’m working hard! Why am I feeling burned out!” Oh, wait.
Interrupting my regularly scheduled program with a rest day today and a full week of deloading, extra sleep, and extra food if needed.
Thanks for the great advice to a fellow 95%-er.
Good for you for figuring out what you need! And it won’t stall your progress – I’ve found that being able to go all out during my workouts because I’m not tired and sore makes a huge difference. Good luck with the CrossFit Open!!
Alright, alright. Quit yelling at me! Wait…I’m projecting, as rest days are not usually part of my vocabulary despite the fact that the only thing I SHOULD be doing is resting. As you know and can relate to all too well, this is a big issue in my life. I can tell you it’s been months since I’ve had a day without some sort of exercise, even if it’s just a long walk, simply because of the addiction, the OCD and doing it “just in case” something should happen tomorrow and I can’t work out (you know, like the apocalypse or someone chaining me to the couch and stuffing Twinkies down my throat.)
My point? Thank you for the reminder. I really do need to honor my body and not the compulsive thoughts that urge me to keep pushing it’s limits in an unhealthy way. As for beets? I’ve never had them, but now I want to see if they turn my pee purple or red.
“simply because of the addiction, the OCD and doing it “just in case” something should happen tomorrow and I can’t work out (you know, like the apocalypse or someone chaining me to the couch and stuffing Twinkies down my throat.)” AH YES. I know those thoughts well:))
So very true! Rest days are difficult, but they are the reason we get better, stronger, faster…etc. If you let them, they can be fun, too 🙂
I feel like this post was directed right at me today! I am exhausted, feel a little sick, and am grumpy today! Sunday is my usual rest day, but I have a 5k on Sat so I knew I needed to switch that to Friday. So I am on day 9 of workouts…and I’m over it. Should have listened to my body this morning when it kept slamming on the snooze!
I hate beets…so I’ll never know if I’m one of the 14%
Well I am psychic! Er, I mean, psycho. Nevermind. Good luck in your race Saturday!!!
Try this: Fast on your rest day.
That is usually when I fast. Although I don’t fast every week.
I don’t have rest days. I have hard days, easy days and very, very easy days. Those days may have just some kicks down the hall or a jog to the car in the parking lot.
My body never takes a day off, so neither does my intention to do best by my body and mind. It’s just the nature of my actions change.
Except when I lounge around and watch a movie marathon all day. Gotta love James Bond!
I just wrote about rest days not too long ago & all for them I take 2 every week! 🙂
What, only 14%? I thought everyone got to experience that toilet moment, “OMG! What’s wrong with me?? I must be dying, or else why would it be so red?? Oh…that’s right…beets.”
Hahaha – that is such a MOMENT, no?!
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Charlotte, once again, you seem to have invaded my brain. I have been telling myself to take a rest day for months. LIterally. I’ve done a couple of those fake rest days, but not since P90X and Insanity a couple years ago, have I taken a rest day. Until last week.
I was at a conference for work, and even though I had time in the morning and even though there was a gym at the place I stayed, I didn’t even want to work out! I didn’t work out at all. But…sigh. I did walk at least an hour every day and went on a couple hilkes. Damn. But today? Nothing! Tomorrow? Nothing! (Maybe. Remind me?)
Haha – I’m like mad cow disease! And take the rest. Guilt-free:)
Sounds like a fun and relaxing day! Way to go Charlotte!
I love your overshares, and I need me some beets to try! 🙂
I train hard. But I LOVE me some rest days. I’ve experimented with six days weeks this year in peak training for the half ironman some weeks, but I’ve found I absolutely positively need Saturday or Sunday off to do nothing (or errands or see a movie or shopping or laundry, but not a workout). It makes my weekdays a little more hectic but physically and mentally I need relax time. 🙂
I am not good at this!
I like to move, walk, lift heavy things, and feel like I am getting my money’s worth from my gym membership. I used to lie about taking a rest day.
But I am trying to enforce Sundays as a day of rest. Even if it makes me so crabby my husband is afraid to leave me home alone.
Oh yeah, I also like to cross stitch.
Cross-stitching is seriously underrated! I learned as a kid and kept at it until a few years ago. I need to pull my hoop back out!
Great post, thanks! I know it’s important to take a rest day and to listen to your body in general, but I have a really hard time with this one (usually my “rest day” means instead of running/lifting/circuits I only do 40 minutes of cycling). So it was nice to read this post coming from a person with whom I seem to have a lot in common in terms of attitudes towards food and exercise. Tip #4 was particularly apt (Don’t restrict your calories because you didn’t “earn them” from working out) for me.
However, I read earlier in the comments that you and another reader use the rest day as a day to fast.. I feel like this could be troublesome advice, and also that in a way it’s kind of cheating; it certainly provides a handy way of getting out of following tip #4! I hope you understand that I say this with respect because I do believe you’re well informed and genuinely advocate being healthy (and I love your blog!), but I felt it might be good to bring it up because fasting when skipping exercise seems like a strategy that could be exploited in a harmful way, especially for us OCD folks out there.
Oh no I totally get it – and you make a great point. I should have elaborated more on my comment. I just wrote a whole post a few days ago about how I fast for religious purposes 1 day/month. I schedule my fast day to be on a rest day because working out without being able to drink water is recipe for disaster. But I do NOT fast on every rest day. Sorry I wasn’t more clear! I definitely don’t advocate not eating because you are taking a rest day. (Although if you do practice intermittent fasting, many people find it easier to schedule their fasts on rest days…)
This: ” because fasting when skipping exercise seems like a strategy that could be exploited in a harmful way, especially for us OCD folks out there.” is very true. Well said and I appreciate you pointing this out!!
I can relate to number 4! If I don’t exercise I feel like I didn’t earn the calories or don’t deserve to eat more. But as my bf has said and as I now realise- our bodies don’t operate on a day to day basis- sometimes exercise can make you hungrier the next day or the muscles you’ve gained from exercise need to be fed ALL the time! Awesome post 🙂
I think it’s hilarious that you say that “you don’t have to refuse to get up off your couch and take up counted cross-stitch.” Because that’s EXACTLY what I do on my rest days. As in, wake up at 8:30am, turn on tv, cross-stitch, cook, cross-stitch more, turn tv off at 11p. And I’m totally fine with it, it’s how I relax 🙂
This makes me feel so much better!!! I lost my goal of lbs almost 2 years ago and to get to that goal I worked out 7 days week. For me, that was the only way to do it, otherwise I knew that I may not get to my goal. Almost 2 years later, I am FIGHTING with myself to take ONE day off a week!!! I don’t plan the day, I basically wake up that morning and deem that as “rest” day. Some days I make it,others I feel so guilty and end up working out that night anyway. I know I need this and I really can tell a difference when I do take a day off. I just wish I could get over the fact that I am doing something wrong when I take that day off. I have added in more strength and Plyo that I have ever done, so I know that it is VITAL for me to rest those muscles. I have noticed that I am more hungry on my rest days, I already eat every 2.5 -3 hours and I swear I am literally counting to eat after an hour on the rest day!! Should I be really taking more than one day off a week? I f so, I really need to work myself up mentally for that!!
Thank you for this post!!!!
totally agree about the rest days. I am a personal trainer, and I often see people doing back-to-back strength training workouts for the same muscle group. Not a good idea. The muscles grow and strengthen on rest days. Without rest, you won’t see change!
I don’t know about the whole beet thing though – too funny!
I love your insight regarding “Don’t schedule rest” – that we all have, or should have, other things to do besides exercise. I’m a new blogger and decided to devote an entire category to R&R. One of the things I constantly remind myself about is balance. Thanks for the reminder.
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WOW, Im so glad that I read this. I have been exercising everyday for a long time and have only just started adding a rest day. One of the hardest things I have had to do. Still find it hard to get my head around it. I know that its the right thing to do for my body but its as if I have a little voice in my head that tells me I will ruin all my hard work by missing a day. Even though I know in reality that it is not the case.
Since adding my rest day though I do feel like I get more out of my other workouts and dont feel so run down and tired.
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I know this entry is ages old, but I felt like saying something because you just nailed me completely!
I travel by bike everywhere so have stopped counting that as exercise which means that on my supposed ‘rest’ days I’m still cycling around!
Also yoga-ing. Which means sore calves alllllways.
Reading all of those risks of over-exercising that you listed worries me as I have experienced some and am scared of experiencing the rest.
For example, I keep getting injuries and not stopping and they drag on for months and months. I have been exercising like mad and managed to gain a few kilos recently and have been pretty upset and confused by that. Plus, I’m frequently tired and irritable.
It’s just so hard! 🙁 But knowing that it’s necessary and that other people who get what is going on in my head surrounding it is so reassuring! When my friends and family tell me to cut it back i kind of subconsciously think they worry too much or are being competitive or something (totally irrational I know). So it’s easier to accept coming from you!
I will try. Thanks for this entry 🙂
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