Rest Days

[Vickyloo]

I appreciate the importance of rest days but I get a bit confuddled.

What exactly do you do on your rest days? Absolutely nothing? Is it okay to go to work (I have quite a physical job)? Cardio? A different muscle group from the one you did the day before? Or doesn't it really matter?

What do you do on yours?

[morethanjustamom]

I do three heavy upper body days (bench press and overhead press), two heavy lower body days (squat and deadlift), and two rest days, where I clean house, work in the yard, go swimming with the kids, or play frisbee, volleyball or badminton...basically whatever I feel like doing based on how tired/sore I am.

Your body is probably adapted to the type of work you do, especially if you've been doing it for a while, so it doesn't really qualify as "exercise". I guess that would be an active rest day.

[epaleocookbooks]

You can alternate muscle groups or do light cardio on your rest days. If you work your legs real hard at the gym, you don't want to run a marathon the next day, but a jog to work out some soreness is fine. If you choose to just work on a different muscle group, just keep in mind that a lot of lifts, while targeted for one muscle group, use others for leverage. You don't want to risk injuring those other groups.

[tanrazz]

I'm committed to doing at least 30 minutes of fitness-focused activity a day, which doesn't include chores, so on my designated rest day, I usually either take a walk with my family or do an hour of easy yoga. Sometimes I'll try something new like tai chi.

[LRB]

Rest days are great for mobility work.

[NukeTheUnicorns]

On my rest days I do skill work (handstands, L-sits, and combat skills), stretching, and low level activity like walking and light cycling. It is okay to go to work.

[airen123]

Cardio is absolutely fine for "rest days". Some weeks I work out every day with some form of cardio (usually light jogging or elliptical), some weeks I don't do anything at all on the weekends.

[VorJoshigan]

I try to walk at least 1/2 hour on my rest days. I just purchased 2 months of Yoga classes, so maybe I'll be doing one of the easier/stretching classes on my rest days. or hell, maybe I'll need a rest day after that - I've never done Yoga before.