T Nation

Rest Days. Total Rest?

Beginners
#1

i’m pretty sure most of us have felt like training or just doing something physical during our rest days. i feel pretty restless on wednesdays and sundays, which are my off days. i train mond, tues, thurs/fri and sats.

ive read a few articles which specified NOT to do anything physical, even light jogging while i also read elsewhere that there were ppl doing stuff like crunches EVERYDAY. (some bodybuilder did like what 2000 sit ups everyday?) so where do you draw the line? do you guys still train on your off days? or do you muster the discipline and just rest.

*personally id like to be able to play bball or just do some ab work on my off days. which is today. )):

#2

I virtually never have complete “rest” days. Don’t think I’ve taken a day off from gym/physical activity of some sort in 2 months or so…and I feel fine.

#3

Same here my rest days are usually just easier days.

You need to learn what works for your body, each person is different. If you are young and your body recovers quick just make sure you split your work that gives the body part the rest day. Yes your endocrine system needs the rest to repair itself, but I have found I get best results by just varying my workout and I really decide what to work when it feels rested.

When starting out its best to just test out different methods but don’t change every few weeks because honestly you can’t tell with that short of time. Put in a few months at least then assess your progress and how you felt about that regime. Over time you will build a system that works best your YOU.

Hope this helps

#4

hungry4more: ok thanks for the input man. ;D

renzema: thanks but thats not exactly quite what im talking about. im no professional bodybuilder nor aspiring to be one. what i meant was that, sometimes we just want to have some physical activity during our rest days like playing ball, soccer, football etc. or maybe we just wanto do some light ab work or go for a jog. my training program, the 5/3/1 is still the same, 4 times a week. but i just wanna know if its okay if you dont REALLY rest totally on your rest days. yup. (: