Rest is as equally important as exercising itself. Just how important is it though? Assuming you are exercising at a moderate to intense level 4-5 times a week, rest is essential to seeing the payoff of your exercise routine. Most people think transformation happens during exercise and that is completely false. While you may notice a pump, increased blood flow and fatigue, the body makes its “true” transformation in a resting state.
Sleep is incredibly important to recharge, repair and heal the body as many healing substances produced by the body are secreted at this time. Ensuring that you take time-outs to recharge is wise. Pacing yourself with your day-to-day activities, your wants and your desires, is even wiser. I have seen too many people crash and burn because rest was not implemented as part of a healthy lifestyle. Of course there are wonderful opportunities that come from crashing and burning, however, I believe there are more gentle ways to learn, grow, love and become healthy.
A nice way to gage the amount of rest you need between workouts is how often and how intense you are exercising. If you are in an intense workout regimen, it is important to get that much more rest. Listen to your body and begin to gage how you feel over a period of time. At first you are going to feel sluggish and that is fine, but make sure you rest when you need to. As I have said in the past, overtraining can easily happen so take time to rest and not feel guilty.
If you have any questions or comments email me at klarson@cwhwichita.com

Be happy and healthy!

Kyle