Keeping Active on Non-Exercise Days

When you’re planning your exercise schedule, you need to factor in a few rest days. Harvard Medical School mentions that regular exercise is the only way to guarantee that you remain healthy. Despite the suggestion, it’s not a good thing to keep exercising every single day of the week. Healthline notes that there is a slew of benefits that come with incorporating a rest day into your exercise activity.

For most people who have developed an exercising habit, taking a rest day seems like a waste. They see it as giving up on chasing the dream of staying fit. For others, the rest day is a respite from the grind that they’re putting themselves through otherwise to remain healthy. Regardless of how you see the rest day, it shouldn’t be a day to “let yourself go.” In fact, you can remain active on your non-exercise days in several ways, including:

• Biking: Ideally, you’d aim for an outdoor bike ride at a leisurely pace, but you can just as easily do it indoors. Many people would say that it’s the same as a spin class, in that sense, but you’d be wrong. Instead of the intensity of a spin class, you have a leisurely ride at your own pace. The outdoors would simply provide better scenery and experiences than indoors.
• Swimming: As far as workouts go, there’s few more fill-body than swimming. Most people don’t incorporate swimming into their typical exercise, and having it as an option for your rest day is good. Chances are swimming will work the muscles that don’t usually get focused on during your regular workout schedule.
• Hiking: This activity is outdoor only, and requires you to do a bit of planning. Even so, this activity is one of those that offers repeatable unique experiences. Depending on your locale, you can spend each trip exploring a different trail or finding new ones. Even more important is the fact that this activity can also be done at your own pace, allowing you to, quite literally, stop and smell the flowers.
• Yoga: You probably stretch during your workouts and might even perform yoga as part of the routine, but doing it on a rest day is a different experience. Some people use their rest-day yoga to explore the more relaxed poses, keeping their bodies pliable while not taxing it. This consideration is essential, as muscle healing requires you not to overwork the same muscles you did in the past.

Avoid Injury with Rest Days

The most prevalent problem with people who are obsessed with working out is the incidence of injuries. Broken bones can require a visit to Express MRI, and torn ligaments may need months of work to heal. Rest days help to keep your body active while allowing it the much-needed time to heal. As with all activities, exercise needs to be done in moderation if you intend to keep healthy and happy. Overdoing it will only end in disaster and put you out of action for many weeks or months.