“We need coaches to prescribe rest rather than workload, as athletes will always overdose.” –Jureg Feldman, FACT Canada
“You need to take two full rest days immediately.”
My trainer was scolding me! I couldn’t believe I was hearing this — again. I thought to myself, I’m running less, like he asked. I’m cross-training MORE, like he said. I even have biceps from doing nearly 30 straight days of workouts! He should be impressed!
I could feel my skin getting warm. I felt ashamed of myself for not being able to do more and ‘get away with it’. He could see it on my face, yet he continued to lecture me. He asked me honestly why I am afraid of a rest day. Is it because I am afraid I will lose all the I’ve worked for and gain 100 lbs back because of too much rest? I replied that that’s part of it, but it’s also that I feel this need to cross something off my list every day. That workout is one thing I know I can do, and do right. The satisfaction I get can’t be gained from RESTING.
When I rest, it feels like everything is on hold. I feel like someone hit the pause button on my progress and growth, and I’m not getting any better that day. When in fact, all the gains we make from our workouts are made when we are resting and recovering. In my case, my heart rate was incredibly high, a sure sign of overtraining. My heart couldn’t repair itself when it hadn’t had a rest day in 30 days. My heart. I need my heart! I took those two rest days, plus some.
The dilemma for athletes isn’t that we can’t and won’t do more. We’ll do it all, if you ask us. We’ll run every damn day, each one harder than the next. We’ll push it with two-a-days, always rise to the occasion, and we cannot say no to a challenge.
Our bodies will pay the price for it. We’ll suffer injuries, fatigue, burnout.
My solution: in order to be able to FEEL like I did something to better myself on my rest days, I decided to stretch really well on those days. I’ll warm my body up just a bit, and then stretch it out. I can ‘check’ that off my list and try to remind myself I’m getting better that day.
How do you react to being ‘held back’? Is it hard to take a rest day? Does anyone remind you to get the rest you need?
Thanks for the article Anne, you are speaking my language. Let’s just say, I stink at “rest” days, they really don’t exist correctly for me. I try to do just light weights and body weight exercises on these days, but I find that it motivates me to get running.
The quote from Jureg Feldman says it all. I need a trainer to define rest that suits my fitness level and personal drive.
Dean, It sounds like you are extremely motivated, almost to a fault
I hope to someday be at the level where I can do light body weight stuff on my rest days. For now, I need to get comfortable just resting and nothing else. So many of us struggle with this, I knew that this topic would resonate with people! When I saw the quote on a friend’s Facebook page I just had to share it here.