Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Overtraining and the Importance of Rest Days

Hi guys,
Over the past couple of weeks we've been talking to you about ways to stay fit and motivated with different workout ideas. However it is important to recognise that there is such a thing as overtraining. Overtraining happens when you train and workout beyond your body's ability to recover properly. While you may think that you're maximising your potential by working your body hard 7 days a week, this can lead to overtraining syndrome and in fact decrease your performance!


Overtraining can have you feeling tired and drained all the time, leave you with muscle soreness, headaches, weaken your immune system and even prevent you from sleeping properly. The key is to find a healthy balance between working out and rest to enable your body to recover properly. Allowing your body to have proper rest days between periods of training will in fact increase your performance and maximise your results.
However having a rest day doesn't mean sitting on the couch and watching TV all day. You can have an active rest day, conditioning your body, getting it ready for that next workout. A proper stretching routine targeting all areas of your body is a great way to spend your rest day. Yoga is a great choice here and will increase your performance across all areas of physical activity. Furthermore if that's not enough for you on your rest day, low intensity work on the treadmill and making use of a foam roller is also another option.

So there you have it guys, don't over work yourselves - make sure you're getting adequate rest days in to maximise your results. I highly recommend trying out yoga if you haven't yet, it'll make all aspects of your physical performance better, and maybe even spiritual. 
That's all for this one... be fit, be happy!

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