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Importance of Letting Muscles Rest Between Workouts

By Alexis Mills

Whether you prefer to get your exercise through running or heavy lifting, it is just as important to let your body rest and recover when it needs it. For the people who like to go to the gym multiple times a day and are working their body to exhaustion, please realize that resting is just as important as working out.

We have all heard about the benefits of exercising and the consequences of inactivity, but it isn't as common to hear the importance of allowing our bodies to rest between intense workouts. Getting activity every day is important but doing an extreme workout every day will overwork your body.

Know your limits, take your rest days, and treat your body like you love it. See below why your rest days are essential to your workout routine.

Why Rest Days are Important

  • Prevents injury - Overusing your muscles and body will bring it to its breaking point. It actually puts more strain on your muscles and joints, which is where the chance of injuries rise tremendously.
  • Your performance won't be affected - Taking the time your body needs to rest will actually increase your performance in working out or playing sports. You can see even professional athletes' performance dip when they are tired and overworked. A day break can do wonders to letting your body recover from the work you put it through. It's common for athletes to work their upper body and lower body on alternate days so that muscles have a chance to repair.
  • Over-training affects sleep - Too much exercise can make you restless, on high alert, and increase your resting heart rate -- and make it that much harder to fall asleep. Rest days help bring down your heart rate and help you achieve better sleep, which lets your body recover more efficiently.
  • Lower immune system - When you are working out, your immune system is actually repairing muscles and joints as needed. But, when it isn't given proper time to recover, it will suffer from possible sickness and injuries.
  • Create mental fatigue - Taking the necessary breaks your body needs will also help avoid burnout. Don't push yourself too hard and adopt the mentality that rest days are just as helpful to you as the days that you work hard in the gym.

When you set your schedule for weekly workouts, make sure you are incorporating the time in between for your muscles to adjust through the work you put them through. Rest days are an important part of just as much of the process for achieving your fitness goals of building strength, endurance and muscle.

To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Sugar Hill, Ga.

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