In order to elevate your performance every time you dive into the pool, step into the weight room or hit the track, start thinking of it like your next big event. We set ourselves up for success and don’t expend all our energy or effort leading up to the big moment. They’re the days when we fuel up, get a good night’s sleep, rest, relax, recharge. Why is this? Growth days help prepare our bodies for our best performance. If you’ve ever trained for a race or a big game, you know you don’t go all-out leading up to it: The Broncos wouldn’t play a full, high-intensity game the night before they were in the Super Bowl, and professional runners don’t do an uphill marathon the night before they compete. Avoid pushing your body too hard on these days and instead focus on low-intensity movements that allow you to channel energy without activating your nervous system. If physical activity is already a part of your long-term emotional health strategy, try building in active rest for your growth days-activities like yoga or a brisk walk will give your muscles time to repair and rebuild without overdoing it. Taking two to three days off from intense exercise each week while engaging in some form of active recovery will allow you to get your blood flowing to help facilitate muscle repair. However, overtraining can lead to irritability, sleeplessness, diminished performance and decreased appetite, all of which contribute to mental exhaustion and fatigue. When it comes to training, a good workout can boost endorphins, the “happy hormone,” and help us feel calmer in the moment. Growth days are also vital to our mental health. When we don’t give our bodies enough time and nutritious food between workouts to replenish this fuel source, we start feeling fatigued and tend to underperform.įewer growth days equals less energy and less gains. As we exercise, our glycogen gets depleted. Glycogen is the molecule that fuels activity. Growth days also are the time when our bodies replenish glycogen levels. If there are no growth days in your routine, continuous muscle breakdown may hinder your progress. Strenuous workouts cause muscle breakdown, while rest allows our bodies to build it back up. Downtime between workouts (whether you’re lifting, doing cardio or training for a sport) is when our bodies have a chance to actually build muscle. Growth daysįirst, we need to change our thinking: Days away from the gym might be known as rest days, but really, they’re growth days. Here’s why rest days are so important to see the gains you’re working toward. When working out this can be harder to see while we may think more exercise equals better results, science says this isn’t the case. When it comes to classes or work, we recognize that a few days off can be recharging and renewing.
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