PSA: Skipping rest days doesn’t make you a badass. 🙅🏻‍♀️

It does get you more tired, stressed, inflamed and farther from your goals though. #hardtruth

💤 What to do on rest days:
Hydrate 💦
Focus on your nutrition 🍴 (adequate carbs & protein)
Light movements like walking and stretching 🧘‍♀️

What NOT to do:
Drastically Reducing your calories or carb intake- I see this strategy often, which is based on the assumption you don’t need as much ⛽️ because of less activity. From my perspective, this can create unnecessary stress, potential disordered eating behaviors and it’s best to consume your usual amount of calories on rest days to ensure muscle growth and recovery.

Benefits 👇🏻

1. Allows time for recovery
•Contrary to popular belief, a rest day isn’t about being lazy on the couch. It’s during this time that the beneficial effects of exercise take place. Specifically, rest is essential for muscle growth.

2. Prevents muscle fatigue
•Remember, exercise depletes your muscles’ glycogen levels. If these stores aren’t replaced, you’ll experience muscle fatigue and soreness.
Plus, your muscles need glycogen to function, even when you’re not working out. By getting adequate rest, you’ll prevent fatigue by letting your glycogen stores refill.

3. Reduces risk of injury
•Overtraining also exposes your muscles to repetitive stress and strain. This increases the risk of overuse injuries, forcing you to take more rest days than planned.

4. Improves performance
•Rest has the opposite effect. It increases energy and prevents fatigue, which prepares your body for consistently successful workouts.

5. Supports healthy sleep
•While regular exercise can improve your sleep, taking rest days is also helpful. Rest can help you get better sleep by letting your hormones return to a normal, balanced state.

💞✌🏼Link in bio for coaching

#onlinepersonaltrainer#personaltrainer#onlinenutritioncoach#nutritioncoach#restdays#restday#restdaybenefits#dontskiprestday#disorderedeating#dietculturedropout#fitnesscoach#fitnesscoaching#education#newyorkfitness#hudsonvalleyny#explorepage#nourishyourbody#nourish#carbs#eatyourcarbs