We’ve all heard someone, at some point in our lives, say “miss a day, miss a lot.” Whether it’s about a lesson in school, a day of practice, or just a day in the life of a very busy person. When it comes to fitness, this is not the case.
Rest days are an important part, if not the most important part, of training. They allow our muscles to rest, recover, repair, and ultimately, allow us to come back stronger and more energized. Too many times, we find people beating themselves up about missing a day or week in the gym, thinking it’s going to set them back weeks, or even months in their training. This could not be more wrong.
Think about how long it took you to get as strong as you are right now. We are currently in a strength cycle for a 5 rep max squat, 1 rep max clean and jerk, and 100 (perfect) push-ups for time. We expect many of our athletes will hit personal bests on the re-test. This cycle is 10 weeks long! If it takes you 10 weeks of solid training in the gym to hit a personal best on your lifts, what would make you think it would all be gone in a week? We often get frustrated that it takes so long to see our maxes go up, however, the flip side is also true. It takes just as long, if not longer, to see the gains go away. Sometimes, you can come back from vacation and hit a lifetime PR on a lift that you haven’t done in weeks.
When it comes to building strength, slow and steady wins the race.
Endurance, however, doesn’t quite work that way–it comes and goes a lot quicker. If you want to run or row faster or farther, you need to train your body to do that. You can’t expect to run a 1-mile PR if you haven’t ran in 2 weeks. When you take a week off of “cardio,” for lack of better word, your body starts to de-train, and you’ll lose a lot of your cardiorespiratory endurance. When you run, your heart is working very hard to pump oxygen to your muscles as fast as possible. Over time, your body gets very good at this–and becomes very efficient at it–which makes running feel easier and allows you to run faster and further. However, it is not natural….so when you stop running and training your heart to work in double time, it does just that. This can be very hard on people, because it makes them feel very out-of-shape. The fact of the matter is, you’re not…one week of intentional and consistent training, and you’ll be back!
If you did stop running for a week, or a month, or even a year, and you want to get back into it, here is what I would recommend for you:
1. Have a professional look at the way your feet move when you walk or run and invest in a pair of quality running shoes. The last thing you want to do is accumulate a lot of volume on your joints the wrong way.
2. Find a coach that can help make sure you are running safely and efficiently. I would be more than happy to help!
3. Start off small, in bite size pieces, and don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t feel amazing on the first go around.
You can use these workouts to jump-start your journey back into running! (Related: For help setting goals click here)
DAY 1
2:00 Walk
6:00 Easy Jog
2:00 Walk
DAY 2
5 Sets:
1:30 Run
:30 Walk
DAY 3
1:00 Walk
8:00 Easy Jog
1:00 Walk
DAY 4
5 Sets:
2:00 Run
:30 Walk
DAY 5
2:00 Walk
12:00 Easy Jog
1:00 Walk
You’d be surprised how much of your cardio, stamina, and endurance you can develop and/or recoup in just 5 days! Remember this the next time you step foot into the gym after a vacation/work trip/event that interrupts your fitness routine and you find yourself feeling ‘out of shape’. At the same time, don’t sweat your strength gains if you miss some time! Giving the body time to recover is paramount to sustained health and GAINZ over the long haul.
PS….Here at Perpetual Fitness in Broadview Hts OH, we believe in training both strength AND endurance, as well as agility, speed, power, coordination, stamina, accuracy, balance, and flexibility. These 10 fitness domains, collectively, allow you to be your absolute best—-both in the gym and out! Contact us today to set up a free intro and get started the right way!