Active Rest Days

Rest and recovery. Words not often taken to heart, but are important and should be discussed.

After you've pushed your body to the max and can feel the results, it's time for some active rest. You don't necessarily need to be a couch potato on your rest days. After all, you still have work, run errands and the list goes on. But you should avoid vigorous activities and vigorous exercise. The main objective of a rest day is to boost your mental and physical recharging. And during this time you are able to provide your muscles the adequate time to recover and rebuild.

Activities to be performed on active rest days vary from person to person. Personally, I am big on focusing on stretching, foam rolling and hitting the reset on my body. While adding in cycling, swimming, a slow jog (a pace where you can actively have a conversation) or brisk walk. My favorite activity on my rest days is to just walk. But listen to your body, working out causes microscopic tears in muscle tissue that your body will then need to build on and repair. This process also entails a certain amount of inflammation, which can take up to three days to resolve. So hydrate, sleep and take a walk.

Xoxo, MK