Today might be that one day you have been waiting for a very long time. I used to look up to rest day in bodybuilding and cheat days even before I actually joined the gym. I just used to sit there on my couch and fantasize about joining a gym and then taking a day off from the diet and the workout. Don’t judge me, it is completely normal to do that, okay?!
A lot of you might be asking yourself, what to do on a rest day from bodybuilding?
Well, though you are just resting and there aren’t many ways you can mess up a rest day in bodybuilding, there are a lot of dos and don’ts when you are dedicated to working on your body and want to make the most out of it. We are definitely not sitting at home like a couch potato and neither we are going to occupy chairs for a long time.
The Rest Day Rules – The “Do”s
1. Sleep
As much as you might hate to sleep on a rest day in bodybuilding, or as much as you would love to sleep the entire rest day, you cannot do either. Do sleep a little more than your normal sleep schedule but do not spend the entire day sleeping.
If you are hearing it for the first time, then I could bet that this won’t be your last, but sleep is like a medicine to your healing or repairing the body and if you can take sleep as a supplement like protein, then take it! But sadly you can’t, you will have to sleep just the right amount today!
2. Cardio
If you have been sitting at home the entire day or you were just sitting on your desk in the office, you can go out and walk for 30 minutes to about an hour. Get a little stroll and breath the evening and the sunset. Don’t run and heat your body up, but a little stroll through the park can open your body well.
3. Stretch
Getting sore muscles and having problems in moving around during a rest day in bodybuilding is quite common, in fact, that is the whole purpose of it, letting your body recover from the pain.
Getting up, walking around and doing some stretches can regulate the blood circulation in your body, it will also subsidize the pain for a little while. A good stretching routine greatly assists muscle recovery.
4. Stay Hydrated
After sleep, this is the second most important habit that you need to adapt as someone who is out to develop their body. Drinking water has more benefits than I can list out. It helps in weight loss, aids muscle recovery cools down your body after a workout session, the list would just go on.
If you are someone who is not used to drinking a lot of water a day, then I would just recommend keeping a bottle wherever you sit for a major part of your day. So, if you are a gamer, student, or a working professional then keep it by your desk and in front of you. If you are someone who spends a lot of time outdoors then just carry a bottle of water around with you.
Drinking a lot of water will just become a habit when it is convenient to get water.
5. Eat Right
It’s a rest day and not a cheat day, so don’t stuff yourself with a lot of junk food and don’t skip any meals. Your body needs protein and carbs in the right quantity to repair your muscles.
So eat right, eat salads, and meat, and protein shakes but don’t jump to pizzas right away especially if you have just started following a diet.
Clubbing a cheat day and a rest day in bodybuilding is fine as long as you still meet the minimum requirements of your body in both diet and rest.
6. Stay Motivated
Your body might be aching a lot today and I can completely understand your frustration. At times, the idea of quitting the gym will also pass through your mind. Stay motivated and stay focused on your plan to get fitter.
Cheat day and rest day in bodybuilding are like getting back into the comfort zone, the one that you were in before you joined the gym. Remember, the day is to make your body better and help you work out better and not make you fall back into your old habits of not going to the gym.
Get comfortable, yes, it is a rest day in bodybuilding after all, but don’t get so comfortable that it becomes hard for you to get out of your bed tomorrow.
The Rest Day Rules – The “Don’t”s
1. Workout
This comes when you cannot find the answer to your question, “what to do on a rest day from bodybuilding?”
It is a rest day in bodybuilding, the last thing you are supposed to do is build your body! After spending a while at the gym, I know it can be tempting to skip out on rest day and just walk to the gym and start working out, but you are doing more harm to your body than good, by working out.
Just like you get the weekend off from work to relax and return with new energy, your body needs that too. Even though working out is a lot of fun for you, it is not for your muscles. If your muscles do not recover from the tears gained during the previous workout, you might end up stunting your growth.
Also, the daily workout will eventually turn to a pattern for your body and then no amount of workout will have any effect on your muscle development. Just take a day off!
2. Heat your body
Doing a little bit of cardio and stretching will be great for your body recovery, but don’t end up heating your body during this. The process of muscle repair is exothermic that means it generates heat and makes your body warm. If you start heating your body during this, you will end up messing up with the normal functioning of your body.
In the best case, you will have a muscle ache in the worked out part or the ones that heated the body up. Or you can get the flu just by making your body too warm, so let’s not do it and end up skipping a few days at the gym.
3. Live, breath and snort the Gym
You are out of the gym now and you are not even supposed to think about what you will do when you get to the gym the next day. It is a rest day in bodybuilding, so go out with your friends or just watch some Netflix, but don’t think about the gym.
You need to do something outside of the gym to challenge your mind and not just your body every single day.
4. Lift heavyweights
You have been lifting a lot of weights in the gym and that is the reason why you need a rest day in bodybuilding so that you don’t lift weights. If you need to move something heavy, then I would highly recommend that you don’t do it on the rest day, but push it to another day. We are all anyways way good at procrastinating.
If someone needs your help in lifting something up, then you can go ahead and do it, but that does not mean you do your house-shifting today
Okay, Bros and Broettes, guess you now we know what to do on a rest day from bodybuilding. So, time to rest the hell out of the routine and enjoy it while it lasts for we are headed back to the gym tomorrow! Enjoy a fit and healthy life and follow Cannot Cardio for more fitness posts! Remember to Stay Awesome!
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