Welcome to the day you had been waiting for a long time. Probably more after you saw it on the Week 1 Gym Routine for Beginners or ever since you joined the gym and if you had heard of this slang, then you would have been looking up to it. If not from the first day, then definitely from the day after your first weight training session. Or maybe you are one of those who always detested the idea of taking rest from something.
Well, either way, in physical training gym routines you are supposed to take a day off and rest irrespective of the fact that you like it or not.
Rest day doesn’t mean that supposed to just sit at home and relax, you have to keep your body moving but not a lot. The whole idea of a rest day is a lot different from what you might think and there are certain rules to be followed during the rest day – even after you are done with the gym routine for beginners.
Day 4 – Rest Day
Today, unlike any other day, in the gym routine for beginners, you are not supposed to be working out or sweating at the gym. We are going to sit at home or go to the office and we will spend a major part of our day there. But since we are following the gym routine for beginners, we will also go to the park once for a little low-intensity cardio session, do a little bit of walking and stretching and keep the body moving.
There are 4 major issues that you are going to face on your first rest day.
- Beginner Pains
- Being too thirsty or not at all
- The urge to never get out of the bed
- Mistakes on the rest day
Don’t stress out too much, it is a rest day, after all, there is no fixed schedule or number or a posture to be followed like on all other gym days. Just following some basic tips and tricks, some rules for the rest day, all of it only to maximize the rest day.
Otherwise, you can just at home and relax and deal with body pain tomorrow.
Beginner Pains
You have been sitting down for a few minutes and now you want to get something that is a few steps away from you. Sooner or later through the day, you will realize that it is a bad idea to not have anything within one hand reach, including the loo!
Your body is going to pain and that is, to some extent, good because it is recovering. I know how much you would hate to move right now, but I recommend against not moving because otherwise, it is going to get worse tomorrow and you won’t be able to follow the gym routine for beginners.
Also, you will be tempted to take a painkiller and sleep, but stay away from it! Stay away from pills as much as you can. Just keep moving a little every few minutes and you will be just fine.
Stay Hydrated
On the first rest day, of gym routine for beginners, you will either be very thirsty, when your body heats up with all the muscle repair, or you won’t feel thirsty at all out of your habit of drinking less water.
Either way, if you feel thirsty then drink water, and if you don’t, still drink water! There is a whole list about the benefits of drinking water. I can’t go on to list all of them here, it would be a whole lot of them. But you can definitely go an read here, the article covers almost all the benefits of drinking. That’s a big list, but I am still saying “almost all”.
Drinking water will keep your body cool as well as help it in muscle recovery. If you are thirsty, don’t put off drinking water even for a minute, just go ahead and do it. Keep drinking water and keep recovering.
Urge to not move at all
A body at rest wants to stay at rest, irrespective of the applied external force. That’s Gym-bro Newton’s Law of motion. I’m not making this up, I am just quoting someone. To be fair, what he said is completely correct, because right now, that is you for the rest of the day, even though everyone else will recommend highly against it. No one likes Gym-bro Newton, because he spoke the truth.
The idea is that if you don’t move while your body is recovering, you will feel a little bit stiffer and would definitely find it difficult to work out, you won’t be able to follow gym routine for beginners. The pain you feel right now when you move a muscle, that will turn into stiffness tomorrow.
Instead of staying at home for the entire day and doing nothing at all, go to the park and take a little walk, do some stretching. If you have a dog, just take it out for a walk, if you don’t then pretend that you have one. Not moving today, will bring fatigue tomorrow, desire for another rest day, and more body pain on the day after your next workout.
The Dos and Don’ts
Now, this might sound weird but we do have a do’s and don’ts list – for the rest day. Yes, the rest day has rules. It is like having office rules on a Sunday, but yes, rest day has rules.
But these are not rules to be followed or you will be fined for not following rest day properly. Rest day will help your body recover irrespective of you following the rules or not. The only difference will be if you follow the rules and your body gets what it needs to recover, the rest day results will be a lot better and you will feel fresher and active to follow next day’s gym routine for beginners.
If you don’t follow the rules, your body will still recover jus that the recovery will not be that effective. So follow some basic guidelines and maximize your rest day.
Okay, Bros and Broettes, that’s all you need to know to be a Gym-Couch-Potato! Enjoy a fit and healthy life and follow Cannot Cardio for more fitness posts! Remember to Stay Awesome!
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