Here are some cold hard facts about rest days

When you’re trying to build muscle, or reduce body fat, it may be tempting to exercise every day, assuming that it will speed up the process.

Stop right there! While consistency is key when it comes to exercise and seeing results, you also need to factor in rest days as part of your training.

Why are rest days important? During exercise, the body creates tiny microscopic tears in the muscles, which repair and grow back bigger and stronger. When you have more muscle, you burn more calories at rest. That’s because muscle torches more calories (energy) than fat.

Rest days are also a good idea because they mean you are less at risk of injury and they give the body time to ease any delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) post-workout.

How many rest days do you need? For the average person, anywhere between one and three rest days a week between workouts should be enough for the muscles to recover.

Most importantly, just listen to your body. Not to be confused with those times when you don’t feel like exercising because you’re tired or not in the mood, you’ll definitely know if it’s a day where your body is begging for a break.

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