The importance of rest days

By Erin Mellinger, Owner; Axio Fitness

Rest days are vital to achieving optimal health. A rest day is not a day to sit and move as little as possible for the entire day while also enjoying your favorite cheat meal. A rest day is a day without moderate or intense physical exertion.

It is not too uncommon to have clients who are very enthusiastic about their new fitness routines. In just a few short weeks, clients can begin to feel the positive effects of a regular exercise routine and that motivates them to keep increasing their activity level. This is great if you are still giving yourself at least one rest day per week. A rest day is a day with very light activity, such as a light walk, cleaning your home, mowing the grass or golfing.

Believe it or not, rest days are crucial to making better fitness gains. A common saying in our industry is that muscles aren’t made in the gym, but out of the gym. Basically, exercise is the act of putting stress on your muscles. After exercise, the muscles and the body adapt to that stress by making themselves stronger. However, our bodies cannot adapt to the stress while still undergoing stress. This is why rest is important—to give your body a full day to adapt, recover and be ready and stronger for your next workout.

I hope you strive to live an active lifestyle. But remember that part of an active lifestyle includes giving your body rest.

Axio Fitness is located within Main Street Physical Therapy at 3900 Medina Road in Fairlawn. In addition to Fairlawn, Axio also has six studios in the Youngstown area. For more information, visit AxioFitness.com or call 234-236-4296.