Nov29Should You Exercise on Your Days Off From Training? Here’s Our Take
Here at H4, we recommend most people that they train at least 2-3 days a week for optimal results. We like full body workouts, as they give you the most bang-for-your buck. But what do you do on your off days? You might be feeling sore and tired from your workouts, which might lead you to think that you should just take the day off; but there are better things you could be doing to get you closer to your goals.
Active Recovery
The best thing you could do is get some active recovery in. Instead of lying about watching TV – which could actually slow down recovery – do something active instead.
This doesn’t have to be a full-fledged workout; instead, aim for something that gets you moving, elevates your heart rate, is relatively low impact, and makes you sweat. This could be a wide range of activities, looking like:
- hiking
- rock climbing
- running
- biking
- yoga
- martial arts
- sports (basketball, baseball, etc.)
The above is just a few things you could do on your off days. The main idea is to get some good movement in, particularly movements that engage many parts of the body. Activity actually helps speed up recovery, as movement involves blood flow and blood carries nutrients to sore muscles – which in turn helps them repair faster and come back stronger. Hence the name “active recovery”.
Long Walks Outside
This fits into active recovery as well, but should also have its own category. Walking outside has many benefits; for one, walking is a form of active recovery. Walking outside also has some other not-so-well-known benefits: you get plenty of vitamin D (unless you’re taking nightly walks). Even on a cloudy day, spending 30 minutes outside has been shown to increase vitamin D levels, which helps with immunity, mood, absorption of other nutrients, and many other things within the body.
Daily Activity Does a Body Good
Daily activity in any form is a great thing to do, especially on your days off from dedicated strength & conditioning. As long as you don’t go overboard and hamper your recovery, you could do anything that involves moving your body.