Take a Rest.

       

          Sunday is the day of rest after all, so why not take today off and let your body recover? Many people today don't get too excited at the fact of working out. On the other end of the spectrum, there are people may that may enjoy working out too much, and workout too often in result! I include myself in this category sometimes.  It's crucial for the recovery of one's body to have AT LEAST one day off a week; a day with limited activity.  There's even been research done saying 2 to 3 days off a week is ideal.  I'm a firm believer, though, that there isn't one right answer when it comes to fitness. Everybody has something that works best for them.  Anyways, back on topic; I have ventured down the trail of "I want to lost weight fast," or "I want to get ripped- up fast" which can lead you to think you have to workout everyday to achieve that goal. This is not true. Again, rest is necessary!

           Your body needs its rest to fix all the muscular damage you did during the workout as well as to replenish the stores you depleted.  During your workout you break down so many muscles fibers, which need to be repaired or replaced, in order to improve.  Now wait, when you say it like that it doesn't sound so good does it? The breaking down of muscle fibers IS normal and they need the proper time for repair.  As muscle fibers repair and others get replaced, they get thicker and stronger and increase in number, leading to a bigger and stronger you. Without this rest time, your body won't have the necessary time to regenerate and in turn it won't have the ability to adapt to lift heavier weights, and honestly you'll probably be constantly sore and won't feel too good either.

           Bodybuilding.com actually listed an interesting study done on people who overtrain. What they found was an increase in cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that gets released during stress (emotional and physical) and has the ability to break things down (catabolism).  So it would make sense that overtraining would lead to higher amounts of cortisol.  Due to the high amounts of cortisol though this can lead to a hormonal imbalance within the body, leading to muscle breaking down instead of building (anabolism).  On top of this bodybuilding.com even listed more baggage that high cortisol brings to the party: craving carbs, which can spiral out of control, an increase in fatigue, depression, vitamin and mineral depletion. That's just a few, which can lead to other negative side effects such as a disruption in protein synthesis.

         All in all, give it some thought! Me personally? I could probably work out twice a day and be satisfied and go to bed with a smile on my face.  I know I can't do that though. The body doesn't work like that. It needs its rest!  I find no better day than Sunday, the day of rest, relax, let that body heal, and let those muscles grow.

Gotta do it...

#trips