We know that when it comes to training, rest days are vital for muscle growth and recovery.
But toxic fitness culture tends to ignore all that research. It shames people who skip workouts or take rest days as being lazy or somehow negligent about their health. It teams up with hustle culture and diet culture to make us feel guilty for resting and like we have to “make up” for our lack of exercise by not eating as many calories on our rest days.
This all-or-nothing mindset is incredibly damaging.
First, some science
Training can cause microtears in muscle fibers, which are totally normal and happen when a muscle is physically worked. Resting and recovering properly between training sessions allows your muscles to rebuild and thus get stronger. So the “no pain, no gain, no excuses” ethos promoted by toxic fitness culture can actually end up setting back any gains you were seeking in the first place.
Rest days also allow your muscles to replenish their energy stores (called glycogen).
Lastly, exercise tires your mind as well as your body, so recovery days are good for your brain. If you’re mentally drained, you’re not going to get as much out of your workout as you could otherwise.
So what counts as recovery on rest days?
There is passive recovery (not exercising at all) and active recovery (e.g. gentle yoga). Within those, rest days can take many forms.
You can nap, go for a walk, read a book, stretch, journal, meditate, dance in your kitchen, meet a friend for coffee, or even simply sit outside and be still.
What’s important is that it works for you and your body’s needs.
Silencing toxic fitness culture to value my rest days
Working out is part of my regular routine and very therapeutic for me. However, as I continue to unlearn the lies of diet culture and toxic fitness culture, I still occasionally struggle with feeling lazy on days that I don’t workout (which I unpacked in a previous post).
Here are some ways I’m trying to move past that narrative.
Setting intentions for rest days
Proactively being kinder to myself is a key way for me to counter the toxic fitness mindset. One way I do that is journaling first thing in the morning about what I need to help me get through the day. This helps me listen to both my body and my brain.
It also means when I wake up on my rest days, I set an intention as to whether I have a passive or active rest day so that it’s part of my plan.
If it’s during the week and what my body needs is a passive rest day, then I make sure I allow space in the day for things like taking a quick walk to get lunch, journaling, working on my coaching course, or doing a puzzle. If it’s the weekend, I make sure I get a nap in.
For active rest days, I’ll usually do a mobility workout to stretch everything out (which also feels great after sitting at a desk all day). Or, I’ll take a longer walk in the evening. There’s a yoga group that meets once a week on our rooftop, and I’ll join them when it aligns with my schedule.
Dialing down on social media
This is hard to admit, especially when I thought I was doing a good job curating my feeds. But lately, I’ve realized that scrolling through Instagram on my rest days is not beneficial for my mental health.
There’s always someone online working out when you’re not and posting about it, and even if that content is “positive”, it can still create a sense of comparison that really isn’t productive.
Reminding myself that my body needs rest to function at its best
I lift heavy weights three days a week, and do cardio interval training once or twice a week. If I don’t take my rest days seriously, there’s no way I can continue training at the level I want to and know I’m capable of.
This need to take rest seriously was most clear upon returning to the gym after having COVID back in July. For the first few weeks, I tired out easily, so had to do fewer sets with much lower weight and rested up to 5 minutes (an eternity!) in between sets. When I wasn’t at the gym, I did passive rest days to make sure I didn’t overdo it.
It was really hard at first. But having to slow down like that made me see what rest actually allowed me to do. And as I regained strength and endurance, I had a much better perspective on the value of rest in my workouts and my life.
How do you recover on rest days?
How do you spend your rest days? What are some ways that help you kick toxic fitness culture to the curb?
