Do You Need Rest Days if Your Workout Routine Isn’t Too Demanding?

Woman running on the road
Photo by Alex McCarthy on Unsplash

Rest days should be an essential part of everyone’s workout routine because they give your body time to recover and play an important role in preventing muscle fatigue and injuries. If your fitness schedule happens to be pretty demanding, they’re certainly a must, but what if you’re usually doing exercises of moderate intensity?

If light cardio happens to be your go-to workout routine, rest days can be skipped. The best examples of activities that fall under this category are walking, dancing, stretching, and light exercise that you’re not doing for more than 30 minutes a day.

Part of the reason why it’s ok to do these activities on your rest day is the fact they don’t solely consist of resting. Even if you’re taking a break from working out, it’s still recommended to stay on the move by doing light exercise or some non-fitness related activities that don’t require too much effort.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you must avoid rest days and work out every day. If you feel like your body needs some time to recover, rest days are still recommended. You should also schedule them once or twice a week if you decide to switch from light cardio to moderate and high-intensity exercises.