Why REST Days Improve Sports Performance

Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance, but many still over train and feel guilty when they take a day off. The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes.
Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. Some are physiological and some are psychological. Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days can help maintain a better balance between home, work and fitness goals.

What Happens During Recovery?

Building recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues. Exercise or any other physical work causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown and the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid loss.

Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general malaise, staleness, depression, decreased sports performance and increased risk of injury, among others.

Short and Long-Term Recovery

Keep in mind that there are two categories of recovery. There is immediate (short-term) recovery from a particularly intense training session or event, and there is the long-term recovery that needs to be build into a year-round training schedule. Both are important for optimal sports performance.

Short-term recovery, sometimes called active recovery occurs in the hours immediately after intense exercise. Active recovery refers to engaging in low-intensity exercise after workouts during both the cool-down phase immediately after a hard effort or workout as well as during the days following the workout. Both types of active recovery are linked to performance benefits.
Another major focus of recovery immediately following exercise has to do with replenishing energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and optimizing protein synthesis (the process of increasing the protein content of muscle cells, preventing muscle breakdown and increasing muscle size) by eating the right foods in the post- exercise meal.
This is also the time for soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments) repair and the removal of chemicals that build up as a result of cell activity during exercise.



Long-term recovery techniques refer to those that are built in to a seasonal training program. Most well-designed training schedules will include recovery days and or weeks that are built into an annual training schedule. This is also the reason athletes and coaches change their training program throughout the year, add a different style of training, modify workouts types, and make changes in intensity, time, distance and all the other training variables.

So with that, doing less is SOMETIMES gaining more! Now go GET BETTER!

ARE YOU PROPERLY FEULING UP POST WORKOUT?

“Did You Know That Perfectly Balanced Electrolytes Produce A Charge In Your Body, Regulating Metabolic Functions You Need For Superior Athletic Performance and Training and Helping Decrease The Chances Of BURN OUT?”

Electrolytes are the most overlooked aspect of sports nutrition. Many endurance athletes have a misconception about how to replace electrolytes effectively, yet it’s the one KEY component to athletic nutrition!
Have You Been In A Race Or A Workout And Felt God Awful?


“Burn out” can easily occur when your body is deficient in key vitamins and minerals. REAL
 Electrolytes are composed of Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride,

Bicarbonate, Phosphorus, and Sulfur. Individually these electrolytes cannot provide the

conductivity necessary to transmit the electrical impulses that operate our nerves, muscles and

heart. Together, in ratio, they regulate the nervous system and muscle functions, regulate the

amount of water in body fluids and cells, and balance the body’s alkaline/acid ratio which is

essential to fighting disease. Electrolytes give the body the electrical charge that can have you training harder. Diet, climate, stress, illness, medications and exercise all impact electrolyte levels. Climate such as cold weather or hot weather can upset electrolyte balance and cause dehydration.

Electrolytes Cannot Be Replaced With Water or Sports Drinks

The biggest misconception about electrolyte imbalances and treating dehydration is that you can drink lots of water or a sports drink. Plain water will dilute electrolytes, creating a greater electrolyte imbalance."Sports" drinks are missing several essential electrolytes and are used mostly for quick carb replacement. The sugar in sports drinks also kills the natural electrical charge from a real electrolyte solution. This charge is critical for absorption into the cells.

Why is A Balanced Replacement So Important?Perfectly balanced electrolytes actually produce an electrical charge! The charge regulates a host of metabolic functions your body needs for training. Electrolyte replacement is NOT just needed for the summer months. Winter can be deceiving.You think you sweat less, but you can actually lose electrolytes when you’re not sweating.Winter has a drying effect and when training or racing, it’s imperative to replace electrolytes. Electrolytes are lost through the intestinal tract, sweat and urination. Diet, drinking habits, medication, activity level, climate, stress and illness all impact electrolyte levels.