You've probably thought about it and heard it all before : Should I take rest days? I might loose muscle and strength gains if i rest! Rest days are for wimps! I'll rest when im dead! I too was in the mind set of thinking, that time off from working out is time wasted and that more is more and less is less. I used to work out 6 days a week sometimes twice per day, my love and enthusiasm for the Gym and working out got the better of me and I ended up simply over training and my gains stagnated. But, the more I researched it and put in into practice I quickly realised that in fact less is more in regards to resting to growing stronger, faster, leaner and more muscular.

Taking a Rest day from your training regime is not a lazy thing to do. It is essential to schedule rest days into your regime to adequately recuperate both physically and mentally. If you think you can train 7 days per week, think again, that will simply lead to over training resulting in fatigue, suppressed immunity and erratic sleep, all of which will leave you open to infections/Flu's and injuries. Simply put, your mind, body and muscles wont get the time to rest and grow and you will end up taking more days off to recover from sickness or injuries than you would if you just rested a couple of days per week.

I advocate that 5 training days per week (1 workout per day) is enough, allowing 2 days for rest. Ideally, the pattern should be 2-3 days training followed by 1 day of rest and repeat. Example :

Monday - Weight Training

Tuesday - Weight Training

Wednesday - Rest Day

Thursday - Weight Training

Friday - Weight Training

Saturday - Cardio

Sunday - Rest Day

Give it a try and you will definitely notice more gains and progress in your training regime and a general increase in vitality. A rest really is as a good as a change!

- APG