Rest vs. Recovery Days

In real time, our body does not adapt to an exercise stimulus during the actual workout. Instead, the adaptations our body receives from training occurs following the workout, during rest. As you can imagine, rest is a critically important part of your exercise journey and the progress you make. In this article, we will discuss the difference between recovery and rest days and some of the biological processes that occur in our body! Rest vs. Recovery Days: What's the Difference? The intent behind rest days and recovery days are the same: to help facilitate the healing of bodily tissues that were broken down during training and to calm the nervous system that was amped up during training. The primary difference between these two terms lies in how we approach this healing and relaxation of the body. Rest days involve no extra physical activity outside of your normal daily-routines. Activities such as going to work, grocery shopping, doing laundry, and cooking dinner, are less physically demanding activities, and are thus appropriate activities to perform during rest days. An important caveat is if your job is labor intensive (delivery-driver, construction worker, etc.). If your job is physically demanding, rest days should be carried out on your days off work. Recovery days can be thought of as "light-physical activity days". These days involve purposefully performing physical activities that are not exhaustive but energizing for the body. These light-physical activities should raise our body temperature, relaxing our muscles and increasing circulation. Activities such as walking, cycling, light-weight lifting, gardening (no heavy lifting), and jogging (for athletes in already great conditioning), are all considered effective forms of light-physical activities to perform during recovery days.

Who Are Rest & Recovery Days For? Rest and recovery days are absolutely necessary for everyone! Importantly, in the United States and much of the western world, the average adult does not exercise enough to benefit from including more rest days in any given week. Most adults in the United States will benefit more from having fewer rest days and more exercise/training days throughout the week. For those already exercising with an adequate frequency and intensity, there is some nuance to consider when deciding whether a rest day or a recovery day is the better option for you. For people who are severely de-conditioned, rest days are likely a better option than recovery days between your training days. This is because the physical activities performed during recovery days are likely more physically challenging and stimulative than they are supposed to be, therefore risking further fatiguing the body instead of having the intended effect of facilitating healing and relaxation of the body. For those in good conditioning, recovery days are likely the best option for you between your training days. Recovery days will expedite your body's healing processes while increasing your overall physical activity level, which in general, has a tremendously positive effect on virtually every measurable health biomarker. What Happens to the Body During Rest & Recovery Days?

Following a bout of physical activity that stimulates our muscular-skeletal system, numerous hormones, including cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine are released into the body from our endocrine glands. There is a direct correlation between the magnitude of physical stimulus and the subsequent amount of hormones released from the endocrine glands. In other words, the greater the physical stimulus, the greater the number of hormones released. These released hormones try to bring the body back to homeostasis (a stable environment). Importantly, if we do not provide our body enough rest and recovery days between bouts of training, our endocrine system is unable to engage in its' recovery processes, putting us at risk of adrenergic exhaustion and chronic exposure to cortisol, which can lead to overtraining (Essentials of Strength and Conditioning, 270-75). When we allow our body to rest and recover following exercise, the released hormones are able to bring our body back to homeostasis and our endocrine glands recover, ready for the next stimulative training day.