Why We Never Skip Rest Day
F45 Challenge Team | August 2022
We love a rest day! A day that is either dreaded as a lost opportunity (spoiler alert – it’s not) or can’t come soon enough during a grueling training week. Wherever you fall within the rest day spectrum, it’s time to get excited about this crucial piece to the fitness puzzle.
F45 Training is all about pushing you to your best (especially all you Challengers chasing goals!) and we know we can’t get you there without giving your body and mind the space to rest, recover, and create more capacity. We’ve built 2 unique recovery modalities into the F45 training programming that work together to keep you at peak performance in the gym:
Calypso Kings is a static stretch session improving flexibility to increase range of motion, reduce chronic tension, and decrease risk of injury. Our retention, injury management, and general body awareness is reflected in this passive, static stretching module. It also offers stretching techniques designed to improve flexibility, joint mobilization, body alignment and posture.
Mondrian 30 is a dynamic movement series to relax, unwind, and nourish the body and soul. These exercises will introduce dynamic techniques to lengthen and restore muscles as stretching has been reported to improve performance of functional tasks (i.e. jump, sprint, etc).
But more must be better, right?
Not always. F45 Ambassador Cristina shares why proper recovery is key to taking your fitness to the next level:
“Although HIIT workouts have many benefits to general health and performance, it is important to understand the importance of recovery in your training. Training at a High Intensity every single day, or multiple times a day without adequate rest may not give your body a chance to heal itself which ultimately leads to an increased risk of injury.”
She also shares why being an active participant in your recovery is not the same as simply not training for a day or two:
“Active recovery is when you undertake non-strenuous exercises while recovering between sessions. Walking, Pilates, Foam rolling, and swimming are great examples of active recovery. Active recovery stimulates blood flow which brings oxygen to the tissues, reducing fatigue, and inflammation as well as the lactic acid build-up. When your muscles aren’t fatigued you don’t feel as much soreness or muscle stiffness. This allows you to return to high-intensity exercise with greater output leading to improvements in endurance and performance.”
Maybe your rest day does include the couch or binge-watching a favorite show, just don’t forget to bring out the foam roller while you do it!
Head into your next Challenge or regular training phase with a recovery plan. Check out your local studio’s schedule to book Calypso Kings or Mondrian 30 – you’ve earned your rest day!