Sport makes you self-confident, keeps you healthy, and keeps you fit. But regular exercise is also exhausting – for body and mind. If one or more of the signs described here occur, you should therefore give your body rest.
You are finally training regularly – you go running several times a week, to the gym or the sports field. The pride in the sometimes hard-won sports routine is excellent.
You feel in the flow. And if there is a lack of motivation, we will still go through with it – just so as not to jeopardize the success of the training under any circumstances.
Thoughts like these persist, especially among fitness beginners.
But if you take training breaks sensibly and consciously, they do not jeopardize the hoped-for result but improve it.
Taking A Break From Training Doesn’t Mean Quitting
Whether you are a competitive athlete or a hobby athlete, rest days are just as part of the training plan as training days. Only then can the muscles regenerate and also have time to grow sustainably.
Not giving yourself these breaks can even lead to overtraining.
Overtraining is simply overtraining and making the body worse. This increases the risk of injury, performance deteriorates, and you feel permanently weak and tired – even the immune system can be affected.
To prevent this, you should take regular training breaks, planned or unplanned, active or inactive.
With a rest day, you don’t necessarily have to lie on the couch all day if you don’t want to.
You can also pursue relaxing activities such as going for a long walk, going to the sauna, or doing a stretching yoga session.
Listen to your body, do what is good for you. Training plans and rest days are always individual. However, the following signs may indicate that one should rest days or days.
If You See These Signs, Stop Exercising
Severe Muscle Soreness
Feeling a little tired or slightly sore after a successful workout is typical to some extent. First and foremost, this shows that you have performed exercises that your body is not otherwise used to.
But if the soreness lasts more than a few days after your workout or is particularly painful, you may have injured yourself and need a rest day.
Aversion To Exercise
Suppose every thought resists the training, or you have already started your session but are still entirely demotivated after an extended warm-up. In that case, you should consider whether this essential attitude leads to practical training.
Sure, sometimes the weaker self is too big, and you don’t feel like training. But sometimes, your body, psyche, or emotions also show that you should instead rest today.
And before you become so unfocused from sheer demotivation that you might even injure yourself, you should listen to this basic feeling.
Cold Or Pain When Exercising
A headache? Sore throat? Runny nose? You don’t belong on the treadmill with cold symptoms but in bed. Otherwise, the immune system will be doubly stressed by the disease and training effort.
It can even make you sick longer, says Dr. Axel Pressler, Senior Physician at the Center for Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine at the Technical University of Munich:
“Both of these release stress hormones like cortisol. These, in turn, suppress the immune responses that the body needs to fight viruses or bacteria.
Not only during the current Covid 19 pandemic should you stay at home if you have any signs of a cold . This precautionary measure could be a rule to be followed even after the pandemic – for the sake of yourself and others.
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