The Importance of Rest Days in Flexibility Training
The Importance of Rest Days in Flexibility Training
(aka Why You Shouldn’t Stretch Every Single Day)
While we are often tempted to DO ALL THE THINGS when it comes to flexibility training, which may mean enthusiastically stretching every day without fail - this is actually one of the least effective ways to train. Rest days are a critical part of an effective training routine. You may be pleasantly surprised to see MORE progress only “training” 3-4 days a week instead of every day.
Why Rest Days are So Important
Your Muscles Need Time to Recover
Because SO much of flexibility training is really strength training, that means we're constantly making micro-tears in our muscles, and our body needs time to repair those tissues before it's fully recovered and ready for further training (usually 24-48 hours).
Just like a weightlifter wouldn't train their maximum bench press two days in a row, neither should we force our muscles to their max while they're still in a weakened state from the previous day's training - not only are we not able to train at our maximum range of motion, but we're risking an overtraining injury.
Your Nervous System Needs Time to Recover Too!
Central Nervous System (CNS) fatigue is a situation when our motor neurons don't function as efficiently as they should (not firing appropriately, failing to recruit the muscles needed to support an exercise). While this is more common in high-intensity sports, it's still helpful to understand this concept in strength-based flexibility training. If our CNS perceives that we are no longer able to safely perform movements/exercises (due to overtraining, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, etc), it will limit our ability to do so.
Rest Day Best Practices
Avoid training the same muscle groups two days in a row. That could mean taking full rest days between "full body" training days, or alternating "upper body" with "lower body" flexibility training days
Don't train hard if your muscles are still sore. Light feel-good stretching is OK on your rest days, but these aren't the days to whip our your intense active flex exercises and shoot for a PR (Personal Record)
Take at least 1-2 full rest days each week. That means a day off of intense training of any kind (give your muscles and nervous system a break!). Most students benefit from only actively training 3-5 days a week.
