Rest Day Guilt

Taking rest days can be hard, especially when you are passionate about training. We all experience rest day guilt in one way or another, at some point in our lives but knowing how to overcome it can be difficult...

Rest days, a lot of us have a love-hate relationship with them. One half of us loves taking a break and chilling out for a day but the other half feels guilty for resting and wants to go train. We often have a fight in our minds and we either force ourself to take a rest and feel guilty for it or we carry on training and don’t allow our bodies to rest properly. Whichever you choose it can be hard, we know! So to give you all some advice on overcoming rest day guilt we spoke to 23 year old Aimee Spillane from Surrey, to find out how she manages to overcome rest day guilt.

Aimee has been training in the gym for around 5 years now so has a lot of experience with rest day guilt and overtraining. She first fell in love with the gym when she discovered weight training and has been passionate about it ever since. “When I discovered weight training my love for fitness grew, I was never a sporty person at school, but I started going to the gym to ‘look better’. That mindset has completely changed now and training has become way more than that to me. I love weight training because it makes me feel strong and has SO many mental benefits.” Like anything in life, once you find your passion, taking a break from it can be hard. Similarly with fitness many of us feel that guilt from not working out.

The guilt can either come from a positive or negative place and it’s important to determine which one yours is coming from. Some feel the guilt from body shame. If you go to the gym simply because you want to look a certain way or are unhappy with your appearance then you most likely feel the negative guilt and may feel like you are ‘falling off track’ and if you don’t train everyday and that it will ruin the progress. If this sounds like you then be aware that you may be struggling with mental health issues such as Body Dysmorphia. On the other hand, you may feel the guilt coming from a good place of passion. If you love training so much that you just want to be involved with it everyday it can be hard to take a break as you generally miss the atmosphere and the feeling of training. Whatever your reasoning is behind rest day guilt it is a normal feeling to have.

So now you know where your guilt is coming from

it’s time to actually get over it! Like many of us Aimee struggled with this guilt at the start of her fitness journey. “I did go through a phase about 2 years into my fitness journey where I trained 6 times a week (3 legs, 2 upper body) and I knew after about 3 weeks that it just wasn’t good for me, my legs were sore all the time and I felt very fatigued and learnt it didn’t work for me. I think sometimes it is about trial and error, finding out what sits right with your body and just listening to it.” She now listens to her body and the signals it’s giving her to know that resting is the best option. “After training a few days straight now, I love taking rest days as I feel my body needs them. I can feel my muscles need rest so I do exactly that.” It’s all about taking time to tune into your body and understand the signs and signals it’s giving you and then knowing it’s time to rest. The body is a clever mechanism that knows exactly what’s best for you at the given time, so taking the time to understand it can help you get over the feelings of guilt.

Rest days are so important for your body’s recovery, especially if you train hard and lift heavy. If you don’t give your muscles the time they need to recover and rebuild then the hard work isn’t worth the effort! “Rest days are necessary for muscle repair and growth, preventing injury and from getting burnt out.” If you feel guilty about giving your body time to rest and recover then it’s a good idea to remember why you are doing it. “Remind yourself that it helps muscle repair and growth, and that over training can actually lead to a decline in progress. Have a rest, get some sleep, drink lots of water and your body will thank you for it.”

Although rest days are about resting it doesn’t mean you have to sit still all day. If you love being active then you can take ‘active’ rest days instead. This can include going for a walk or a bike ride; just being out the house and moving your body while not over working it. This will help keep the blood flowing and help decrease the risk of tight or stiff muscles and can help decrease rest day guilt.

Rest days are suppose to be there to benefit you and aid your progress. Rest day guilt is common but after mastering your mindset it becomes easy to sit down and rest. It’s all about finding what works for you and understanding the reasons why rest days are so important and soon you will be switching up the guilt to love!

Check out Aimee on Instagram:

@aimeejanefitness