Why a “Recovery Day” is just as important as a “Rest Day”

A lot of what I talk about when teaching pilates is what I like to call “the balance of effort and ease.” My blog is all about finding balance in your life. This also means finding balance in your workouts. Every single day shouldn’t be the same workout. Pro tennis players don’t just play tennis, pro basketball players don’t just play basketball so you shouldn’t just don’t one thing either.

But this post isn’t about what you shouldn’t be doing. This is about what you SHOULD be doing and how you can plan your workouts to get more out of them. Each week you should take a rest day where you do not exercise. You should also make one of your workouts primarily regenerative or a “Recovery Day.” This doesn’t mean it’s easy but it should help move your body and restore it to a place where it can function better.

So what does this look like and how does pilates fit in? These workouts include foam rolling, the use of lacrosse balls, dynamic stretching, and of course the balancing effects of pilates exercises. This kind of workout leaves you feeling relief from prior day’s exercise, sitting, stress, and more. This workout doesn’t “kill you” but you finish feeling a lot better than when you started.

So where does this workout go? As you know, I am all about scheduling/planning my workouts for the week in advance - read this blog post for tips on how to do so. I would suggest scheduling your Recovery day after a long run, a HIIT class, a new workout, a long day at the office, after many hours sitting, or at the end of a long week. You could also think about it as what are you preparing to do? Do you have a long drive the next day? A long training run, etc.

Working out should be a long term plan for life so including this Recovery workout will help you stay committed to your goals, injury free, and energized for your other workouts.

I encourage you to take a look at your own workouts and see how you can fit a Recovery Day in. If you’d like some inspiration and guidance as to what this looks like, be sure to check out the Regeneration Filter in my Library!