To rest or not to rest is the question!

[lansfordj111]

Hello all,

I have been meeting all my Fit bit goals the past few days, and today my feet are very sore.  My question is should I take a rest for today or should I continue?  If I continue, should I lower the activity, and by how much?  I want to keep up with my goals, but I want to do it the healthy way.  Please help!!!

Thanks Jill

[alikayRD]

I would recommend taking a rest day if you are sore. If you want to stay on track, conciously think of things you can do (such as taking the stairs, eating a healthy lunch and dinner, etc), and you'll continue to stay motivated. See how you are tomorrow; if still sore, start back at a lower weight or amount of reps/sets and gradually work your way back 🙂 

[JaySD]

Everywhere I've looked, every trainer says take a rest day. Don't hurt yourself, because if you do, it'll be really hard to get back into shape after the injury.

[Cybertekkno]

If you are really sore the day after a workout, it can actually be helpful to do a recovery workout.  A good example is doing a light ride on a stationery bike or recumbant bike for 30 minutes.  This will warm up the muscles and help get rid of the lactic acid that has built up in your muscles.  Then I would take the following day off from working out to give my muscles a much needed break.  Normally, I work out 5 days a week and take two days off.

[jaycatmac]

Hi Jill,

You *might* have plantar Facsiitis. I would google it. But I probably spelled that wrong. But anyway: do your feet hurt right in the morning? PF is basically inflammation in the bottom of your feet. It's not a big deal, though and you can work to get rid of it. Get a tennis ball or some kind of roller and roll your feet over it. You can also stretch out the bottom of your feet. Again I would google it.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

[coltonjdavis]

You should take 1-2 rest days per week and never 2 days in a row.  If you dont rest your muscles will never recover.

[Cybertekkno]

If you are in actually pain and not just normal day after workout soreness then you really need to take a break from working out.  Working out through pain can cause make the problem worse and possibly put you out of commission for awhile.  I pulled a ligament in my foot running two weeks ago, and have stopped working out until it is healed so I don't cause more damage.....let your body heal first and then resume working out.

[Natalie]

from the sound of it you have just started and your body is rebelling.  always listen to your body - not the voice in your head that says I can't, that's different.  

If your body is feeling sore, it sounds like your muscles aren't used to exercise and need time to get used to your new exercise schedule. Keep at it but don't over do it, maybe take a couple easy days and ease back into it

[13]

You have to listen to your body and if your body is saying it's sore then you should take a break. If you don't take a break then you will never fully recover so always listen to what your body tellls you!

[badminton]

If the soreness is from lactic acid buildup, drink plenty of water, and do some light stretching. If you have access to a nice heated pool, take a walk in the pool, or swim a bit as well. If you have access to a sauna, all the better! Stretch in the sauna for a little bit, then take that nice warm water walk or swim. I try to mix up my exercise every day a little so that nothing gets too sore; two days a week I might focus on the machines, three days the treadmill/stepper/recumbent bike; one day a week I meet a friend for a real bike ride, we usually go for 12-15 miles, and one day a week I go to the local rec center and play badminton for an hour after work; if I had access to a heated pool I would be there a couple times a week.   Listen to your body, slow down or take a break or mix things up. Drink plenty of fluids, and if you think you sprained or bruised or caused some discomfort to some muscles from overuse or incorrect use, take it easy and consult with a either a personal trainer or a doctor to make sure you are up for the activity you have chosen.

[baby_valiant]

Great topic - as I've been thinking the same. I vary my activity and exercise a lot and have thought with the variety I should be right with no rest day, but today my body is telling me really to back it off. I've had this in the past - so have had a day off and then get back into it lightly the day after the rest day and have never felt better!

[badminton]

I can't take a day completely off - I get too antsy! If I'm at home, I'll just do yard work or house work instead, so even if I am not going to the gym or working out in some way, I'm home mowing the lawn or weeding, or raking or gardening, or playing with the dogs, or sweeping. mopping, laundrey etc. I track home days and I still get 7,000-8,000 steps in pretty easily. The Office and the Commute is what completely derails me! I have allowed myself to get in a rut, and sit at work, in meetings, and of course driving for work, for kid, for apointments and sports for kid. Then I would and still do mostly sit at all those things. I gained almost 40 pounds in the last 13 years. Lost some gained it back yo yo'd. Treadmill did not work for me. Videos did not work for me. The Wii fit helped, but was not a complete solution; it just helped me get some motivation back. The fitbit is not really a complete solution either, but it has made me much more mindful of every step and mouthful of food. I am making better choices, and walking a lot more.  

[gerrymcd]

Depends on why your feet are sore, but it could easily because you need to let them rest and recover for a day or even two.  That doesn't mean hitting the sofa and a bowl of chips...... as if!  You might change to stretching, some light yoga, lying on an exercise ball and working your arms, etc. etc. etc. There is usually something you can do that won't further inflame the 'sore' bits. 

[Natalie]

variety is what keeps me going and also helps rotate the muscles I use.

Rest days aren't sit on the lounge and do nothing days, take a walk, play with the kids (if you have some) etc.  Move but don't have a big work out day.  Today is a rest day for me and I really think I need it as yesterdays workout included some exercises which I had't done previously and included lots of weights (both dumbells and med balls, mixed with cardio).  Today I will do a bit of housework, maybe baking. I will definately go for a walk (not a powerwalk), weather permitting I will play with the kids (trampoline or throwing the ball) otherwise maybe play games on the Wii.

Whateveryou do, rest days need to be restful but still inlcude some movement. 

[SunsetRunner]

NEEDING SUPPORT  Hi.  I've had my Flex for almost a year, but didn't participate in the communtiy until very recently.  I'm recovering from three years of lung illnesses and complications so my goals are very different than most users. 

I have to listen to my body, or my lungs start yelling at me!  My exercise is limited at this point to a walking treadmill I have in my home (for very cold or very hot days) and walking (I live at the base of the Rocky Mountain Foothills and our neighborhood has both flat and steep streets, so depending on asthma, lung function, etc., I can tailor my walk).

I imagine that you've all heard about the mass shootings in Isla Vista, the town that abuts the University of California Santa Barbara, on May 23rd.  My daughter is a UCSB senior and lives in IV.  Thankfully she and her closest friends stayed out of harm's way, but she knew one of the students who was murdered and another who was shot.  On Saturday, May 24th, when I found out that the murderer killed his roommates, I had to get out of the house.  My husband and I strolled for a little while around our neighborhood.  Less than a minute afterwe walked in, my phone rang.  It was my brother calling to tell me that my father died.  He was 98 years old and had survived many brushes with death -- where he defied al the odds and made it -- so even though he started rapidly deteriorating a couple of weeks before he died, it still came as a shock because I'd learned never to count my father out.

Between these two events, I've been struggling and am also talking with my daughter, who was hit with major PTSD when she returned to UCSB a couple of days after my dad's funeral.  My husband and I flew home last Friday night.

I've really been struggling and am feeling intense grief and, over the weekend, I didn't put any pressure on myself.  Today, the pressure to exercise and go back on my dietary regime (medical orders) has started creeping in.  I just don't feel up to it but I'm giving myself such a hard time.  I need to cut myself some slack, so I'm looking to the community to say it's okay (even though I know that intellectually).  I have mastered the art of being very hard on myself, something which I've been working on and am getting better about, but I'm still not there.

Thank you all!

[SunsetRunner]

Jill,

I learned the hard way that when your body feels pain for a reason: it's trying to tell you something.  In your case it's probably rest.

After a couple of bad ones, I now have an awesome physical therapist (she was a Division One tennis player and has the equivalent of a PhD for physical therapy and that's what she told me about pain.  She and a couple of my doctors have unequivocally said that "no pain, no gain" is counterproductive.

I recently tried a restorative (Yin) yoga class and it was awesome.  I did it at a Core Power Yoga and almost everyone in the class was in phenomenal shape and regularly did advanced classes, which are a mega workout within the yoga practice.  For each position, the teacher told the class to stop if they started to feel pain -- and her words weren't to injured people but to extremely fit ones.

To paraphrase Tom Petty, I highly recommend that you listen to your body, it will tell you what to do!  Best of luck to you!

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@alikayRD wrote:

I would recommend taking a rest day if you are sore. If you want to stay on track, conciously think of things you can do (such as taking the stairs, eating a healthy lunch and dinner, etc), and you'll continue to stay motivated. See how you are tomorrow; if still sore, start back at a lower weight or amount of reps/sets and gradually work your way back 🙂 

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