Rest days: how many do you actually need?

Sensible starting points

Use these as a first guess and adjust based on how you feel after two or three weeks.

• New to training: 2 to 3 sessions a week, leaving 4 or 5 days without hard training. Walking and light activity on those days is ideal.
• Training regularly for six months or more: 3 to 4 harder sessions, with 2 or 3 rest or easy days.
• Experienced and training most days: 5 or 6 sessions is manageable if some are deliberately easier, with at least one full rest day.
• Returning after injury, illness or a long break: start at the beginner level again, whatever you used to do.

The UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines suggest 150 minutes of moderate activity a week plus strength work on at least two days. That is a sensible baseline, not a ceiling. Our guide to how often to train goes into this from a beginner's point of view.

It is not only about your muscles

Muscles recover from most sessions within a day or two. Tendons, ligaments and bone adapt more slowly, and they are often what complains when training ramps up too quickly. Achilles, knee and elbow pain in people who have suddenly started training five days a week is a classic pattern.

This is why a sudden jump in frequency, such as going from two classes a week to six after a burst of January motivation, so often triggers aches. Build up by adding one session a week every few weeks rather than all at once, and let your tendons catch up with your enthusiasm.

Your nervous system and your head need recovery too. Very heavy lifting and all-out efforts are mentally demanding, and people who never have a day off often notice motivation drops before performance does. A rest day is a chance to miss training a little, which is healthy.

How to arrange your week

Spacing matters as much as the count. Try not to put two very hard sessions for the same area on consecutive days, and put easier sessions or rest after your hardest days. Alternating lower and upper body, or strength and conditioning, lets you train more often without hammering the same tissues.

Here is one example using Lycan Strength's class timetable, for someone doing four classes a week: Monday Full Body, Wednesday Upper, Thursday Lower, Friday Engine. Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday are rest or easy days, and there are no classes on Saturday, so it works naturally as a day off. A beginner might start with just the Monday and Wednesday sessions plus one other.

If you train on your own, the same logic applies. Our guide to full body versus split training explains how different set-ups affect how many days you can train in a row.

What to do on a rest day

A rest day is not a day to sit completely still, and it is certainly not a day to sneak in a hidden workout. Aim for the middle ground.

• Walk. A 30 to 60 minute walk is one of the best things you can do for recovery and general health. Our guide to active recovery explains how easy it should be.
• Eat normally. Rest days are not the time to slash calories. Recovery needs protein and energy.
• Do ten minutes of mobility if you feel stiff.
• Protect your sleep. An early night on a rest day often does more than any recovery gadget.
• Skip the long run, the extra circuit or the 'light' five-kilometre time trial.

That last point catches out a lot of keen people. A rest day that includes a hard spin class, a long run and a heavy afternoon in the garden is not a rest day, however easy each part felt at the time. If you find it hard to switch off, give the day a purpose: a family walk, a mobility session, batch-cooking the week's meals. Rest is easier to stick to when it has a plan.

Signs you need more rest

Your body tends to give fairly clear signals when rest is falling short. One of these on its own is not a worry. Several together, for more than a week or so, means it is time to take an extra day or two off or plan a lighter week.

• Weights that normally feel fine feel heavy for several sessions in a row
• Soreness that lingers for four days or more
• Poor sleep despite feeling tired
• Irritability, low mood or dreading sessions you usually enjoy
• Frequent colds or a run of small aches in different places

If those signs persist even after a lighter week, read our guide to overtraining and under-recovery, and consider seeing your GP to rule out anything else, such as low iron or a thyroid problem.