When it comes to training and preparing for competitive performances, the importance of recovery days for athletes is often overlooked. For a person competing against another athlete, the difference in how they train and their recovery days can make the difference between winning or losing. It is important to understand the differences in this preparation process, whether you are an individual athlete or a member of your team.
One of the main things that have been recognized as the role of recovery days for athletes is the increased level of intensity that is required during these workouts. As opposed to training volume, which is the total number of repetitions or sets that are completed in a given period of time, the number of recovery days for athletes is significantly less.1 This is primarily because of the increased focus on improving performance through the accumulation of body strength.
The emphasis in this training is placed on improving performance through the accumulation of higher weights and the subsequent training of these weights with even greater intensity. Recovery days are also utilized as the days in which muscles are allowed to rest and grow.
Why Are Recovery Days Important for Athletes?
Why are recovery days so important? What exactly is a recovery day? As you may expect, recovery days would be days in which you give your body and your mind a break from extreme training. There are actually two kinds of recovery days: passive or active.2 The passive recovery day allows your body and your mind to rest while the active recovery day forces your body and your mind to train actively, making it more effective.
Benefits Of Recovery Days For Athletes
The benefits of recovery days for athletes and recovery days, in general, are worth knowing. Not taking recovery days into account could very well put you on the injured bench for months and more damage than good. In the interests of clearing up any confusion and getting straight down to the point, here is what you need to know about how many recovery days you really should be taking.3
Recovery days are an important aspect of training for many sports but especially running and bodybuilding or powerlifting. Both endurance athletes and high-performance athletes must make sure they are doing everything within their power to prevent overtraining.
The benefits of recovery days for athletes and rest days, in general, are clear because both prevent overtraining from occurring. This, however, is not the only benefit of recovery days. In addition to lessened injury risks, an athlete or runner who makes use of recovery days will improve their endurance and strength. The days of rest are beneficial in this regard because it allows the athlete to get some much-needed rest between intense workouts.4 This will allow the athlete to recover faster between intense workouts and increase his or her fitness level and strength in preparation for the next bout of exercise.
Recovery between workout sessions helps the muscles to grow and repair themselves. This growth and repair occur because during recovery the body has the opportunity to replenish lactic acid that was lost during the exercise routine. When the lactic acid builds up, it interferes with the transfer of oxygen to the muscle cells. This can hinder the ability of the muscle cells to transfer oxygen and properly utilize it during subsequent exercise bouts.
When looking at the benefits of recovery, it is important to remember that the concept is not just about recuperation. Recovery is a continuous process and must be part of an athlete’s training program. It is not a one-time event where the athlete is done and can go home and sleep. A recovery plan that involves resting sufficiently between sessions is best for athletes who perform lots of short or intensive workouts. The idea is to allow enough time for the muscles to fully heal and to rebuild themselves after exertion.
Recovery days are an important part of any training program and can help optimize performance. Athletes need to recognize when they are at their best and reduce their training volume to maintain peak performance. The optimal recovery schedule will allow the athlete to recuperate adequately between training sessions so that he or she can train efficiently without sacrificing performance. Recovery days are not a replacement for a proper nutritional diet and regular exercise but are a necessary part of a comprehensive workout and training routine. The right recovery days will optimize performance.
Rest Days for Athletes
As an athlete, you want to be able to give your body the most possible testing and this means having a plan in place for recovery days for athletes. The average recovery day for most athletes is seven days, however, some athletes will go a little longer or a little shorter depending on their goals and situation. Obviously, there are going to be days when you are very sore and your body is telling you that you need to rest, but most athletes don’t realize that their body needs time to recover.5
In general, rest days are used for athletes who are training hard and pushing themselves, but they may find themselves needing recovery days for athletes more often. This can be especially true if an injury is sustained and requires immediate surgery.
If you are an athlete and need to figure out how many rest days are necessary then you should consider consulting a doctor and getting some advice. Your doctor will be able to tell you how many days are necessary for you to complete your recovery and training schedule. He or she will also be able to make suggestions about how to structure your training and recovery days so that you get maximum results.
How Many Rest Days Do Athletes Need?
As we all know, extreme physical workouts are very physically demanding. Especially if you are working out your entire body for at least eight to ten hours a day, then you will see how the training can have some serious effects on your body, especially when your workouts become long and drawn-out. Your body needs time to recover from the intense physical workouts that you have just gone through. For this reason, it is important to give your body at least two or three recovery days per week, spread across two-thirds of your week. This way, your body would have time to rest, recuperate, and prepare itself for the next set of workouts.6
Three days would give your body enough time to rest and recover, allowing you to train your muscles effectively, especially if your training has been very physically demanding.7 Giving yourself at least three days to rest and recover is the most common recommendation that fitness experts would give for athletes, especially those who have just recently undergone intense physical workouts.
Image Credits
Recognize to Recover / 2021
Tough Mudder / April 10, 2019
Carmichael Training Systems / 2021
1 “Why is recovery the most important part of your exercise regime?.” https://absolutehealthperformance.com.au/recovery/ Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
2 “Why Muscle Recovery is More Important than Training | Spartan Race.” 26 Apr. 2019, https://www.spartan.com/blogs/unbreakable-training/muscle-recovery Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
3 “Take a Rest Day: Why You Need Active Recovery – Verywell Fit.” 4 May. 2021, v Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
4 “The Importance of Recovery After Exercise.” 5 May. 2015, https://www.nifs.org/blog/the-importance-of-recovery-after-exercise Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
5 “Workout recovery: Why it’s so important – CNET.” 28 Jul. 2019, https://www.cnet.com/news/why-workout-recovery-is-so-important/ Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
6 “Exercise Rest Day: Benefits, Importance, Tips, and More – Healthline.” 7 Aug. 2019, https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/rest-day Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
7 “Rest days: Why they are important, benefits, and when to take one.” https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/rest-day Accessed 16 Jul. 2021.
