When was the last time you took a day off? When you’re exercising thoroughly, and you are sticking to a good routine, rest days should be a part of your schedule. If you haven’t had a rest day for awhile, how can you tell that you need one? 
It may feel like a no-brainer – your body is not meant to be active 24/7, and you would think you would know if you need a rest, right? In fact most people who exercise regularly don’t realize they need to rest until they are lining up an appointment with a chiropractic care practitioner. Working out regularly can make your body feel healthy and strong but you do need to slow down and stop occasionally. Here are the signs that you really do need a rest day.

• You are in pain. It is a total myth that you should work out through your pain. You’re also not supposed to work out to the point you hurt in your body the next day. This means you haven’t stretched enough and you have pushed your body too far. There’s nothing wrong with a little burn here and there when you’re working out, but too much of it can show that you’re working out too much. Muscle pain may be indicative of an injury, that means you need to have a day or two of rest
• Your energies are drained. Exercise is supposed to increase your energy levels, but once you start feeling really tired, you need to slow down and have a rest. You are still going to be honoring your strength in your body when you rest it, and you need to learn your personal baseline level fatigue. This will help you to understand what’s normal tiredness for you, versus what’s rest day tiredness.
• You are finding your workouts far too challenging. You’re supposed to find to work out the challenge – that’s the whole point but if they’re becoming too challenging it means that your muscles may be overworked. After weeks or months of working out, your muscles should be stronger and that should improve your endurance. It should also improve your stamina, but if you find that you’re not progressing in your workouts or worse they are becoming more challenging than they used to be, then maybe putting yourself at risk without enough rest.
• You are experiencing muscle strain. It’s an obvious sign that you need to rest, but muscle strain can be very dangerous for your body. When you’re overdoing it you’re going to pull the muscles and ligaments and it’s going to take you out of action for a lot longer than just one rest day every few days. Stretching, enjoying your massage, and icing any irritated areas will really help you to get rid of the pain.

You need to rest your body in between sessions so that your sessions can be as effective as possible. If you are not resting, your body is going to soon let you know.