GROWING THE UPPER GLUTES | Glute Exercise Science

12 Mental Tricks to Beat Cravings and Lose Weight

Mind over matter

Using pure willpower to overcome cravings doesn't always work. (If it did, dieting would be easy and we'd all be at our own healthy, feel-great weights.) Guess what? You don't have to tough out an unrelenting yen to house a box of Cheez-Its, you just need to fool yourself into thinking you didn't actually want to eat the junk food in the first place. It's easier than you think; here are tips from experts and recent studies to help you stay on track.

Visualize an internal pause button

The next time you want to reach for a big bowl of Chunky Monkey, picture yourself hitting a pause button in your brain. "If someone were to ask to borrow a lot of money, most people can stop and say, 'I'll think about it,'" says Coral Arvon, PhD, director of behavioral health and wellness at Pritikin Longevity in Miami, FL. But when that chocolate cake or bottle of wine is in front of us at the end of day, the majority of us don't hesitate to indulge. "Think 'pause,' and consider your decision for 10 minutes before making an actual decision," Arvon suggests.

Substitute junk food with healthy foods that resemble junk food

Find a healthy alternative that shares some of the same qualities as the fatty food you've got a craving for, says Jonathan Alpert, a New York City-based psychotherapist and author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days. Craving the crunch and salt of potato chips? Make a batch of satisfyingly crispy kale chips. Eyeing the carton of ice cream in your freezer? Whip up a fruit-packed smoothie bowl instead. "Over time your taste buds and brain will adjust and learn to like these healthier options," says Alpert.

Imagine yourself eating

Thinking about eating a bag of candy makes it more likely you'll eat less of it when you actually start eating it, according to a 2010 study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers. Study participants who visualized eating 30 M&Ms before indulging in a bowl of the candies ate fewer M&Ms than two other groups who imagined eating only three candies or no treats at all. Researchers say the key lies in thinking about eating the food versus merely thinking about or visualizing it.

Tell yourself you can have anything

When you think about going on a diet, hunger pangs, deprivation, and waving goodbye to your favorite foods probably come to mind. Problem is, denying yourself your favorite foods immediately sets you up for failure, says Amy Goodson, RD, sports dietitian for the Dallas Cowboys and co-author of Swim, Bike, Run, Eat: The Complete Guide to Fueling Your Triathlon. "You want to make changes you can do for the rest of your life. The key is to eat what you want, but not everything you want," says Goodson. "You can still enjoy one to two splurges during the week as long as you stay on track the rest of the time."

Five Tips to Help You Lose Weight

The obstacles to losing weight, however, are not insurmountable. The National Weight Registry is tracking over 5,000 individuals who have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept the weight off for five years. Insights from their success stories are consistent with these five tips from Dr. Rankin:

1.) Focus on a change of heart, not a change of mind. Losing weight through changing what and how much you eat doesn’t happen because you rationally decide to lose weight. You have to have a change of heart; that is, you must get in touch with your deepest, heartfelt desires.

Your motivation may not be positive. Indeed, it may stem from a fear of loss. For example, you may not want to get sick. Or you may not want to be ostracized. To get in touch with your motivation, think about the negative consequences of not changing as well as the positive ones. Getting fit must become a priority and your life must be organized accordingly. Nobody can change you but you, and once you’ve made the changes, you need to stay focused. Successful individuals keep their motivation in the forefront of their minds all the time.

2.) Practice self-discipline. Self-control is a muscle that, like other muscles, needs exercise and strengthening. Change doesn’t happen because you want it to happen. Each time you resist temptation, you are developing greater self-control. Success breeds success. Facing down temptations builds strength for future decision moments. Some of my clients throw away their favorite food as a symbolic act that shows they have control over the food and not the other way round.

Self-discipline is required for behavior change, but does that mean that the lack of self-discipline causes obesity? No. That would be like saying aspirin helps a headache go away, so headaches are caused by a lack of aspirin — which is nonsense!

3.) Eliminate or reduce sugary, fat-laden foods. Such foods create physical changes at a cellular level that alter how our brains and bodies react. When analyzing your level of addiction, consider both physical dependence (changes at the cellular level) and psychological dependence (the habitual repetition of a behavior in an attempt to satisfy an emotional need). For example, how often do you use a sugary treat to lift your spirits?

What is often misunderstood is that these dependences exist on a continuum. You can be mildly, moderately or severely dependent, and the degree of dependence determines how difficult it will be to change.

4.) Make history your teacher, not your jailer. You can learn from your mistakes. Instead of [beating yourself up] when you fail to keep your promises to yourself, seek to gain self-knowledge so you won’t repeat the error. No one is perfect. Be sure to acknowledge what you are doing right, not just what isn’t working.

5.) Surround yourself with friends, family and colleagues who will support your effort. Getting fit and losing weight absolutely require others. Although you alone can make the changes you need to make, you can’t make the changes alone. Not only in terms of eating, but in all areas of our lives, we are much more influenced by other people than we imagine. One of the most potent forces for positive change is the emotional support of the individuals who surround you.

You must, however, ask for the support you need. Don’t assume that others know what would be most helpful to you. Similarly, you need to avoid those people who aren’t on the same page as you. Social pressure can work for you or against you. Hang out with the right people.

 

Change is difficult, and whoever finds a way to bottle and market motivation and self-discipline will make a fortune. In the absence of such a product, however, the next best thing is helpful insights into the process of changing our behavior.

Dr. Rankin reminds us that, for better or worse, our core, emotional values will ultimately determine our choices. Once we identify our heartfelt desires, we can use them to create a healthy lifestyle that reflects our best self. Our deepest values can be summoned to keep us on track, especially when we are facing temptations and distractions. They can also serve as our compass when we go astray.

If we are willing to remain diligently committed to our emotional values, we can be confident that we will succeed in realizing our health and fitness goals. And when we do, maybe some of us will go one step further and give support to family and friends so that they can join us in becoming healthier and happier.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carole-carson/weight-loss-psychology_b_881706.html

The Scientific Reason Women Need to Go Heavy

Tip: The Scientific Reason Women Need to Go Heavy

How heavy? Here's the science.

Luckily, most women aren't afraid to lift weights these days, but many still avoid going too heavy. We're talking about sets of around 3 maximal reps here. Too bad for them, because females may benefit from heavy training even more than men.

Growth Hormone and Female Lifters

It all comes down to growth hormone. Where the male body relies more on testosterone to reap the benefits from weight training, the female body relies a bit more on growth hormone. Natural growth hormone plays a big part in both muscle and bone development. It also improves metabolic function and staves off tissue breakdown.

So, GH is good. And heavy lifting stimulates more growth hormone release in women.

The Study

One study on women looked at the effects that different kinds of weight training had on growth hormone. Researchers found that growth hormone was responsive to moderate (around 12 reps) and heavy (around 3 reps) lifting regimens.

"Since women rely on growth hormone to increase muscle and bone strength, the more growth hormone stimulated by a type of exercise, the better its outcome," researchers said.

The study had women weight training with different rep ranges for 24 weeks, complete with lots of blood tests. The heavier weight training protocols produced more biologically active growth hormone. Lead researcher William J. Kraemer noted: "Women need to have a heavy loading cycle in their resistance training routines."

Now, there's muscle-building value in lifting lighter weights too, like increased time under tension. But this study tells us that women shouldn't get stuck in the pattern of using only higher rep schemes and "going for the burn." Those heavy sets, as heavy as 3 grunting reps, may be where a lot of the magic happens.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-the-scientific-reason-women-need-to-go-heavy

The Truth About What Makes a Good Personal Trainer Part 1: Debunking the Myths About How to Spot a Bad Trainer

Qualities of a good personal trainer and how to identify a bad trainer are two topics often addressed in industry articles and discussions. However, I think many of the qualities these articles and discussions commonly identify generally lack perspective, are unrealistic, and major in the minor while missing the bigger picture issues that are far more relevant. That’s why I’m writing my own three-part series on these topics; to share my perspectives on what does and what does not make for a great fitness professional.

To kick things off, in this article (part one in the series) I’m covering common myths about spotting a bad personal trainer. In part two, I’ll cover common myths about what makes for a good personal trainer; and in part three, I’ll discuss the qualities I feel specifically are attributes of a strong personal trainer.

Before we get down to business, I wanted to let you know that you can now get access to the Brolando Experience videos. You’ll get over 10 hours of education from both myself and Alan Aragon packed into 4 videos that you can watch conveniently from your computer or tablet.

Myths About How to Spot a Bad Trainer

Most, if not all, of the articles I’ve read typically identify eating, texting and excessive talking during sessions among the signs of a bad trainer. As someone who has achieved long-term success at every level of the personal training game, including being awarded the 2016 NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year, I have no problem telling you that I have done, and continue to do, all of these things with clients. The following three sections explain why.

Eating During Sessions

These days, I only train clients part-time, but for the 15 years when I did train full-time (10 of those years as co-owner of a private gym), both the gym’s co-owner and I were booked solid, training clients back-to-back for 8 to10 hours a day. We told clients, “Either we eat during your sessions or we take your timeslot off our schedule.” Of course, none of the clients cared that we were eating because that might have been the only available timeslot we had that worked with both our schedules. Plus, as small business owners, we’re not leaving money on the table, even if it means wolfing down some food and taking bites in between a client’s sets that doesn’t interfere with the flow of their session. Many of our clients actually liked the fact that they got to see what we were eating; that we made it a point to get in our meals and were eating healthy meals in the way we were advising them to do. They saw that it is possible to eat healthy on-the-go.

Don’t get me wrong, we would always ask our clients if they minded that we eat during their session, as long as we were considerate and strategic about it. Not one single client ever complained.

Texting During Sessions

Just like eating, I’ve often thrown out a text or two during the client’s rest break or in between sets. Of course, I’m not talking about sitting there and having full-on personal text conversations. One reason this may happen, especially as a busy trainer, is because it’s my next client texting me to ask if they can come in early or late, or possibly bring another person to workout with them who could be a potential client. In fact, in those situations, I’ve had several clients get mad at me for playing the, “I-don’t-answer-texts-during-sessions” card. They’re upset because they are trying to make plans and they know it only takes a few seconds for me to reply to a text. Doing so really doesn’t take away from the other client’s session if it’s done quickly and during a rest break. And, they’re absolutely right!

Additionally, many articles about the qualities of a good trainer usually state that they write things down during the session (i.e., take notes, record sets/reps/weights, etc.). I certainly agree with this! I often take notes about the session on my phone, which could appear to an outsider as if I’m texting. That said, if one acknowledges that a trainer can take the time to write things down throughout a session without delivering a lesser value to the client, then one certainly can’t think that a trainer taking a few seconds to text, in a scenario like I described above, takes away from the value of the session.

Again, I’ve always asked the client(s) I’m training if they mind that I quickly text another client about something that is time-sensitive. Not a single client has ever even remotely had an issue; in fact, when I’ve asked they look at me as if to say, “Why are you even asking, of course you can!”

Talking Often During Sessions

An important part of personal training is relationship-building. The only way to do this is through communication that goes beyond the technical aspects of exercise programming and coaching. Now, this certainly doesn’t mean that you just talk for most of the session while not dedicating much time and effort to exercise. Creating a good relationship with clients and continuing to cultivate that relationship involves talking and bullshitting during the session. For example, I might even continue to talk to them during the first few reps of a set about something we were talking about during our rest break as long as they are demonstrating good control. Then, as they begin to fatigue, I’ll go right into coach-mode until the end of the set. This provides the human-side we all crave and the trainer-side they need without allowing the two to interfere in order to give an effective training session.

Another problem with simply watching a trainer and judging them based on what you see, is that you have no idea if they’re doing what they’re doing because of specific client needs. For example, I have a long-term client who loses his breath easily, so we must take extra-long rest breaks between sets. During those rest breaks we talk and bullshit until they’re ready to go again. So, if you were watching us train and saw the time we spent just talking, you might label me a “bad” trainer, when in the case of this client, a truly bad trainer wouldn’t allow this client adequate rest and risk a severe medical incident.

How Their Clients Look is NOT a Sign of a Bad Trainer!

Another thing that is often discussed to identify a “bad” trainer is if a trainer’s clients don’t look that much different from when they started. This idea is so detached from the reality that I don’t know whether to call it laughable or delusional.

Here is the reality, the majority of clients most trainers will work with are recreational exercisers. Although many of these folks may say that they’re looking to lose some fat, they’re really after weight-management; most aren’t genuinely interested in becoming gym rats who organize their entire lives around gyms, kitchens, and bathrooms. Others will openly state that they’re not at all interested in changing their eating habits and are exercising for defense to offset all the foods they love to eat.

Generally speaking, most clients are exercising for general health and fitness purposes and will often say things like, “I don’t want to think when I’m working out.” These folks just want a great workout experience that challenges them but doesn’t hurt them. They often gauge their training success by how much they’ve enjoyed each workout, how they feel at the end of the workout, and by the fact that they’ve completed a certain number of workouts per week. Though these clients become fitter, feel better, and are more confident, these general fitness expectations explain why so many competent fitness professionals (including yours truly) have long-term clients who don’t look much different or don’t have impressive increases in their lifting numbers than when they started.

As you can see, the common myths around what makes for a bad personal trainer can certainly be debunked as long as the trainer uses discretion and stays focused on the experience of the client. Stay-tuned for my part two of this series where I’ll be debunking the myths around what many believe makes for a good personal trainer.

http://nicktumminello.com/2017/04/the-truth-about-what-makes-a-good-personal-trainer-part-1-debunking-the-myths-about-how-to-spot-a-bad-trainer/

Benefits of exercise

Step right up! It's the miracle cure we've all been waiting for.

It can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.

It’s free, easy to take, has an immediate effect and you don’t need a GP to get some. It's name? Exercise.

Click on the links below to find out if you're doing enough for your age:

• early childhood (under five years old)
• young people (five to 18 years old)
• adults (19 to 64 years old)
• older adults (65 and over)

Exercise is the miracle cure we’ve always had, but for too long we’ve neglected to take our recommended dose. Our health is now suffering as a consequence.

This is no snake oil. Whatever your age, there's strong scientific evidence that being physically active can help you lead a healthier and even happier life.

People who do regular activity have a lower risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and some cancers.

Research shows that physical activity can also boost self-esteem, mood, sleep quality and energy, as well as reducing your risk of stress, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

“If exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented,” says Dr Nick Cavill, a health promotion consultant.

Health benefits

Given the overwhelming evidence, it seems obvious that we should all be physically active. It's essential if you want to live a healthy and fulfilling life into old age.

It's medically proven that people who do regular physical activity have:

• up to a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke
• up to a 50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
• up to a 50% lower risk of colon cancer
• up to a 20% lower risk of breast cancer
• a 30% lower risk of early death
• up to an 83% lower risk of osteoarthritis
• up to a 68% lower risk of hip fracture
• a 30% lower risk of falls (among older adults)
• up to a 30% lower risk of depression
• up to a 30% lower risk of dementia

What counts?

To stay healthy, adults should try to be active daily and aim to achieve at least 150 minutes of physical activity over a week through a variety of activities.

For most people, the easiest way to get moving is to make activity part of everyday life, like walking or cycling instead of using the car to get around. However, the more you do, the better, and taking part in activities such as sports and exercise will make you even healthier.

For any type of activity to benefit your health, you need to be moving quick enough to raise your heart rate, breathe faster and feel warmer. This level of effort is called moderate intensity activity. One way to tell if you're working at a moderate intensity is if you can still talk but you can't sing the words to a song.

If your activity requires you to work even harder, it is called vigorous intensity activity. There is substantial evidence that vigorous activity can bring health benefits over and above that of moderate activity. You can tell when it’s vigorous activity because you're breathing hard and fast, and your heart rate has gone up quite a bit. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.

A modern problem

People are less active nowadays, partly because technology has made our lives easier. We drive cars or take public transport. Machines wash our clothes. We entertain ourselves in front of a TV or computer screen. Fewer people are doing manual work, and most of us have jobs that involve little physical effort. Work, house chores, shopping and other necessary activities are far less demanding than for previous generations.

We move around less and burn off less energy than people used to. Research suggests that many adults spend more than seven hours a day sitting down, at work, on transport or in their leisure time. People aged over 65 spend 10 hours or more each day sitting or lying down, making them the most sedentary age group. 

Sedentary lifestyles

Inactivity is described by the Department of Health as a “silent killer”. Evidence is emerging that sedentary behaviour, such as sitting or lying down for long periods, is bad for your health.

Not only should you try to raise your activity levels, but you should also reduce the amount of time you and your family spend sitting down.

Common examples of sedentary behaviour include watching TV, using a computer, using the car for short journeys and sitting down to read, talk or listen to music – and such behaviour is thought to increase your risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, as well as weight gain and obesity. 

“Previous generations were active more naturally through work and manual labour, but today we have to find ways of integrating activity into our daily lives,” says Dr Cavill.

Whether it's limiting the time babies spend strapped in their buggies, or encouraging adults to stand up and move frequently, people of all ages need to reduce their sedentary behaviour.

“This means that each of us needs to think about increasing the types of activities that suit our lifestyle and can easily be included in our day,” says Dr Cavill.

Crucially, you can hit your weekly activity target but still be at risk of ill health if you spend the rest of the time sitting or lying down. For tips on building physical activity and exercise into your day, whatever your age, read Get active your way.

For a summary on the health benefits of being more active, check out this Department of Health infographic (PDF,500kb).

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/whybeactive.aspx

Thigh Exercises For Losing Fat

How to Tell If You’re Overtraining or Just Sore

You’ve likely heard the saying, “no pain, no gain.” If you’ve gotten the impression that some soreness while working out is normal, you would be correct. But it can be a fine line between when that soreness becomes classified as pain. Walking this line correctly is the difference between pushing just the right amount and overusing your muscles. Even though everyone’s threshold for pain is different, there is an answer that’s universal.

WHY OUR MUSCLES GET SORE

As our muscles repair themselves, one of the side effects many people experience is a dull, aching pain. Known as delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), no one is immune from experiencing this pain, but the severity will vary based on type of activity and how much the muscles have adapted to that activity over time.

“It is theorized that the eccentric motion (or lengthening) of the muscles repeatedly is the actual cause of DOMS,” explains Kyle Golden, owner and personal trainer at Work It Personal Training in Austin, Texas. “During this movement, the muscle tissue incurs small tears, which breaks down the muscle so that it can rebuild to get bigger and stronger. It is this breakdown and rebuilding process that is thought to cause the delayed soreness we experience.”

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends progressing slowly when starting a new exercise routine to reduce the severity of DOMS — and advises that the soreness experienced rarely requires medical attention.

FATIGUE VS. OVERUSE

How DOMS relates to muscle fatigue and how you can gauge pain to prevent injury lies in the difference between fatigue and overuse.

Muscle fatigue is common in exercise and is the feeling you get when you can no longer perform a specific movement. DOMS and “feeling the burn” during a workout can both fall into this category.

“Both of these sensations are positive changes taking place within the muscle fibers,” says Jennifer McCamish, a Pilates instructor and personal trainer who owns Dancer’s Shape in Austin, Texas. “You unfortunately need to experience some discomfort to build muscle mass.”

With muscle fatigue, the burning sensation usually subsides shortly after you stop the movement — such as lifting weights — and your body uses this to signal that the muscles are too tired to continue.

Overuse, however, involves pushing your muscles past the point of fatigue — and this is what can lead to injury. It doesn’t just involve straining the muscle during a workout, but it can happen when you don’t give yourself adequate time to rest and recover.

“Overuse of a muscle may result in many types of damage including muscle strain, tears, tendonitis and stress fractures,” says Golden. “Most of the time, these injuries are accompanied by fairly acute and sometimes severe, long-lasting pain.”

GOOD VS. BAD PAIN

With pain being a common denominator in the discussion of fatigue versus overuse, it is important to distinguish good pain from bad pain. Of course, pain is relative and will vary from person to person, but there are some general guidelines that athletes should know.

“In general, good sore muscle pain is a dull mild pain sensation that usually begins about 24–48 hours after exercise,” notes Golden. “With a little use and stretching, the muscle soreness should subside a little and may last a couple of days before going away completely.”

It is when the pain gets more severe, that may be a sign that an injury has occurred or that something has been strained. This bad pain can indicate that the muscles were overused.

McCamish adds that if you are experiencing consistent sharp or nagging pain that does not go away, you are most likely overtraining and have developed some type of minor injury that needs to be addressed.

HOW THIS KNOWLEDGE AFFECTS YOUR WORKOUTS

Varying your workouts is key to prevent overusing your muscles. McCamish explains that cross-training helps you to avoid the likelihood of the same muscles experiencing the same repetitious movements, which causes injuries.

There is no one-size-fits-all workout or rule of thumb for everyone, though the signs of overtraining can be felt no matter the workout regimen. Golden explains that how you exercise your muscles and to what point depends on your goals — and working to at least a light fatigued state is often part of reaching them.

“Once you start to feel the burn, due to lactic-acid buildup, you will know you have worked your muscles to their fatigued point and should consider easing up or stopping,” he concludes. “If you experience any acute pain, you are physically unable to perform a motion or exercise you could before, or are having difficulty with usual muscle function, you should stop exercising and get seek medical attention and advice.”

McCamish echoes that because everyone’s goals are different, in this case, pain should be your guide. If you experience chronic pain, it is an indication that you may have overused your muscles, and a break is warranted (if not also a medical evaluation).

“If you mix it up and do different things every day with one or two days off in a week, you should feel good and energized after working out,” she says.

http://blog.mapmyrun.com/how-to-tell-if-youre-overtraining-or-just-sore/

3 Common Beginner Workout Mistakes

GYM MUSCLE GAIN BODY TRANSFORMATION

Only 12 Minutes a Day and Your Legs Will Be Irresistible! Exercises That Fit Everyone

At the beginning of the spring, apparently everyone is concerned about the body weight. In the case of women, the most problematic parts of the body include their thighs and hips, as it is extremely difficult to lose extra centimeters from these areas.

However, there is no doubt that you should follow three golden rules if you are trying to lose weight and burn excess fat on your thighs:

• You should reduce the calorie intake
• You should drink lots of water
• You should regularly do some exercises.

What is best about out exercises today is the fact that you can do them at home, so you do not need to visit the gym.

We guarantee that this set of exercises for your legs will provide incredible results, and due to that, numerous women all around the world do exactly the same exercises on a daily basis!

Namely, in only 12 minutes a day, you will lose a centimeter in the thighs and hips a week!

The video below will provide all the needed instructions, and even though the exercises may appear intense and difficult at the beginning, you will definitely be thrilled with the results!

Do You Really Need a Rest Day After Exercise?

Rest days are a standard part of exercise programs, but they’re not the only way to avoid overworking yourself. Let’s look at the difference between rest and recovery, and when you can bend the rules.

The Reason for Rest Days

Most strength-focused programs like weightlifting either work your whole body and then skip the next day, or else they have you split up your workouts so that, for example, your arms get a rest on leg day. The idea is to let each muscle recover from a workout before you ask it to do the same thing again.

But not every activity works this way. Runners, for example, often run every day, and may only take one or two true rest days a week. But within that pattern, they will alternate days of hard running (like speedwork, hill running, or long runs) with easy runs that feel less challenging to the body.

Other sports may fall somewhere in between, but nobody expects to work every body part to exhaustion every day. Even when elite athletes do workouts every day that look killer to us, it’s because our “hard” is their “easy”. You can bet their coaches schedule in just enough of the easier workouts to keep the athlete’s progress on track with minimal risk of injury.

Rest days and splits help us to pace ourselves. Too much hard running, if you’re not used to it, sets you up for tendonitis and other overuse injuries. And too much exercise of any kind can lead to a syndrome called overtraining where your body may develop flu-like symptoms and disturbed sleep because it just can’t keep up with the demands you’re putting on it.

There’s Nothing Magic About Resting for One Day

Taking a single rest day after a hard workout isn’t the only way to keep yourself from overtraining. There are a few reasons it’s a good rule of thumb, though:

 

• Delayed-onset muscle soreness often takes two days to peak. If you did a too-hard workout on Monday, you might be feeling only a little bit sore on Tuesday and think you’re okay to work out some more. If you waited until Wednesday instead, you would have a better sense of how sore or injured you are. Then you would be able to make a better judgment call about whether, and how hard, to work out again.
• Resting every other day means only half of your days will be hard workouts. The other half will be rest days or easier days, so the schedule keeps your total workout intensity manageable.
• Mentally, it’s easier to stick to a workout when you enjoy it. Hard workouts aren’t always fun, and you may need to psych yourself up to try something really challenging. It’s okay if you don’t feel up to that every day. Having some easier, almost relaxing days can help you stick to your schedule.

If you can accomplish those goals with another schedule, though, feel free to do so. If you enjoy all your workouts, even the hard ones, slowly include more hard days in your schedule. If you feel okay with that, keep doing it! But if you end up sore or fatigued, listen to your body and put those rest days back in.

If soreness is your problem, be aware that skipping one day may not be the best way to deal with it. Soreness peaking at 48 hours is just an average, and the true timeframe can vary. Your muscles might only feel sore and weak for one day, or if you tried something new and difficult, you might feel it for a week. At the beginning of a new workout routine, you might even need three or four easy days.

Recovery Doesn’t Have to Mean Total Rest

Some people prefer the term “recovery” to “rest” days, because total rest isn’t necessarily your goal. After all, lifting a fork to your mouth is a similar action to a bicep curl, so if you just did a heavy arm day, would you be unable to eat? Clearly, some amount of activity is fine on a rest or recovery day.

This is where you have to calibrate your own sense of effort. If you’re new to exercising and you just did a day of heavy squats, a five mile bike ride is probably not a great choice for the following day. But if you bike five miles to work every day, you should be able to keep doing that even on your “rest” days.

When I did push-ups every day for 30 days, a few people suggested that I was setting myself up for injury by not taking rest days. But as I wrote in that article, I ramped up my fitness very carefully. A few sets of pushups every day is my new normal, and it’s no more taxing to me than a bike ride is to a bike commuter. Some days I might try a more challenging type of pushup or I might do more reps than usual; but I balance out those harder days with, you guessed it, easier days that are closer to my baseline effort level.

As you learn your own strengths and limitations, you too can alter your workout schedule according to what works for you. That might mean you only take one or two rest days per week, or it might mean you do mega-hard workouts and then lay low for a few days. If you’re getting a reasonable amount of exercise in total, and if you aren’t getting sore or injured, you’re probably doing okay.

http://vitals.lifehacker.com/do-you-really-need-a-rest-day-after-exercise-1792349953