Rest is a Four Letter Word

I, like many people, don't enjoy rest days. What do you mean I am supposed to not workout on this day? Wouldn't activity recovery be better? Can active recovery be a 6 mile run? Try as I might, I keep finding that rest days are beneficial and even necessary to meet my goals.

Way back in 2007, I joined Equinox for the very first time. I loved it but I also needed to justify to my parents what was then considered an expensive gym membership. It was the summer after my junior year in college, I had a fake internship that only took place on weekends, and my parents were 100% financially responsible for me. To show my dedication to my pricey membership, I went to the gym every single day, sometimes twice. The instructors and front desk team loved me. I worked really hard and had a great attitude about it. But then on Day 34, I couldn't do simple v-leg raises with a Swiss ball. (And that my friends is how creepy detailed my memory is about workouts I did almost 9 years ago.) Bonne is telling me to put some effort in but I legit couldn't do it. My abs and legs were toast. Probably because I hadn't taken a day off in over a month. I went to visit my grandmother and only did a little running for a few days, and magically I was back in the gym the next week stronger than ever.

Then in 2010, I was regularly attending 2 to 3 Equinox classes a day while teaching and attending grad school full-time. February break rolled around and I was psyched to spend multiple hours at all three Long Island Equinox locations. But I felt exhausted and sick, and overcome by crippling anxiety about having to go back to school. (I really did not like teaching.) So I spent 2 straight days in bed eating the crap snacks my parents hide in the cupboards (hello Doritos!) and I lost 3 lbs. 

Jenna told me I had to start taking a rest day when we tried carb cycling. I was all, "Pure Barre is my rest day!" And Jenna was all, "Pure Barre is NOT your rest day. You need to rest, especially if you're going to go low calorie for a day." I learned that I do not like low calorie days. I also learned that rest days aren't so bad.

As I shared a couple of weeks ago, I did not workout at all on Saturday and Sunday of the Atlantic Regional. I spent all weekend on my feet cheering for Coach Bre but I was not going to CrossFit and I didn't feel like running either. Last week, I tried to take it a little easier. I went to Pure Barre Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I did go to CrossFit on Tuesday because the programming looked awesome but I wasn't adequately hydrated or fueled for running in 90 degree weather and knocking out thrusters. Anyway, I weighed in at 140.2 lbs. Rest is good.