Hear me out — I believe in two things.

I feel that 1) the fitness industry makes up how many rest days a week you need when it really “depends.” Even my 1 day a week example here isn’t concrete. And 2) People who cannot take rest days ever need to ask themselves WHY.

There isn’t a hard-cut rule.

1-2 days off a week is solid for many people. If you are more advanced or in a heavy training cycle of adjusting intensities with larger 36-48 hour gaps between some training days, you can probably do every 10-14 days if you’re training + smart about it.

Your body WILL adapt to what you give it. So, if you want to train 7 days a week every day of the year… just call it what it is: activity! The easy activity is … well, “easy/low-intensity activity.” Not “rest.” Rest is… resting. & Active recovery is … activity!

The issue I have with this assuming you have a healthy relationship with exercise and feel UNABLE to rest, is simply the language and application.

We have people doing LOADS of volume or random training or needing rest, giving into gym peer pressure, their fear around days off, inability to rest to slap on a moderate-intensity WOD, 5k, etc., and calling. it “active recovery/rest”.

You’re an adult and can train as much as you want. A good training program will adjust your intensity or body groups for you, factor in rest + recovery, etc.

But doing more for the sake of doing more doesn’t = more progress or “not gaining weight” or “making more gains” or “getting faster.” Sometimes it’s digging a deeper hole.

If you aren’t recovering, true non-active rest has to come somewhere. There is merit to moving daily, walking, or doing something FUN on your rest day.

But if your performance isn’t moving forward, ask yourself if you’re already DOING THE MOST: “Do I actually just need to rest in order to recover?” 🤍🤘🏻