The importance of rest part 1:

Rest days during the week

Go into your gym and look around some time. What I want you to look for is the people with the knee braces, wrist wraps, elbow braces, etc. continuing to train intensely (or at least trying). Or the ones just going through the motions, who are only there out of some confused sense of obligation or what have you. Perhaps, if you think about it, you're one of those people.

I want you to ask yourself how many days off you take each week. And when I say off I mean off. Not "I do an hour of aerobics but that doesn't count." I mean off. One, maybe two? Probably not that many. How many people (the ones wearing the various braces) are in there every day, sometimes more than once? Either they are doing weights multiple times per week and cardio on the off days or they are doing both each day.

Trust me, I've been there too, trying to train 6 days/week (I at least conceded one day off per week, although I didn't do that consistently until my late 20's) and wondering why I was burnt out, tired all the time, not performing well, etc.

But you argue, Lance trains 6 days/week, so do most road cyclists. Well, elite road cyclists are genetic freaks, train full time (they don't have job and such cutting into their time) and the majority of the peleton is using drugs so you really shouldn't derive very many conclusions about how you, who has a job, has real life stress and isn't preparing for the Tour De France should be training.

Most runners run 6 days/week. Yeah, and most runners are overtrained and chronically injured. And Arnold and his ilk lifted 6 days/week. Genetics and drugs. Same with the Bulgarians, the Soviets, you name it. These are the genetic elite, training full time with no job or life stress, and juiced to the gills. Unless you have all those things going for you, you shouldn't try to emulate their training. And given that a massive percentage of elite athletes report being overtrained, perhaps even they should be training less frequently

Which is simply a long winded way of suggesting that, if you are anything like the normal trainee, you're doing too much. You probably train too many days per week and take too few days off. You're lifting 3-4 days/week and trying to do cardio another 3-4 days/week (this is especially true if you are a fat/weight obsessed female). And you wonder why your joints are always kind of sore, you don't really look forwards to your workouts anymore and everything that signals, if not true overtraining, at least overreaching (the distinction is another topic for another day).

So, between now and part 2 (2 weeks from now), I want you to look at your current training schedule, how many days are you training, how many days do you have off? I recommend that everyone, and this is true from the beginning exerciser to the elite athlete have at least one day completely off from training. That's the minimum.

This is called passive rest, I want you to sit around all day. I'm not a religious person but this is best summed up by a quote from Charlie Francis's book "Speed Trap". Francis had asked his coach if they could afford to take Sunday's off. His coach told him "The Lord made the world in six days, and on the seventh he rested. Do you think you could do better than that?" Most elite athletes take at least one day off from training each week, why do you think you need more training than they do? If you simply can't stay still and not do something, go for a brisk walk outdoors. But stay out of the gym. See if you aren't refreshed when you go back to the gym the next day.

At least one (and probably two) other days per week, you should be doing active rest. This is light activity done to improve recovery. An endurance cyclist who typically trains for 2 hours on normal training days might spin very easily (at a heart rate of 130-140 or lower) for 30-40 minutes. And I mean light spinning, almost no pressure on the pedals. It pumps some blood, burns a few calories, and helps recovery. Sipping a protein/carb drink during active recovery may help shuttle nutrients to the worked muscles. A runner should do some sort of cross training to give their connective tissues a rest. Try the EFX/elliptical or something non-impact.

People involved in heavy weight training can do something similar for passive rest, just very light cardio activity (brisk walking, spin on the bike) but, again, the intensity should be pretty low. If your trying to bodybuild, your focus should be on lifting anyhow and 3-4 days/week should be plenty for everyone. Most powerlifters only lift 4 days/week (on average) although many are starting to do extra stuff of late. Again, these are typically full time athletes and there is always the steroid factor to consider. Why do you think you need more time in the weight room than they do? If you want to do a little aerobic conditioning, either double it up on one of your training days or keep it very low intensity on the off days.

Even for general fitness exercisers, I think taking extra days off (or performing active rest) is beneficial. Find places to cut your weight training down (most people's workouts are absurdly long) and put some of your cardiovascular work after your weights (on upper body days). I think you get the idea. Find a way to get your training down to 3-4 days/week total with 1 day completely off and a couple of days of active recovery.

Try this for the next 2 weeks, cutting back your training days and increasing how many days you rest and recover. See if you don't freshen up and start to get more enthusiastic about the days you are in the gym. In the follow up to this article, in 2 weeks, I'll talk about taking longer breaks from training and why it's such a good idea. .

Questions and Answers

Q: Should I use lean body mass or total weight to set my caloric intake? Or should I use goal weight?

A: I recommend basing caloric estimates on current total bodyweight. Because that is the determinant of how many calories you need at this moment. Most people, assuming a relatively average activity level (exercising 3-4 days/week and not too terribly sedentary) have a maintenance caloric requirement of 14-16 calories per pound, with women tending to be at the lower end. From that point, you can adjust calories depending on goals. You can decrease estimated maintenance calories by 10-20% for fat loss, increase it by 10-20% for weight/muscle gain. Please note that these are only starting points, you will still have to adjust calories each week based on real world changes in body composition. The system I use to make these adjustments is described in both my Rapid Fat Loss Handbook and A Guide to Flexible Dieting.

Q: I have one important question for you Lyle. Are you a doctor, PhD, MD or DO? Many people I know call you Doctor, and claim that you are in fact a doctor. However, I searched your website and have not seen any indication that you are a doctor or are getting your doctorate degree. If you are, please let me know where you have studied or are studying and what degrees you have earned. My brother is a bodybuilder and swears by your diet. I was just wondering if the man he gives credit to is infact who he says he is. Thanks a lot for your cooperation. I really appreciate it.

A: This came in via the email link and I thought it was important enough to adress immediately. I have had people call me doctor from time to time, I am honestly not aware where they got the idea that I have either an MD or a PhD. I know they didn't get it from me; I have never claimed such, now would I ever claim to have a degree I didn't possess. And so I won't get accused of 'letting people believe something without correcting them', I'm adressing it here.

I have a BS degree in physiological sciences from UCLA (strictly speaking it started as a kinesiology degree but name-changed halfway through, I usually just say exercise physiology) and I'm just a tremendous nerd about this stuff. I did a brief stint in graduate school in exericse physiology at UT Austin several years ago but got bored and quit because I wasn't learning anything useful.

So, no MD, no PhD, I've never claimed such and don't want people to be misled or think I'm trying to mislead them about my academic background.

Q: What's a PSMF?

A: PSMF stands for protein sparing modified fast, it is a diet consisting of nothing but lean protein (along with vitamins/minerals, veggies and water) that is meant to induce rapid fat loss while sparing body protein (hence the name). When I was developing the diet approach in my Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, I modified the original PSMF in a few important ways. The main one of which was to adjust daily protein intake based on starting bodyfat percentage and activity levels. Other modifications including essential fatty acid intake and the use of free meals, refeeds and full diet breaks were also added.