If I Take A Rest Day I’ll Lose My Gains

The biggest mistake I see most women making is that they can never take a rest day or that rest day looks like hot yoga or a hard core spin class. I know that feeling very well. When I first started working out, a friend asked me “how many rest days do you take?” I looked at them with disgust in my eyes and with my sorority of the suffering badge on full display told them that if I didn’t workout every day I’d lose my “gains”. I’d lose my momentum.

I bought into the no pain no gain story. When I was getting ready for a fitness show, I was all in. I was at the gym 7 days a week, 2 hours a day and by the time the show was over I needed to take at least 1 week off from the gym. I needed a break! I worked so hard that I lost my joy. I’d love going to the gym, but it slowly turned into a job. I felt I had to go to the gym. I couldn’t take the day off.

I was meeting with my coach to set up for the next show and she asked, “Kim how long could I keep up this pace?” I froze, was she reading my mind, did she know that I was planning to take at least a week off from the gym and binge my face off.

She said this to me. You can go hard, you can go long but you can’t go hard for long.

This was a hard pill for me to swallow, because my pace was not sustainable. I had really high highs and really low lows.

Not ever taking a break was like never stopping to put gas in my car. I know I’m that person who drives my car well past when the yellow reserve light comes on, however eventually my car will run out of gas and leave me on the side of the road. Even if a race car driver is winning the Indy 500, they pull in for a pit stop. I couldn’t continue to beat my body into submission while asking it to give me more! My body was always running on fumes. It had nothing left to give.

My coach’s voice ran in my head, I told her I wanted to go long. It was time to bring my car in for a pitstop to recharge and refuel. To help me bring my car in for a pitstop she shared this simple framework with me. Instead of just going and going I made to tap into how my body was feeling. As much as I wanted to believe that my body is a machine, it is not. Here’s the simple framework she shared with me.

🛑 Red days (when followed closely) you can stop without guilt or shame.
Walking, mobility work and yin yoga are perfect on these kinds of days

🟡 Yellow days take it a little slower perfect day for shorter less intense workouts. If you want to lift these days are for light weights and few reps

🟢 Green days give it all you got. You’ll be lifting heavy, long hard workouts

For those of you scratching your head about this concept let me ask you for all the days you pushed yourself through on a workout, did you feel motivated? Did you want to continue working out? Who would you be if you cut yourself some grace and worked out based on how you felt?

Do you want to keep pushing hard for little return or would you rather take the pressure off yourself and give your mind and your body a break.

Are you ready to come in for a pitstop? Join me for the 7 Days To Recharge Your Metabolism. If you are tired of waiting to see results and your workouts no longer bring you joy. If you are starting to feel like there is no point to what you’re doing. Imagine only working out for 20 minutes a day and STILL getting the results that you are looking for.  The workouts will leave you feeling better, stronger and more confident. This time you’re guaranteed not to fail.