So you’ve busted your butt at the gym for the past few days, it seems like every single muscle fiber in your body is more or less on fire, and you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself. First off, good for you! But pump your breaks just a little. We’re not here to rain on your pump-parade or pour water over your fitness-fire, but before you hit the couch for a day full of glorious couch-potatoing, allow us to present an alternative to the lazy rest day. 

Because there is another — and dare we say a better — way to spend those days in between heavy workout sessions, and that is with an active recovery day. This is a way to actually make some use of your non-shredding days, to improve your fitness, and help you get those gains even faster. But first, a few definitions…

Active Recovery Days vs. Rest Days

Let’s start with some simple definitions. A rest day is just that – 24 hours of a whole lotta nothin’, where you can veg out, binge watch all of Ted Lasso before season three comes out, and basically enjoy being a lump on a very comfy log. But an active recovery day (also known as an active rest day) is something different. These involve doing simple, low-impact, minimal effort activities that keep your blood flowing so that your body can do an even better job of repairing itself. Now bare in mind, there are still some benefits to all-out rest days. If you’re really feeling those muscles, aching from head to toe, with a rumbling of true exhaustion down in your gut — please, feel free and rest the day away. 

But if you’re not at your workout-wit’s end, and you haven’t burned that candle at every end, why not try making some mini-progress while your body heals itself for the next all-out assault?

The Benefits of an Active Recovery Day

There is a pretty impressive list of advantages to an active recovery day, and here are a few of our favorites: 

Boosted Circulation: As mentioned before, moving and grooving in a lighter way increases blood flow to your muscles and tissues, delivering essential nutrients like amino acids to help build those muscle fibers up just right. 

Mental Health: You never want to burn yourself out in the gym (or your decked out garage, or your living room for that matter), because that’ll hurt your progress long term. By giving yourself fun yet active rest, you can keep your health fresh in your mind, so you’re raring to go during your next upcoming workout. 

Better Food Habits: A phenomenon that tends to happen to many of us is that when we feel active, we get a sort of secondary effect of wanting to eat better to supplement our fitness routines. But when we drop everything off for a full-on rest day, the nachos may be close behind. Which is why keeping ourselves active and progressing can help us keep our heads in the game when we head to the fridge.

Tips for an Active Recovery Day

Need a little inspiration to kick off that active recovery day in style? Here are some of our favorite methods:

Resistance Training 

Light, and we mean light, resistance training is one of the best ways to keep your body in tip-top shape while you recover. You can perform high-rep lifts at ultra-low weights and get in a very easy, but very effective, active recovery day. And you can even use this time to work on and perfect your form when tackling the heavier stuff. As you probably know, we at Studio SWEAT onDemand try to be your gurus for all things fitness, and we’ve got you covered in the light resistance training department. Check out our Low Intensity Sculpting Classes to get into some light lifting.

Mild Yoga

We emphasize the “mild” part because yoga can be a very intense activity if you really want it to be. But we’re not talking about hour-long hot ashtanga sessions taught by some gravity-defying yogi in the Himalayas. Nah, let’s come back down a little to sea level with our full library of Restorative Yoga Classes. These light workouts are more akin to opening your body up from head to toe, rather than a heavy duty lifting session.

Stretch & Restore

Similar to yoga, our packed-to-the-gills library of Stretch & Restore classes will open and expand many of your major muscle groups. But unlike yoga that promotes a constant flow of movement to center yourself, stretching involves longer positions that allow you to really dig deeper into those problem areas that need that extra attention. 

Spin Classes (No, Really)

As purveyors of all-things-Spin, we know that it might sound a bit wonky to think of one of the most intense cardio cataclysms in the fitness industry as a calming cool down on your active rest day, but on the contrary! We feature tons of Low & Medium-Intensity Cycling Classes that don’t make you gush gallons of sweat, but will keep you active and limber on those active rest days.

On a final note, if you don’t have the oompah-pah to get a proper workout in during your rest day, you can always go for a walk, mow the lawn, rearrange your garage — whatever, as long as you’re staying active. 

Well we hope our guide to your perfect active rest and recovery day gives you everything you need to take your R&R further than ever before. And when you’re ready to get back up and get right down into those workouts again, consider signing up for a 7-Day Free Trial with Studio SWEAT onDemand! We’ve got an endless library of virtual fitness classes, featuring everything listed above, as well as HIIT, TRX, Barre, Kickboxing, Strength Training, and a whole lot more. Sign up today, and let’s get you active!