Tag: Fueling recovery

Rest days are not for being sedentary; rather, your body is actively repairing muscle micro-tears and replenishing glycogen stores, a process that can continue for up to 72 hours after an intense workout. Therefore, neglecting nutrition on these days is a common mistake that can undermine your hard work and hinder progress.

For years, many fitness enthusiasts have followed the intuitive yet flawed advice that less activity means less food, but expert nutritionists say this thinking is fundamentally wrong. The question, 'should you eat less on your rest day?' isn't as simple as it seems and the answer often goes against conventional wisdom for those serious about their fitness goals.

Rest days are crucial for muscle repair and growth, a process that can continue for up to 48 hours after an intense workout. While intuition might suggest cutting calories, most bodybuilders do eat carbs on rest days to fuel this recovery process and prepare for the next training session.

According to a study on COVID-19 patients, individuals with healthier diets experienced a significantly shorter recovery time. This finding highlights a crucial fact: eating is not just important for recovery; it is absolutely fundamental for supplying the body with the necessary building blocks for healing and repair.