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If you're not seeing the progress you're hoping for in the gym but you are pushing hard, eating well, and sleeping adequately on a regular basis, you may need to revisit whether or not you're really giving your body enough time to recover.
Here’s why your rest day could be just as important as your training days—and how your nutrition can make or break that recovery process.
Strength Training = Breakdown
Rest = Growth
What does this mean?
Strength training triggers micro-tears in your muscle fibers. This is a process called muscle protein breakdown. This may not sound like a good thing but this is what signals the body to rebuild. The repair process happens as you sleep and on recovery days, when the body ramps up muscle protein synthesis (MPS)—where damaged muscle proteins are replaced with new, stronger ones!
Without adequate rest, muscle protein breakdown may outpace muscle protein synthesis, which means you’re breaking down more than you’re building. Over time, neglecting rest disrupts this process and may also lead to chronic low-grade inflammation and overtraining syndrome, and may show up as:
- Fatigue and poor performance
- Trouble sleeping or low motivation
- Stalled progress or even muscle loss
- Increased risk of injury
How Does Your Nutrition Play Into Recovery?
Should you fuel differently on workout days vs. rest days?
Your body can't rebuild muscle without the right tools.
- Protein: Aim for ~0.8–1g/lb of your ideal body weight daily, even on rest days. These amino acids (especially leucine) are critical for repair.
- Carbs: Support glycogen replenishment and can lower cortisol post-training. They also increase muscle glycogen synthesis, which can accelerate recovery.
- Fats: Healthy fats (like omega-3s!) are necessary for hormone synthesis and recovery. Avoid excessive intake of highly oxidized oils, which can increase inflammation.
- Micronutrients: Magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, and antioxidants help reduce inflammation and promote repair. Polyphenols and antioxidants in berries, pomegranate, turmeric, and ginger help to reduce oxidative stress from training.
- Hydration: Muscle recovery slows with dehydration (even a 2% fluid loss has been shown to reduce strength output).
On the Other Hand, If You're Doing These on Rest Days…
They might be holding you back:
- Slashing calories too low, thinking “I didn’t train, I shouldn’t eat much.”
- Dropping protein or reducing carbs too much, assuming you only need them around workouts.
- Fasting for too long post-training, which can delay muscle repair.
- Overdoing alcohol or processed foods, both of which increase inflammation and impair sleep quality (necessary for hormone health and muscle growth).
Think of your rest day nutrition as fuel for tomorrow's performance.
Should You Change Your Food on Rest Days?
- If you're focusing on maintaining or building muscle, you may want to keep calories and macros consistent across the week as much as possible.
- If you're in a fat loss phase, you may choose to slightly reduce calories on rest days (~10–15%), but keep protein high to support recovery. This may look as simple as a reduction of carbs that are normally used around your workout, for example.
Don’t forget—carbs, especially complex carbs, are still important throughout the day to replenish muscles and fuel future training sessions.
Don’t fall into the trap of “I didn’t earn these calories.”
Your muscles are doing their repair work behind the scenes.
Remember…
Rest days aren’t lazy days.
They are a rest from more strenuous activities, such as heavy lifts and high-intensity training. They’re rebuilding days, and active recovery is still encouraged.
Incorporating practices like:
- Mobility work
- Sauna or contrast therapy (hot/cold)
- Yoga
- Walking
…can all help reduce DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness) and improve circulation. Most active individuals benefit from 1–2 rest/active rest days per week.
Reframe the fear of "losing progress" on a rest day—
Instead, think of it as a critical part of the training process.
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