It is Monday!! are you excited?
The past 3 days were amazing!! Seriously we are very blessed to have such amazing parents. They helped a lot while up here over at the kitchen, as well helped do some painting over at Lori and Gary’s new house. Anyone else love having family come visit to have free help? We sure appreciated the extra hands.
While we enjoyed our company and eating out, we took 3 days off from working out. We did not feel guilty one bit. Life is too short too sweat over missing a workout. Something we have learned and come to accept over the years.
But wait, aren’t we FitFluential Ambassadors? How could we promote not working out for 3 days as a good thing??
Well, as much as we love to workout and get a good sweat it, we also know taking time off is not only good for the body, but the mind too. Life is about balance, and sometimes you just got to go with the flow and break out of habits. Learn to live in the moment.
It has been awhile since we talked workouts.
Here is a recap of our week of workouts from last week:
this week we pushed ourselves to do 5:30 plank, and one day we did it for 6 minutes!!
Saturday – ended up taking the DAY OFF as we had a long day at the bakery
Sunday – Jenn Fit Full Body from May 10 – we set our Gymboss Interval Timer to 18 rounds of 10/50 seconds and performed 6 different exercises.
Monday – Jenn Fit Legs on Fire – we could only complete 2 rounds, our legs were dying.
Tuesday – Tone It Up Surfer Beach Babe DVD workout
Wednesday – 10 minute ZWOW #12 workout. We still struggle with our pistol squats, we use our equalizer to lean on.
Thursday – Tone It Up Summer Slim Workout + Sunkissed Abs. We did each routine twice through.
Friday – DAY OFF
Saturday – DAY OFF
Sunday – DAY OFF
What will inspire us to move our bodies this week…
Have a fit-ablous day!
For more thoughts on days off from working out, check out these links:
rest days from our friend the Fitnessista
planned or spontaneous rest days from our girl Teri
when you should skip a workout via Self Magazine
taking rest days between workouts via Prevention
Twins Question: How often do you take rest days? What are your thoughts on planned or spontaneous rest days? as you can see from our life, we are all for spontaneous rest days 
till next time,
the pure2raw twins
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
I think rest days are absolutely essential to balance everything out! If I feel stressed about missing a workout, I know I need to re-evaluate my goals and put everything into perspective….
Have a great day!
well said Liz! Hope you have a great day too!
I take rest days 2 to 3 times a week. (and sometimes I consider a day when I just go for a walk as one of those rest days because it’s low impact and not high intensity). Occasionally, I feel like I just have to rest—so my rest days are usually only planned half of the time!
I think it’s great to take a few days off in a row—-think of all the repairing your muscles did while you rested!!
Lisa recently posted..Waking Up at 3am…What does it mean and what can you do about it?
I’ve taken about the last 5 days off because life has really been crazy and I haven’t regretted a minute of it either! It helped reading this though as I know there will always be more time to workout in my future and the past week I had to focus my energy on graduation, moving, goodbyes, and everything else. Glad you had a fabulous weekend too!
katie @KatieDid recently posted..Beginning’s End
so true Katie!!! glad you are enjoying your special moment right now with loved ones!
so true Katie!!! glad you are enjoying your special moment right now with loved ones!
Great workouts ladies! I’m so glad you had a great weekend and took some much needed rest days. It took a long time for me realize that rest days are just as important as workout days! The resting is what gives your body a chance to rebuild the muscles you’ve worked for. I normally go for two days a week and I enjoy every second of those days! I hope you both have a great week!
Sarena (The Non-Dairy Queen) recently posted..Almost Wordless Wednesday…
same here!
You guys should try ZWOW18 this week, it’s a killer workout + it’s lots of fun!
Cara Craves… recently posted..Oatmeal Cookies with Date Puree
We plan to give it a try tomorrow! we are excited love our ZWOW
I take active rest days every Saturday and Sunday. I still end up doing something active, even if it is just taking a leisurely walk or bike ride, or a gentle yoga session. I take spontaneous rest days as needed like if I have a particularly busy day at work, or if I am spending time with friends or family. I agree, you have got to make time to enjoy life and not stress about missing a workout every once in a while!
What a coincidence! I’ve been resting for the past three days as well. It was a little hard to get back into my workout routine today but I’m so happy I did!
Jenn and Jac @ sketch-free vegan recently posted..First Protein Pancakes! + Mini Coconut Key-Lime Pies + Smoothie
I’m amazed at how good my body feels after a few days of rest. When I Went to visit my family last weekend, I took three days off, which was the longest I had taken off in awhile… but when I hit the gym on Monday, it was like I had twice the energy I normally do!! Clearly, my body needed the time off!
Liz @ IHeartVegetables recently posted..Birthday Brunch & Burger Bach
LOVE your workout schedule Girls! GREAT work! P.S LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog and enjoy reading everything!
Great post. It is so good to be able to accept rest when the body is asking for it. I admit, I still struggle with taking rest days some of the time. You girls are so active anyways, outside of your workouts so it was probably good having some time off! Especially if your body needed it too. I’m going to read those articles/posts on rest, because its something I still need to engrain in my mind that it is okay to rest. Love your workouts this week!
Lisa recently posted..Carrot cake granola and winner!
I seem to take most mondays and fridays as rest days… if i dont take any i get burnt out (and my muscles cry…). I think its part of what keeps me motivated the other 5 days – having that balance. Also need to try new workouts to keep my mind happy, so thanks for all the links!
I’m SO happy you posted about rest days! In the blog world, it seems like many people feel pressured to workout every day but that’s not the case – we NEED them, like you said.
Love seeing your workouts for the week. Thanks for introducing me to JennFit. love her site and attitude! You girls rock. xoxo
Heather @ For the Love of Kale recently posted..Finding the Good in Some Bad News
Amen sista(s)! I take one planned rest day each week but it usually ends up being 2 because of a crazy busy work day
Paige @ Running Around Normal recently posted..Water Content in Food
Thanks for telling us about Jenn Fit, her site is really simple and the workouts look great.
your welcome Kimmoy! we are enjoying her workouts too!
thanks for the link love!
xoxo
TeriLyn [a foodie stays fit] recently posted..The Weekender
YAY! Good on you both for respecting your bodies and your need to rest.
Like many other people have mentioned – resting is vital for your muscles to recover and build so you don’t end up overtraining or getting injured. In fact, muscles don’t grow during a workout (in the catabolic phase), they grow in the 48 hour period afterwards (the anabolic phase).
That’s why steroids are called anabolic, but also why you don’t need them if you want to grow stronger muscles. You just need to take a day or two off
Itake three rest days a week: 2 days of doing yoga and one day of full rest. The other four days are full on heavy lifting and GPP.
DeB recently posted..#31 Catching Up
I’m with you girls on rest days! In the past I was so scared of taking even a single day off, thinking that I would somehow gain 10 pounds overnight. It’s ridiculous what our minds will talk us into at times!
Love how down to earth you two are with working out, even though you love it so much!
Brittany @ Itty Bits of Balance recently posted..The Pizookie Awakening
Great thoughts you guys – rest days are so important. I usually take Sundays off as a rest day unless my schedule is wide open (like I went to church Saturday night instead and don’t have plans Sunday mornings) and then I switch Sat’s for rest days and go long Sundays. It used to be very hard for me to take rest days (mentally, mainly!), and sometimes I still struggle with feeling antsy at the end of a rest day, but now I embrace them and try to listen to my body throughout the week. Like today! Super sore calves from 12 miles in my Vibrams Sunday and a hard hike in my Vibrams yesterday so I cooled it today and rested. I’ll be back at it again tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and providing the links too! So good to rest (and on my recent holidays away I didn’t even do a single push up ALL WEEK – I’d say I’ve come a long way).
Bonnie recently posted..May-Long Weekend in Review
I spent the past week in Paris with my sister! A glorious break from regular workouts. I began each morning with 4 min 30 sec planks (inspired by you guys) and 30 pushups! Otherwise no workouts… Just tons of walking and stairs. It was a great mental and physical break and has inspired me to get moving in more conventional ways in my daily life (i.e. more walks).
Thanks for sharing these workouts! I’ve been looking for a few new things to try out.
I’m all for rest days. I try to do some stretching on my rest days. And really, I don’t plan them, I just let my body tell me when it is ready to take a break.
Kristin @ eat healthy. be happy. live well. recently posted..Weekend review in Instagram pics