What happens when…
If letting your trainers gather dust delivers anxiety of in-law proportions, we have important news. Slackening your sweat schedule can help you come back stronger. Here’s how...
01 Simply the rest
From your energy to your endorphin levels, there are ample reasons to get a sweat on. But while it might seem counter-intuitive to up your rest days, evidence supports prioritising them. Research published in the journal Cell Metabolism found that too much high-intensity exercise without rest can destabilise blood sugar and trigger a performance plateau. If you won’t rest for your body, will you do it for a PB?
02 Zone out
You know that lurching feeling when the number calling your phone belongs to your kid’s school? Well, a HIIT session inflicts the same kind of stress; both intense periods of work and fitness flood your system with cortisol and adrenaline. And too much can affect both your sleep and mood. Aim to have your heart rate in the 90% to 100% maximum training zone for no more than 10% of your total workout week.
03 Christmas presence
Connection, may we remind you, is a legitimate pillar of health. So, perhaps the most crucial benefit of lightening your training load is that you’ll be able to have all the family frolics the season encourages. Research shows that a chronic lack of social connection and isolation can be as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, while a study from the University of California indicates that taking time to foster relationships with older loved ones pl
