Just out of curiosity.

I think having 6 days on and 1 day off is good, but know people who go 13 days on and 1 day off or even none. by rest day I mean it can be an active rest day.

i believe it is important to let your body rest on a regular basis.

thoughts?

I don't think there's an exact answer to that... I think its however many days you can workout without burning out... sometimes when I get really "gung ho" I end up bailing out on my plans and taking five days off... this is bad bad bad...

oh dear.
I need to workout

interesting i wonder how many other people do the same as you

with all due respect i think that prevention is better than cure and that is why i thought a rest day is important on a regular basis.

i don't know if i could just go and go and go and wait until i can't do it the following day and then have no choice but to rest my body.

oh dear, no... I meant, the number of days per week you can go without getting burnt out on working out too much... not straight numbers of days! my bad.

i thought you were insane!

thanks for clearing that up

I do weights 3-4 times a week and cardio usually 6, sometimes 7. I just listen to my body. If I'm getting tired or having trouble sleeping I'll take a day or more off and rest up.

My brain needs more days off than my body does! While I appreciate the mental and physical effects of regular exercise, I find my life is more balanced if I take at least two days off from the gym each week - usually the weekends!

I am trying one day a week - I think though my muscles were getting a little tired - and (really because I got way too busy on tuesday) I took 2 days off last week, and it will be 2 days off this week if I don't work out on sat (I think I took Sunday off too...) (I was supposed to run 6 miles and I overslept...bad bad bad) (but my spinning was good on monday)

ok - so no rest for me!

I've been told by a presonal trainer that you should only do weights every other day, because if you do them every day you risk damaging your muscle tissue. So maybe work upper body one day, lower body the next, and switch, or just do it all one day and none the next. As for cardio, I don't think medically it's important to take a break... it's just how you feel personally. If after a few days of cardio you feel really drained, then you should probably take the day off. But if you're feeling good, I don't see the reason for a break. Sometimes I think planned break days can be counterproductive-- if you're really feeling good on a particular day, but it's your "break day" so you don't work out-- I see that as wasted calories that you could be burning. So I say listen to your body for when it needs a break.

I don't schedule days off. I try and work out every day. Life scenarios like working late, or family occocasions that occur during my workout times that occur like they do sometimes cause me not to be able to work out, and that's ok. I know that I've worked out as much as I could and now I won't stress when those little life things happen.

I'm the same as spill. I go into each week hoping to work out everyday. Of course, it doesn't always turn out like that, and I'm OK with that. It seems to naturally work itself out. I do alternate days on weights, though. One day, I do upper body, and then the next, I do lower body.