I read somewhere the other day (Can't recall where) that one of the best ways to cement a good exercise mindset is to work out for 10 consecutive days, then it makes it that much easier to develop it into a habbit.

But I've also read it's important tohave rest days. Wrk out 6 days then rest on the 7th. Firstly, why is this ? What are he benefits? And do they greater exceed the benefits of working out everyday?

Thanks :]

lots of people work out everyday...the trick is in not getting burnt out on exercise. i also found an article on making exercise a habit but says takes 21 days but still interesting.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2161974_work...t-routine.html

I have a rest day a week. I know that for my body, a rest day is important for recovery. Psychologically, there are just some days I cannot work out due to my job, and if I felt that I needed to work out everyday, and then I couldn't, I might have feelings of angst. So I can skip a day without guilt.

It is important to get in the habit of exercising. Think of it as making the things you do every day automatic. Like your morning routine: you don't make a list of what you need to do every morning ("Wake up, brush teeth, wash face, brush hair, get dressed, put on makeup, make breakfast..."). It would be exhausting! All those things just become part of what you automatically do. Exercise should be like that--automatically part of your routine. That way it's not so much effort to get it done. You plan your day, and exercise just gets fitted in like everything else.

And eventually it will become weird when you DON'T go the gym. Which is good, because then when it becomes more difficult to fit in exercise (an evening out, though you usually go to the gym after work; or brunch with friends, when you usually run in the morning) you will want to fit it in, despite the challenges.

As for rest days, the rest I need depends on how fit I am and what kind of exercise I've been doing. Sometimes I completely rest (mostly on Saturdays, when I'm completely lazy and don't even get groceries); sometimes I do yoga at home; sometimes the 15 min walk each way to get groceries is my activity on my rest day. Walking is good 'rest' for me because it's still the exercise habit but doesn't work me too hard.

cardio is good to do 7 days, but exercising your musels only good to do every other day - they need 48 hours of rest. But cardio you should do every day.
I read that it takes 21 days to develop a habbit

Thanks heaps for the article! Was helpful
And I thought 10 days seemed to good to be true, but it's my mini-goal atm. I've never exercised for more than 5 days in a row. lol dear me.

And yeah I'm definitely excited to get to the stage where it feels weird not to be thrashing it at the gym ahah

As others have stated, I think it's good to give yourself a rest day once in awhile to rest your body and mind. I usually try to work out everyday, but I think the key, if you do that, is to do different things so that you are not working out the same muscles everyday. For example, I do cardio and weights from day to day and also mix in different body parts for weights and different cardio.

But there are times when I can tell I'm getting tired mentally and physically, and at those times I may take a day or several days off. On those days I try to do something light-like going for a walk or doing some stretching. Or I may try something totally different (i.e., last week I tried some yoga for the first time at the gym).