Reevaluating rest: Train smarter by recovering better

CNN

23-05-2025

EDITOR'S NOTE: Dana Santas, known as the 'Mobility Maker,' is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports, and is the author of the book 'Practical Solutions for Back Pain Relief.'
With fitness culture too often celebrating extreme training and a 'no days off' mentality, rest is routinely misunderstood or overlooked entirely. If you're constantly sore, stiff or stuck at a plateau, it might be because you're not resting enough.
Much of the progress you make from training actually happens during rest. Recovery is when your body repairs tissues, replenishes energy stores and rebalances nervous system activity. Skipping that crucial process doesn't make you tougher — it makes you more likely to burn out, get injured or stop seeing results.
In my work with top professional athletes, I've spent the past two decades creating training and recovery programs, and one thing always holds true: The effort you put into recovery directly correlates with the effectiveness of your training.
Proper rest drives progress. That lesson isn't just for elite performers — it applies to anyone who wants to reap the health and wellness benefits of regular exercise.
Rest isn't just the absence of activity; it's a crucial physiological process that facilitates muscle repair, nervous system recovery, immune function and hormonal balance. Engaging in high-intensity or resistance training causes microtears in muscle fibers and places a demand on the systems of your body. With adequate recovery, your body responds to that stress by making positive adaptations, leading to strength gains, and an enhanced capacity to handle future physical demands.
Neglecting sufficient recovery time can result in the accumulation of stressors, which hinders the body's ability to rebuild and adapt. This cumulative stress can manifest as fatigue, persistent soreness, diminished performance, mood disturbances, disrupted sleep and a greater risk of overuse injury.
Even one single night of sleep deprivation in healthy young adults elevates cortisol levels and reduces muscle protein synthesis, inhibiting tissue repair and delaying muscle growth, according to a study published in the journal Physiological Reports. Prolonged elevation of cortisol and other stress hormones can also suppress immune function, increase systemic inflammation and heighten vulnerability to illness.
Without consistent recovery, your body lacks the opportunity to adapt, rebuild and thrive under the demands of training. Skipping rest doesn't just stall progress — it can actively reverse progress and even cause damage.
Just like your body, your mind requires rest to function at its best. Mental fatigue, like physical fatigue, builds up under stress. Without recovery, your brain struggles to regulate emotions, focus attention and motivate consistent effort, all of which impact your workouts and daily life.
Prioritizing recovery from training sessions and ensuring proper sleep habits helps balance your nervous system, reduce stress hormones and restore emotional balance. Research shows that adequate sleep supports your mind-body connection by promoting cognitive function and emotional regulation that reinforce neural pathways involved in movement and learning.
That's why any good mind-body fitness program includes mental check-ins during training and emphasizes recovery. Intentional rest can boost mental motivation, increase performance and leave you feeling more mindfully grounded, supporting both your fitness goals and your overall well-being.
Not all rest looks the same. The right kind of rest depends on how you feel, what you've been doing, and what your body and mind need most.
• Passive rest means complete time off from training, avoiding exertion and limiting screen time while putting an emphasis on ways to relax. Think: a long soak in the tub, taking an afternoon nap or simply lounging on the couch with a good book. If you're feeling worn down or sore, a full rest day can be exactly what your body needs.
• Active recovery involves light, low-impact movement that encourages circulation without placing additional stress on the body. Activities like walking, gentle yoga, simple mobility drills and foam rolling fall into this category.
• Restorative recovery targets your nervous system directly, using tools like diaphragmatic breathing, meditation or soft-tissue care, such as massage or assisted stretching, to shift you into a parasympathetic state. This type of recovery is especially valuable after intense training or during periods of high stress.
Recovery doesn't have to be complicated. You should always integrate recovery into your workouts by cooling down, resting between sets and using your breathing to down-regulate your nervous system after high-output sessions. But also build recovery into your weekly fitness programming as you would any other type of training.
Here's what a well-balanced week of fitness and recovery should look like:
• 2 to 3 days of higher-intensity, strength or cardio training
• 2 to 3 days of active recovery, focusing on walking or light movement
• 1 day of restorative recovery, incorporating breathwork and bodywork
• As needed, a passive rest day of total relaxation
You might feel like you're doing everything right by training hard, eating well and staying active, but without rest and recovery, the math doesn't add up. Rest days aren't optional — they're essential. Training breaks your body down, and recovery builds it back up. When you prioritize both, you'll feel better, perform better and sustain your progress over time.
Sign up for CNN's Fitness, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide will help you ease into a healthy routine, backed by experts.