#97 - Run, Rest, Repeat - Balance and Consistency is Key to Running for Weight Loss
Rest sounds like the opposite of a workout, but it’s really a key part of running for weight loss. For lasting results, you need to balance out your workout with rest and keep it going strong!
The 3 R’s: Run, Rest, Repeat
Educated people know the three R’s - reading, (w)riting, and ‘rithmatic - but do you know the formula for being body smart? The key to a healthy, active lifestyle is balance and consistency. Run, Rest, and Repeat - that is the key to running for weight loss.
When it comes to fitness, neither extreme is healthy nor sustainable. If you don’t exercise at all, you’re doing your body a huge disservice. Being sedentary will result in weight gain, decreased energy and endurance, plus you’ll miss out on developing a strong and toned physique. Everyone deserves to feel great in their skin - but it takes work!
On the flip side, if you workout every single day and don’t balance it with rest, you’ll either burn yourself out or eventually hurt yourself. People get addicted to the runners high, but there’s nothing smart about pushing yourself to the point of running injuries. Not to mention, you’ll have a harder time losing weight if you overdo it for long, because your body will stop responding to exercise. You (and probably even your family) will eventually resent this obsession with running for weight loss if you don’t learn to take rest days.
Schedule Yourself Running For Weight Loss
The easiest way to avoid overdoing it is to set a schedule for your fitness activities. Use a wall calendar or the planner on your cell phone to map out your plan. Choose which days are for running and which days are for rest. Most doctors and fitness coaches recommend running for weight loss at least three times a week. You might even go up to five days a week, but be sure to take time off every 2-3 days. The Strides App is a great tool for scheduling your routine!
Set a Running Pace Based on Heart Rate
You may be falling for the common misconception that the harder you run and the farther you go, the better the workout. That’s simply not true. Setting a good pace is healthier than running as fast as you can. Coach Tadris highly recommends running at a pace that controls your heart rate. His run-walk-run method strengthens your cardiovascular system and allows you to burn more calories in less time. The goal is to stay within 80-85% of your maximum heart rate.
Get Help with the Run, Rest, Repeat Method
Coach Tadris takes his running team to the track each week on Tuesdays for a speed run, then Wednesday is a designated rest day, and then Thursday is a tempo run. For more details about heart rate training or if you’re interested in meeting up to run with us, get in touch with Coach Tadris via the website or email or Facebook!
Rest Patterns Are Seen Throughout Nature
Look around and you’ll see rest, hibernation, and dormant periods built into patterns throughout nature. There is a balance and a rhythm to the way animals behave and even how plants grow and thrive. Visit an orchard or the zoo at certain times of the year and you’ll notice this. In order to operate at peak performance, it is necessary to rest - and you are no different!
Plants and Soil Rest
Even trees and plants need to take a rest. The period of rest is called dormancy, and it’s during this time when the plant stops taking in energy and stops growing. After a while, the plant springs back into action and continues to grow and thrive. Most perennial plants go dormant in the winter and regrow from their strengthened roots in the spring.
You may not know that soil itself needs to “rest” as well. Farmers know that soil eventually gets depleted of its minerals, so it’s best to let ground lay fallow in order to rejuvenate the soil. After the land has a chance to rest and recover, it will be able to support growing healthy plants once again. This is a normal crop rotation technique that farmers use and it can take between one to five years for the soil to regenerate.
Animals Rest and Hibernate
All animals sleep, some at night and some during the day. Hibernation is different from sleep. It can last months at a time and true hibernators appear to be dead since the heart rate and body temperature drops. Hibernation gives the animals a better chance at survival in the wild. It allows them to get through the cold winter and prepares their minds and bodies for another active season of hunting, mating, and reproduction. Rest is key to continued survival.
Strategies to Help Discipline Yourself to Rest
Now that you understand the importance of rest and know to balance out your running for weight loss schedule, it’s time to get serious about it. If you struggle with finding a balance in your workout routine, here are some helpful ways to discipline yourself so your body can rest and recover in between running days.
Cross-Train on your Rest Days
Cross-training supports your running for weight loss method by strengthening and building up your agility, which helps prevent running injuries. On your rest days, try a new sport or exercise that works out different muscle groups such as yoga, tennis, swimming, dance, spin and cycling, etc.
Join Online Accountability Group on Facebook
Putting yourself into a group that was designed for mutual support on this health and fitness journey, posting questions and asking for help, finding encouragement and cheering others on, learning from others and building friendships with like minded people who share the same goals as you.
Make Alternative Plans with Others
Spending time with your family and friends, phone conversations to catch up with people you care about, making special memories, enjoying some down time at home, volunteering at your place of worship, mission, farm or animal shelter, etc.
Find a New Way to Support Health Journey
Healthy meal planning and prep, researching new exercises, listening to motivational podcasts like Keep Calm and Run To The Best You (Subscribe on Spotify or Subscribe on iTunes), reading books about whole foods and gut health, scribing in a journal, writing a book or blogging about your own experience, etc.
Book Recommendation from Coach Tadris Parker: Grab a copy of The Five Second Rule by Mel Robbins to learn the science of forming habits and get ready to kick procrastination to the curb!
Find Your Groove While Running For Weight Loss
Be smart about your fitness routine. Create a pattern that is good for your body and allows you the time to heal and recover through an earned period of rest. It’s not easy to strike that balance on your own.
Jump into the Keep Calm and Run To The Best You - Online Accountability Group so you can benefit from Coach Tadris’ weekly checkpoints: health connection calls, local running meets, online support group, and one-on-one coaching calls.
When you see how the running for weight loss method is supposed to work and you learn how others are sticking to a run, rest, repeat workout pattern, you’ll fall into a groove and it will feel so good that you’ll keep at it for life!