WWW: There is Rest For The Weary

I have always heard there is no rest for the weary. However, scripture and trainers have been disagreeing with that for a while. We’ll start with what God says first. Check out Exodus 33:14 that said His presence shall go with us and He will give us rest. Also Psalm 37:7, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Then there is Isaiah 40: 28-31, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

There is also Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Plus Isaiah 28:12, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest…” And lastly, Jeremiah 31:25, “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

Rest is a much needed and much desired thing, not only in this century but in Jesus’ time as well. So how can we apply this to training? During exercise, you muscles have to work to meet the demands you place on them. During that work, muscles use the energy (called glycogen) that has been stored and start to become tired. Once you are complete with your exercise, glycogen gets replenished and your body goes into a time of rebuilding and repairing during the recovery process. Muscle gets broken down to rebuild and become stronger and more resistant so it can withstand more next time. When we don’t recover fully, our performance decreases, we’ll feel more tired than usual, and exercise will become more difficult than we are used to.

So what happens if we don’t take sufficient rest? Something called overtraining occurs. Signs of this include decrease in your sporting performance, increased risk of injury to yourself and others, depression, loss of vigor and freshness in your workout, and general body weakness or discomfort.

So what do you do on your off days? Sleep, rest your body, stretch a lot, and recover your muscles through foam rollers, muscle release, ice, and so on.

This is a lesson I need to learn and maybe can become less stubborn to. So be safe and smart endu, and take the rest you deserve.