I used to think rest days were for quitters. Then plantar fasciitis—and too many injuries—taught me otherwise.
In a fitness culture that glorifies the grind, doing nothing feels like giving up. But what if your rest days are the most important training days of all?
Rest isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom.
Learning About Recovery the Hard Way
Mid-40s. Marathon training. Convinced that more miles = better runner.
My husband Bill and I were touring colleges with our son in the Pacific Northwest. I wasn’t about to let campus visits interrupt my schedule, so we ran:
- Eugene: 17 miles before the tour
- Seattle: 19 miles along Lake Washington
I thought I was dedicated. Committed. The kind of runner who didn’t make excuses.
Reality check: Plantar fasciitis made every step feel like broken glass. Blisters on blisters. Persistent achiness I kept pushing through because “rest is for the weak.”
I was checking boxes:
✓ Hit my mileage
✓ Stuck to the plan
✓ Didn’t let life interfere with training
But I was also:
✗ Falling apart
✗ Ignoring every signal my body sent
✗ Getting weaker instead of stronger
The Turning Point
A friend dragged me to Pilates. I went reluctantly—this wasn’t “real training,” just stretching for people who didn’t want to work hard, right?
Wrong. After adding Pilates and just ONE full rest day per week:
- Plantar fasciitis eased
- Achiness subsided
- My running got BETTER—faster, stronger, more sustainable
The REFRAME: Rest days I’d been treating as weakness were strategic strength-building.
The Science of Strategic Rest
Your body doesn’t build strength during the workout—it builds during recovery. A 2024 systematic review in Sports Medicine – Open confirms: both active and passive recovery improve fitness and physiological adaptations.
Translation: Your body doesn’t care if you’re resting “actively” or “passively”—it just needs you to STOP IGNORING IT.
Outdated thinking: “Rest is for the weak. Real athletes push through.”
Your Wellness REFRAME: “Rest is for the wise. Real athletes listen before their bodies scream.”
Two Types of Recovery
ACTIVE RECOVERY = gentle movement that aids healing:
- Walking (activates core, improves digestion, reduces pain)
- Pilates or Yoga (builds strength, balance, flexibility while reducing anxiety)
- Swimming, gentle cycling, foam rolling
COMPLETE REST = your body demands NOTHING. Full permission to lie on the couch. Your system needs complete shutdown to rebuild.
What I Learned
When I added rest days and Pilates, my running improved MORE than when I was grinding seven days a week.
- The body whispers before it screams
- My plantar fasciitis didn’t appear overnight—I ignored months of signals
- Strategic rest made my workout days more effective
- Doing less strategically produced more results than doing more relentlessly
Name, Claim and Reframe® It All
NAME: “Why do I feel guilty taking a rest day when my body is asking for it?”
CLAIM: “I value sustainable strength over short-term gains. I want to ski, cycle, and hike into my 80s—that requires listening now.”
REFRAME: “Rest days aren’t breaks—they’re when my body builds what I’m working toward. One approach gets me through one race. The other keeps me moving for decades”.
Your Recovery Audit
Look at your last 2 weeks honestly:
- How many workout days vs. rest days?
- Where did you ignore your body saying, “not today”?
- What injuries or aches followed?
ACTION: Put 2 rest days on this week’s calendar. Non-negotiable.
The Gift of Movement
I don’t take for granted that my body still lets me move. Every ski run, bike ride, mountain hike—that’s a privilege. Strategic rest isn’t just smart training. It’s reverence. It’s how I honor this gift.
The choice is simple: Break down relentlessly or build up strategically. I’m choosing the version who’s still out there—grateful, moving, alive—for as long as this body will let me.
And rest? That’s how we earn the right to keep going.
Andrea Mein DeWitt, M.Ed., PCC, CPCC, is the Global Authority on Cognitive Reframing and author of Name, Claim & Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life, recognized by NBC’s TODAY Show as 2023’s best motivational read (now available as an audiobook), and the companion Name, Claim & Reframe Workbook, that provides practical exercises for applying these principles. Through her coaching, workshops, and writing, she helps ambitious professionals transform their perspectives to unlock their full power and potential. Learn more at andreadewittadvisors.com.
