Today is my rest day. I started my workouts yesterday, and as predicted, I’m sore. This was to be expected (it’s not my first rodeo), and I knew it was coming. But, I also know how important rest days are to the growth and development of new muscles, and how important it is for the healing process of the body moving forward as I get back into the swing of things.

When I was younger, it was easy to go day after day. Heck, I plan on getting back to that once my body is accustomed to it again. But for now, I’m implementing rest days to help keep injuries at bay and to allow my body a chance to gently glide back into exercise.

When I went to USMC boot camp, we didn’t run every day; we did it every other day. Why? Because running every day is counter-productive for people who are new to exercise. Once we got in shape (about three weeks in), the tempo of our exercise became greater, and the distances longer. But in the beginning, they were especially careful to keep us from being injured. Nothing good comes from injuring recruits.

I take that experience and use it today to get the same effect: conditioning the body to get used to exercise before turning up the volume and distance.

The weightlifting went great; it’s funny how that’s not what made me sore. It was the run. It doesn’t help that I’ve never been a fan of running, although I have to admit (grudgingly) that I do love the feeling after I’ve completed a run. Even though my legs are worn out and I may be sweaty and out of breath, that rush afterward is pretty sweet.

So, even though it’s rest day, I did do a few rounds of push-ups. I can’t stay completely still… or leave well-enough alone.