The Day I Learned to Love Rest Days
Mick Breen
June 24, 2025
I Used to Feel Guilty Taking Rest Days
Rest felt lazy. If I wasn’t training, I wasn’t improving — or so I thought.
But the truth? I was stuck in a cycle of fatigue, micro-injuries, and plateaued performance.
Then I hit a wall. Burnout. Soreness that wouldn’t leave. And that’s when I learned what recovery really meant.
Rest Days Aren’t Time Off — They’re When You Level Up
When you train, you break tissue down. When you rest, your body repairs — stronger, more resilient, and more capable.
Skip recovery, and you’re layering fatigue on top of dysfunction. Take it seriously, and you unlock:
Better tissue quality
Faster neural recovery
More consistent performance
Lower injury risk
Signs You’re Not Recovering Enough
You're always sore or stiff
You struggle to hit paces you’ve done before
Sleep quality is declining
You rely on caffeine to train
You feel mentally flat or unmotivated
These aren’t signs to push harder — they’re signs to reset.
How I Now Build Rest Into My Program
✅ 1–2 full rest days per week
✅ Low-intensity movement like walking or barefoot drills
✅ Breathing work and recovery-focused mobility
✅ Weekly check-ins to assess readiness (not just motivation)
I treat recovery as part of training — not the absence of it.
How NBR Builds Smarter Recovery
Inside the network, we help you:
Track movement quality, not just mileage
Use breathwork and mobility to accelerate recovery
Avoid overtraining with readiness standards
Stay consistent through smarter programming
🎯 Start your 2-week free trial and train like someone who wants to be doing this for years — not just weeks.
Coach Mick