Do you feel you are getting amazing fitness program results? Most people think they are, but simply are not. All you have to do to answer this question is take a true assessment of the progress you have made. Most people kid themselves regarding results.

Go ahead, and take a quick look around your health club. How many bodies show noticeable change? How many people in the gym look lost as they stagger around from exercise to exercise only training at 50% capacity? Honestly, how many people are simply wasting their valuable time in the gym? If you are truthful, the answer is a whole lot of people. Most think they are on the best fitness program ever, but are really on an extremely ineffective, inefficient workout plan. The sad thing is they don't even realize it. It really does not have to be this way.

One of the most important aspects of any workout program is exercise intensity. Especially in the world of strength training, intensity is a must for results. However, the newest fitness program buzzword is rest between training sessions.  There is no such thing as overtraining, just under-resting.

You probably think I am crazy by saying rest more to get fit. Well, it is most definitely true. Rest is an exercise program variable that must be incorporated into your fitness program. If not, results significantly suffer.

The importance of rest between exercise bouts is becoming more, and more important as the research begins to roll in. As a matter of fact, many more workout program research studies are going on in hopes of shedding more light on the importance of rest. It is the new hot topic in exercise science.

You need to realize that intensity in your fitness program provides the needed stimulus for an adaptive response to occur. Training with greater intensity, or duration provides the trigger to improve physically. The improvement actually occurs during rest between workout sessions. If there is not enough time for this improvement to occur, then workout program results will be squashed.

So what is the optimal rest necessary in your fitness workout program to elicit excellent results?  It actually depends upon the type of exercise, and the workout intensity. It is simple!  Aerobic, low intensity, training requires less rest between workout bouts. Higher intensity, shorter duration exercises, such as strength training, requires more muscle recuperative rest between workouts.

Exactly how much fitness workout program rest varies from individual to individual, and is largely dependent upon actual results, genetics, and nutrition. You can easily determine your optimal rest intervals between exercise program sessions. Gone are the days of a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday training schedule.

How do you determine the optimal number of rest days in your fitness workout plan? Simple, you track. If you are seeing positive quantitative results by tracking performance, then your rest time is considered optimal. If your performance has decreased, or remains the same, then more rest between workouts is mandatory for an adaptive response to occur.

So remember, in order to determine your optimal exercise program rest, it is important to track your workouts. It is that simple! If you are not tracking your exercise program sessions, then you are making a big mistake. How would you know if you are getting optimal rest between training sessions if you are not effectively tracking results?

If you want to reap the benefit of excellent fitness workout program results, optimal rest must be considered. Understanding the concept of intensity, and rest will propel you into much better fitness program results. Once you understand these two simple workout principles, you will be the one in the gym that shows the greatest progress.