Are rest days from exercise necessary?

Not many people would argue that rest isn’t important, but how would you define a rest day?

For an elite athlete a rest day could be going for a long walk. For your average person it could mean sitting on the couch.

Norman and Tegan ask – why is rest important, and do you need it to make progress in the gym?

References:

• 'No pain, no gain' debunked: Why post-exercise soreness is not essential for building muscle
• Skeletal muscle and resistance exercise training; the role of protein synthesis in recovery and remodeling
• Effects of Different Between Test Rest Intervals in Reproducibility of the 10-Repetition Maximum Load Test: A Pilot Study with Recreationally Resistance Trained Men
• The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise
• Recovery and Performance in Sport: Consensus Statement
• Effects of Consecutive Versus Non-consecutive Days of Resistance Training on Strength, Body Composition, and Red Blood Cells
• Nonconsecutive versus consecutive-day resistance training in recreationally trained subjects
• Fatigue, pain, and the recovery of neuromuscular function after consecutive days of full-body resistance exercise in trained men
• Effects of Consecutive Days of Exercise and Recovery on Muscle Mechanical Function
• How much is too much? (Part 1) International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury 
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