HElp Center

Contrary to popular belief, a full day off every week is not actually necessary during a training cycle. The way MOTTIV training is written, even athletes who do two workouts per day, 7 days per week, can get to races healthy and without injury -- this, without a regular off-day in their schedule.

That said, we strongly believe athletes should always listen to their bodies. And that means if you feel abnormally tired or sluggish, definitely take a day off. Or if you're someone who likes a full day off on a regular basis for any reason (mental health, physical reasons, etc.), then by all means, you can move your training week around to create a day off.  (See below for instructions on changing your schedule.)
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For a brand new athlete, someone just starting their endurance journey, taking scheduled rest days is likely important.

For a more experienced athlete, it's probably not necessary.  

The bottom line is that it's really all about listening closely to your body.  If you feel really exhausted, beat up, even bordering on an injury, absolutely, please do take a day (or several) to get back to feeling good.

Pushing through extreme fatigue and/or injury is something we strongly discourage.

‍If you are feeling unwell, or if you have physical niggles or even pain, please rest and assess your situation. Rest is not a negative thing; many athletes find that when they listen to their bodies and rest regularly, they have more energy to nail their workouts on training days.

If pain or feeling unwell lasts for more than a couple of weeks, please see a sports-specific physiotherapist or athletic therapist to determine the root cause and extent of the problem, and figure out with them how to fix it (and whether you should continue training in the meantime).

But it's not required to have a full day off every week to make good solid progress and to stay injury free!  

If you're following our training plan as it's written, staying in Zone 2 during your Zone 2 workouts (and not giving into the temptation to go faster when long slow training is prescribed), then there's no reason you should ever feel over-trained. If you feel good, keep going!

HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF A REST DAY IN YOUR TRAINING PLAN

To reduce your overall hours to make room for a rest day:

1. Click "SCHEDULE" in the app
2. Click "CHANGE HOURS"
3. Use the slider to reduce the number of hours in your plan, but recognize that fewer hours means you may not reach your endurance goals.
4. Click "UPDATE TRAINING PLAN" to save your new hours, and we'll generate a new plan for you.

To keep the same number of hours but move your workouts around to create a rest day:‍

1. Click "SCHEDULE" in the app
2. Drag and drop your workout types on the week calendar (maximum two workouts per day) in a configuration that allows you a day with no workouts
3. Click "UPDATE TRAINING PLAN" to save your new workout layout.

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