The key to Venus Williams' awesome serves (and possibly even more impressive physique)? Knowing when not to work out.
"Growing up, I trained six days a week, and on Sundays I was off," Venus recently told The Huffington Post. "But at some point, it kind of dawned on me that I need a little bit more time because you break your body down so much. So then I started this new thing [in 2010] when I would take the weekend off. And sometimes I'd come back stronger—I'd be like, 'Wow, OK, so my body was so taxed that I couldn't really use the strength I was building.' I was so tired! When I can, I do take two days in a row off now."
While your workouts probably don't span four-plus hours like Venus', you still need to give your body a break from workouts, says Janet Hamilton, C.S.C.S., an exercise physiologist at Running Strong in Atlanta.
"The fitness improvements you're striving for by working out are actually accomplished on a cellular level," she says. "You need to give your body time to make those improvements. It's during recovery that your body can do the hard work of repairing tissue damage from hard workouts and build new tissues. If you give your body time to recover, then it will be able to come back stronger."
While Venus' weekends-off approach is a great one, exactly when you take your recovery days (we like "recovery" better than "rest" since your body is actually working pretty darn hard on those days!) also depends on that week's workouts, says Hamilton. If you schedule "easy" workout days during the week, you will probably need fewer recovery days than if you hit it hard during every workout.
In the end, you just need to listen to your body—like Venus.
More from Women's Health:
6 Recovery Tips for Runners
Why You NEED to Incorporate a Recovery Week Into Your Strength Training Plans
6 Foam Rolling Mistakes You're Probably Making
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