SoulCycle Kitty Terzo Reveals Why Rest Days Are So Important - Exclusive

As a lifelong competitive athlete, SoulCycle instructor Kitty Terzo knows what it's like to go hard with her workouts. Terzo began dancing when she was just three years old, and within a few years she was performing in dance competitions all around the country. When she wasn't dancing, she could be found on the soccer field with her team. In middle school, she discovered running and joined both the track and field and cross country teams.

So, Terzo is used to moving a lot. These days, that looks like teaching SoulCycle classes multiple times a week, lifting two to three times a week, taking long walks with her dog, and rollerblading — the type of movement she does purely for fun.

Being so active has taught Terzo several important lessons about maintaining a sustainable fitness routine, including how crucial it is to take rest days. In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, Terzo revealed how she changes up her routines to avoid burnout.

Kitty shared that she's often struggled with taking rest days. But she revealed that when she doesn't give her body some time off from movement, the result is always the same — burnout. "You don't have to work out every single day of your life," Terzo stressed.

She said that she's had to learn how to listen to what her body is telling her, and really prioritize rest when she feels like she needs it. For her, building in regular rest days has made a huge difference in her fitness routine.

"Even if it's one day a week... go do something for yourself. Get your nails done or something. Anything like that," Terzo told Health Digest. Though she used to avoid rest days, Terzo admitted that now she looks forward to them every week. She stressed that it doesn't really matter what you do with your rest days, as long as you're prioritizing your body's needs and your happiness.

In addition to taking regular rest days, Terzo also switches up her fitness routine frequently to avoid burnout. "If I happen to be teaching more that week, I'll definitely pull back and not try to overexert myself," Terzo shared. When she's teaching more classes or higher intensity classes, Terzo will often do one less lifting session per week or change up the movements she's doing during those sessions. 

She also likes adapting her SoulCycle classes to match where her body is at. "I like to change up my playlist a lot, like the structure of class," Terzo said. "I don't think it's necessary to do every single time, but just experimenting and finding things that work and may not work... We have a weights portion where we have weights on our bike and we pick up and use our weights. Lately I haven't been doing the weights and I've been doing our arm series with our towel. So you're pulling it as hard as you can and creating tension. You really feel it in your shoulders. And then sitting up tall and being mindful of your abdominals and everything you can really feel it in your entire body. So even just little things like that in class."

Terzo stressed that adjusting your movements and your schedule to find out what works for your body is crucial to creating a sustainable fitness routine.

Catch Kitty Terzo at SoulCycle Miami. Book a bike here.