Let me open by saying first start doing. Most people need to rest less and do more. Still, this is an important subject so I'll cover a few times when resting is best.
The first is to sleep. Sleep is one of the favorite forms of rest. Sleeping is good because it is important to store memories and heal (rebuild) the body. Without sleep, performance and quality of life suffer at a certain point. Some people spend the first half of their life trying to avoid it as much as possible, but if you want to hit things with your best, get some sleep.
The second is after a season. The important part is being picky about when to take this rest. I have a friend named Alex who is a long distance runner. When he was visiting from college we were working out and spending some quality time together. He told me about the crazy training regiment many middle and long distance runners put themselves through. There was how much to increase a week, what sort of training (should I do on and off sprints or long jogs this week?) and a bunch of specifics to govern the training for a event in the future. Before a big run, do you know what he recommended? Provided you planned and stuck to everything just right, there is a week you completely take off. Then guess what? The week after is suppose to be you at peak performance. Many serious workout junkies take a week off at the end of a program before transitioning into a new one. This has a few benefits (reward for finishing, giving body rest, etc).
The last one is when you are ill. It is no fun, but rest up so you can feel good and get back to action faster.
There is little other time that serious resting should be needed. The rest of the time would be better spent planning, or doing. Of course we all rest a little too much from time to time, but this shouldn't discourage us from trying to hit our own peak performance, even if we have to rest for a week at some point to get it.
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