Active Rest

[Jack Ziegler]

I'm curious as to what everyone's experience with 'Active rest days' is.  I've notice that everyone seems to have different preferences and ways their body recovers, but I'd like to understand more about personal details, how it affects recovery, gains in strength, how it changes with age, whether it has any benefits or possible downfalls?  And assuming you had the time/desire for it, would you have active rest days?

Let's define it as a scheduled rest day where you do 'easy' (relative to you) climbing, or even a second workout of day (say hangboard, campus, or bouldering workout in the morning and gym climbing with friends in the evening...)
Easy for me is overhangs at the gym with huge jugs, or a close to vertical climb with small holds, but not so small that i feel pumped after. 

I would also say active rest applies to easy days outside, where you avoid long overhangs, difficult roofs, and very crimpy routes.  Lets say you did a hard workout Friday, would you climb easy things outside Saturday? 

As another example, lets say you have a three or longer day climbing trip?  Would you climb hard everyday but not too much? Or would you climb only every other day? Or would you keep the same volume of climbing each day, but alternate hard days with these "active rest" days?

[MarkAnderson]

I think age is a huge factor as you eluded to. When I was in my mid-twenties I used a similar training schedule (in terms of training every third day during Strength phases), but I could manage much more "active rest" during my rest days. Even during climbing phases when I was climbing every other day for weeks at a time, my "rest" days might include an 60 minute run, 2-3 hours of hiking mixed in with a bunch of scrambling or free soloing (usually no harder than 5.7 or so).

Nowadays I could never do that! I find I'm really exhausted after an intense training day. Active Rest for me these days means a 10 minute walk in the morning and evening, and a 45-60 minute walk at lunch time. Every now and then I will throw in a few hours of outdoor climbing early in a Strength Phase, but I can really feel it that evening and the next day.

What's interesting to me is that my Power has steadily improved as I've aged, and as lifestyle changes have forced me to cut down on my active rest. Is that just a coincidence, or was the large volume of low-intensity activity I was doing in my 20's inhibiting my power? I think it was. I suspect all that low-intesnity work adds up and ultimately detracts slightly from the quality of the ensuing high intensity workout. When you sum the difference between 97% and 99% over 10 workouts per season, 3-4 seasons per year, over several years, it makes a substantial difference.

[Chris W]

I'm experimenting with this. I love being active and all my leisure activities are physical, but I've found I have trouble with fatigue as well. My work schedule can really cut into my sleep. I've found naps help (if my wife has enough energy for the kids by herself)

[Drew H]

I signed up to ask this same question. My wife feels like she's not getting enough full body exercise with just the training. She was used to running a few times per week on top of climbing (before we started the training program), so I think that made her legs and core more engaged and would make her feel more tired all around. However, she sprained her ankle bouldering in the gym in December so she hasn't been able to run since then.

Do you guys have any suggestions as to something she could do on rest days? I might suggest taking evening walks with her until her ankle is better. Maybe some light ab workouts.

[Chris W]

Have you tried the supplemental exercises listed in the book? There seems to be a lot there you could do, and it's a bit hard to overtrain your abs.

[Drew H]

Yes, we both do the supplemental exercises after training. She does a good bit of abs (hanging leg raises, russian twists with weight, leg raises, and maybe one more), plus shoulder press, pushups, pullups, and bicep curls.

I think it's the second day off where she doesn't feel sore anywhere except her upper body that makes her feel stir crazy.

[MarkAnderson]

I go for a lot of hikes/walks during that phase. I generally try to keep them under an hour, but on the weekends we will occasionally do some longer hikes. That achieves the goal of getting outside and wasting time. It won't make you tired, but the goal of the RP program is not to make you tired, it's to make you better. If you want to get tired, I recommend Crossfit, sleeping less, and eating lots of fast food

[Drew H]

Ha! I just need to convince her to trust the process.

[ablum]

Drew,

Does she do yoga?

[Drew H]

Hey bud. She was, but the ankle that she sprained still hurts her when doing some of the poses.