Are You Resting or Are You RECOVERING? | ACTIVE RECOVERY for Climbers

[@Mrperson662]

I’ve never lacked motivation for training and climbing, to my detriment. I took a deload/light climbing week for the first time in.. ever? A few months ago and then immediately sent my first V10 afterwards.

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Nice work! It will be the first of many with programming that allows for recovery.

[@dondoken1353]

Great topic! Recovery and AR at that are really underappreciated, not only in climbing but in general

[@ClimbStrongTV]

You are absolutely correct, most folks treat recovery as a totally passive activity.

[@daennnyyy]

thx... good and easy to understand summary of that topic.

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Loz800]

Awesome video! Weird tip, but I’ve always found doing breathing exercises and holding my breath for 30 seconds to a minute several times helps recovery and gets rid of muscular tension. Will try to fit this in between climbs.

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Interesting!

[@nowelsss]

Such a great video💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻🔥

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Glad you liked it!

[@billking8843]

A bike ride or a swim the day after a hard bouldering sesh works well. I totally agree that injury imposed rest weeks will come for us if we don't do deloads.

[@billking8843]

BTW: I'm a clapped out old geezer, not a serious athlete, but I think the practice is essentially the same.

[@denko9618]

Enjoyed the video. Citations for some of the research (even just in the description) would be great!

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Here's always a good place to start: open up PubMed, type in "active recovery," and have a day. I'm not sure what research exactly you're looking for but here are a few to start: Phys Fitness. 2015 Oct;55(10):1058-63 Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Jun;41(6):1303-1 J Sports Sci Med. 2015 Nov 24;14(4):769-75 J Strength Cond Res. 2021 Feb 1;35(Suppl 1):S180-S187

[@waltermiller6614]

what is that roof crack at 2:46?!?!?! Great Video, btw

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Thanks! Desert Gold is the crack.

[@SpartaSpartan117]

What do you think about applying Emil's hangboard protocol (10 min of very light loading of the fingers on a hangboard 2x per day) as party of active recovery? Would that be a good thing to do between sessions?

[@ClimbStrongTV]

It's probably not appropriate. Although Emil's protocol is a good way to build strength, A.R. requires more movement and a metabolic increase to be effective. A strong athlete might be able to add Emil's training to normal training + recovery, etc, but more more more isn't always better.

[@robincarlsson2252]

@@ClimbStrongTV Thanks for discussing such an interesting topic of active recovery. Could you please elaborate on in what sense Emil's protocol is a good way to build strength? I thought the intensity is way too low to support strength gains but possibly could have other benefits.

[@ClimbStrongTV]

@@robincarlsson2252 The protocol is theoretically too light to build strength, but it seems to have a positive effect on tendons AND holds people back from making overuse mistakes on hangboards. I don't think it's ideal, but we do advocate trying least difficult means to progress...and Emil's is a pretty simple program. Honestly, breaking out of the mindset of "max hangs or repeaters" is huge progress for all of us.

[@compellingpeople]

what climb is that @2:50?!

[@stevebechtel1023]

Desert Gold at Red Rocks

[@mattmcnick]

A rest week, what is that ?? I have no ability to stop. As a climber but really a multi-sport athlete I can barely get a rest day in. After watching this video I can definitely say I'm over-training in about every capacity lol

[@nowelsss]

You can climb hard for 3 weeks, and then in the deload or recovery week you can train other sport (cycling, running..) and better if the main muscular group engages in that "recovery sport" are diferent than tho ones used in climbin😉💪🏻 i had issues also for resting, but its more inteligent, and im feeling muuch more stronger since I take recovery seriusly

[@antoinehalik]

It's because our passion/sport satisfais so many of ours needs and even patches up our imperfections in everyday life, we cannot live without this effort any longer 🤷‍♂️

[@ClimbStrongTV]

Very easy to go too hard when you are a passionate athlete, but taking recovery seriously is critical to making progress and avoiding injury.

[@michael-tn1wn]

Just finishing a year of 6 days hard 1 day yoga. My climbing has really gone crazy and im really proud of what I’ve accomplished. But in the past few weeks, my power has greatly diminished and I can’t seem to achieve the 5.13 routes I’ve been working on. It’s been incredibly frustrating. My first inclination was that strength was lacking so I’ve incorporated some hang board sessions on those sundays but my climbing just got worse. I don’t know what my aversion to taking some days off is. But this decrease in ability has been messing with my head. What would you recommend for this situation? Do I need to take a week of active recovery as you recommend at the end of the video?

[@ClimbStrongTV]

So you are saying that you have been doing 6 days of limit climbing per week and one day rest for a year? If so, it is really incredible that you have not suffered a bad injury yet... not sure how much you tend to do per session but that is a ton of volume. Certainly considering a regular deload every 5 weeks or so and putting a focus on quality/intensity of sessions over climbing so often will help you to be properly recovered for hard climbing.

[@sam-ys9pc]

What do you think about ARC climbing for active recovery?

[@stevebechtel1023]

It can be good, as noted in the video, but the skin / shoe pain issue is a real thing. I feel like most climbers lack the work capacity for a lot of low intensity climbing, so it might take a bit of time before this is actually "restorative" as the ARC acronym suggests.

[@sam-ys9pc]

@@stevebechtel1023 thanks, what sorta training would help with work capacity? a friend of mine said doing lots of easy climbs in a session.

[@ClimbStrongTV]

@@sam-ys9pc That's a decent place to start.

[@maxe2820]

Not that sexy or sportssciency but I just half my volume for 5-10days if I’m really beat up and failing strength targets.

[@ClimbStrongTV]

High volume/increasing volume is a super common cause of climbers getting injured or sick, but folks often seem to have a hard time with this. Taking something away seems to be really challenging mentally for many, but is often the right choice.

[@johnwesely]

Hit the like button for the meatball footage