UKC

I realize we all have different needs but was interested to know what people did for their easy weeks. . . .

I have a block of 6 weeks behind me. Fairly intensive on fingerboard (2/wk), linked boulders (1 or 2 /wk) and aero cap. Push muscles and pre-hab throughout.

42 years old, just about survived the 6 week effort (injury wise) and now wondering what to do for my rest week.

Continue climbing - aero cap only ? Usual stuff but 50% of grade / intensity? Drop climbing completely and hit the gym - antagonists and cardio?

Views?

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

Go to the pub.

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

Is it a deloading phase or a rest phase? The general rule of thumb is that you are hoping to 'supercompensate' with a break; you damaged your body with training and now - with appropriate rest and nutrition, you mend yourself, coming back stronger.

A week off is no bad idea at least every three months or so (YMMV), but active rest is always advisable. If you can resist the temptation to pull hard, gentle climbing sessions should be fine.

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

There's a good post on this on UKB.

I prob do about 50% volume in my rest weeks, which are once a month.

The real truth is ....
There's no good scientific evidence for what's "best".
Anyway it would be different for each individual person.

my advice:
Make a personal "experiment" of doing _nothing_ for a week.
See how that works once.

Ken

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

You have three options or combinations of the following:

1.Keep the same intensity and drop the volume significantly. This is used for bodyweight strength athletes.
2.Drop the intensity and increase the volume. This metabolic work can be good if you have been targeting really heavy loads/low volume during your training.
3.Do other exercises that don't hammer the area's you have been training hard on.

I use 2. for pull ups and drop it to 50% of my combined bodyweight + added weight, for fingers I like 1. to keep the recruitment high so keep the added load high but only do a fraction of the repetitions. I also tend to not do any specific core or ring exercises like plank or levers but work on compound activities such as a routine involving a variety of stances/holds.

Unless you are working the antagonists like a beast already now is the time to bore your shoulders to death with a theraband or small weight.

Happy cranking!

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

Sorry I should have also said now is the time to run through your checklist.

Sore throat? Tired? Foggy brain/difficulty concentrating? Decreased performance during exercises? Trouble sleeping at night? Lacking libido?

If any of the above are checked and they were not present before training then you may be over doing it in which case it would be a good idea to take a few rest days and lower the workload at the gym/wall.

You should also ask yourself, what is working and what is not working for you. You should really commit to 6 week cycles so you can assess the impact of each type of exercise before you can drop or keep it.

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

Whenever I need to take it easy, I work on technique.

In reply to Sprucedgoose:

Couple of sessions of bikram yoga, or anything different but interesting. Skatepark. Easy runs. Relax, have some other easier exercise + fun.

In reply to Sprucedgoose:


It's hard to get an idea from this description but my first thought are it doesn't sound like that much. Finger strength is vital for climbing but it's a very small muscle group so should put too much strain on your body over all. I don't think aero cap is particularly stressful either.

I'd be tempted to just keep going, maybe skip the rest week completely. But as Alx says it very much depends on how you feel and only you can gauge that.

It also depends on what your next goals are. More training (if so what), a climbing trip, or something else.

Assuming your body doesn't need a complete rest you could do something different like training your core and pulling muscle groups. You could do more fingerboarding - looks like you haven't done any for 4 weeks ?

In reply to Shani:

I think there's a bit of confusion over terminology here. Supercompensation usually refers to the rest period after a single exercise session, rather than a macrocycle ( here, 6 weeks ). Typically Supercompensation occurs 24-48 hours after a session, at which point a new session should be started for maximum training benefit.

I think with a week it's entirely up to you what you do, based on what you want to achieve. Any longer and you probably want to be thinking about potential detraining effects. Strength gains, for example, can start to deteriorate after 2 weeks. Aerobic gains even sooner ( good overview of this on TrainingPeaks - http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/how-much-down-time-is-too-much-t... ).

In reply to stp:

Thank you all for some great advice. I should explain my notation. Fingerboard (2/wk) means twice per week for the whole 6 week block, similarly linked boulders 1 or 2 times per week for the whole 6 weeks and the aero cap.

I like Alx's view on resting fingers and larger pull muscles in different way depending on feeling.

Great advice on looking at the whole picture and reviewing how the rest "works" for me just as critically as I would look at how the training "works".

In reply to planetmarshall:


Yeah I agree regarding the aerobic gains. I had a bit of time off in January which was basically no more than an extra couple of rest days about a week apart and a few low intensity sessions on autobelay - I'd knackered my back. After I got better I definitely noticed a lack of endurance - seemed to go very quickly. But also came back quickly too - after maybe a week of proper climbing.

My view is it's worth doing *something*, as I've found that I feel rubbish (niggles appear, plus mentally too) if I do nothing after my body has got used to frequent training.

I reckon doing what you feel like, what will be pleasant and enjoyable, is a good call. And personally I'd keep effort level to 2/5 or lower. For a week the detraining effect is minimal (for mortals at least). I tend to focus mentally on the next 3 to 4 week block and how I will crush some tough sessions - that makes me feel better about being lazy for this week, and stops one week becoming two!

I do agree in theory that a brief session of high intensity pulling (FB probably) could make sense, but thats not going to help any (inevitable?) niggles that have accumulated. And removes the mental break aspect to a degree. I don't bother personally.

BTW I disagree w the "carry on" view - in my experience a week's break after multiple weeks hard training is almost always worthwhile, and my regrets are usually when i don't take one and get burnt out/demoralised/injured - leading to longer and less productive times out.