Rest days are definitely not our favorite part of climbing here at Training Beta. However, while they can be extremely boring and make you feel like you are not being productive in your climbing and training, getting enough rest is just as important as how many hangboard sessions you pack into your week.
To help remind you just how important rest days are, here’s an article from Crux Crush by Galina Parfenov highlighting the need for rest days by explaining the science behind how our bodies respond to training and what is needed for them to get stronger.
“But rest days are also the best. Our bodies need rest days. The rationale of many climbers is, “If I’m not working out, then I’m not getting stronger.” It’s actually quite the opposite: If you’re not resting, then you’re not getting stronger. And the purpose of this post will be to convince you (and my clients) to take more rest days.” – Galina Parfenov
To illustrate this point Galina discusses Han Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome which describes how our bodies only get stronger while we rest and recover from our workouts. In other words, you can do all the training you want but if you do not give your body a chance to recover you will not see any gains.
In an effort to make sure you are resting enough, Galina then outlines exactly what constitutes a rest day:
Click through bellow to check out the full post and remember training hard is important but it will all be for nothing if you don’t build in enough rest days to let your body recover and get stronger!
Click Here: The Truth About Rest Days – Galina Parfenov
(photos courtesy of cruxcrush.com)
Other Articles You Might Like:
- Rest….or Else- Rock and Ice
- Avoid Overtraining: Only Ondra Should Train Like Ondra
- How to Recover Faster in Your Sleep
- Dave MacLeod: What to Do When Overtrained
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