Rest. Do it. Before. During. After.
Resting is hard. I get it. Your excited to be on your climb, you fall off. You want to get right back on and show that move that you can do it! So, often the urge is to keep trying again and again without giving your body time to recover between attempts.
There seems to be the view going around that top level climbers are training and climbing all the time, with long non-stop climbing sessions. Our image is fueled by videos of pro climbers jumping straight onto the hangboard after coming down from their project and stories of them spending hours at the climbing gym. If you do this you may well see improvements in your climbing…but you will not see the type of improvements you could see if you rest properly! See you’re off the hook…you don’t have to work nonstop crazy hard (truth is they don’t).
So how can we better measure our rest during a climbing session? I am here to give you permission to rest…and help you perform better through your climbing session.
The key is to complete activity at the right time be sensible with how much you rest both before and after. Resting properly and taking breaks has been shown improve dramatically improve our performance. How long do you rest between attempts? How to rest during your climbing session?
ProTip – Between attempts on your project or a climb you are finding a challenge learn to give your body space to rest and recover before your next attempt. Count your moves to time your rest. You’re attempting your project climb, it’s a challenge and you fall off. Before your next attempt, rest for 1 minute for each move completed. So 20 moves = 20 minutes rest. 5 moves = 5 minutes rest. To pass the time engage in some intellectual banter with your spotter or use this time to get a birds eye view of the climber next to you if you are resting on a rope. Give your body time to succeed.
THE BOTTOM LINE : If you are going to have a break…do it properly. Count your moves to time your rest. Try it and let me know how you get on, you will impress yourself.