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caliclimbergirl
Jun 6, 2008, 3:24 AM
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Since I'm a teacher and it seems the norm for me for the foreseeable future is to temporarily become a full time dirt bag climber during the summers, and as I'm preparing to spend my second summer climbing full time in Squamish, I've been curious about rest days lately. So here are some questions for you all:
1. Do you think one has to take mandatory rest days when he/she is climbing full time for any extended period (say at least a month or so).
2. How do/would you determine rest days. For example, would you say after climbing for 3 or 4 days in a row or so, that you should force yourself to take a rest day even if you're still feeling strong? Or would you base it more on how your body is feeling each day? In other words, should you plan rest days, or be more intuitive about it on a day-to-day basis (which might make it harder to find partners if you're off dirt-bagging by yourself).
3. Do you have a magic number for how many day's you'll climb in a row?
4. Do rest days mean no climbing at all? If you do a few easy routes on top-rope, does it still count as a rest day?
5. Anything else you want to add about rest days (in relation to injuries, personal experiences, differences in rest days for boulders, multi-pitch climbers, moderate climbers, sport climbers, etc., or just random comments)?
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rjtrials
Jun 6, 2008, 3:32 AM
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a very wise man once told me that the magic formula is 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off...
if you are doing more endurance based climbing and less power (boldering, sport projects) then feel free to add more climbing days in there. i usually try to get at least 2 rest days squeezed into the week.
RJ
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Myxomatosis
Jun 6, 2008, 3:52 AM
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It also depends on your training. Some people aren't used to climbing day after day.
I try mixing things up sometimes and string two or three days of hard training together so I can go away on the weekend or week and be ready for the repeated abuse.
But then again... last weekend I did Thur-gym, Fri-rest, Sat-lightgym, sun-crag, mon-gym... rested till Thursday. But I felt the best all weekend on Sunday night.
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wes_allen
Jun 6, 2008, 4:00 AM
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rjtrials wrote: a very wise man once told me that the magic formula is 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off... RJ
+1, esp if you are bouldering or climbing at your limit. If not, then three on, one off, three on is doable. You can also climb well below your limit for "active" rest days, or trail run, mtb, etc., so it isn't like you need to lay around all day. Also, the two off in a row can be very helpful in growing new skin.
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granite_grrl
Jun 6, 2008, 11:28 AM
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It completly depends on the intensity of the climbing that you're doing.
Bouldering: I've done the two days on, one day off for a while. Then I started to get burned out and I should have switched to one on one off.
Multipitch gear: I've done an amazing number of days of this in a row. Not pushing everyday, some days a bit harder, some days a bit easier.
I'm a beleiver in an active rest day. A super chill day of easy climbing can help work out the kinks (helps me at least).
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joeforte
Jun 6, 2008, 11:57 AM
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I climb a LOT, and when I'm not climbing, I'm usually belaying and setting up climbs for my friends, or doing anchor replacement.
That said, I always try to take a light day, or a day off every 2-3 days or "hard" climbing.
Recently I went to the New, and climbed hard for 4 days in a row. When we got home, I took 2 days off, and then climbed another 4 in a row. I felt great the whole time, but somewhere in there I overworked my back and could not climb for the next 2 weeks due to a pulled muscle. Now I'm back to climbing, but just light.
Overuse is the most common cause of injury in climbing. If you want to get the most out of that month in squamish, be sure to take rest/light days, so that you don't injure yourself and end up sitting around healing.
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chossmonkey
Jun 6, 2008, 12:05 PM
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It depends on how hard you are pushing your body.
Listen to your body. There is no set rule for each person.
I'm a big fan of the "easy route rest day" I think it actually speeds recovery as long as you don't over do it.
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spacemonkey07
Jun 6, 2008, 2:44 PM
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one other thing: If you have been training hard for an extended period of time. (couple of months or so) And in that time you had just little rest days, like already mentioned one day off, or just light climbing one day to recover, it is wise to have a long period of rest. For two weeks or so. The non climbing rest is very important for letting your body grow, and you'll see that after an initial setback when you just started, you'll be better than ever.
Train hard, rest hard!
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camhead
Jun 6, 2008, 3:13 PM
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the nice thing about the 2 on 1 off; 2 on 2 off is that you can plan your two rest days to be on a weekend and avoid crowds.
That said, all the formulas laid out above are great, and here's one more: I climbed for weeks at a time at Indian Creek doing three routes a day: warmup, hard thing-project, cool down. I would not that often put in more than one or two goes on the project. This routine was sustainable for weeks at a time with no rest days.
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angry
Jun 6, 2008, 3:54 PM
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I've lived the full time climber lifestyle for one year now. I don't like resting but I do on occasion.
I really don't like planning for rest days because they often are beautiful and my days for climbing end up raining me out.
For easy to moderate climbing with the occasional hard route thrown in, you should be able to climb until you run out of skin, weeks at a time.
If you are working something particularly hard, you might only be able to climb every other day.
Climbing rest and rest are not the same, you can put 6 hours on a bike in a day instead of climbing and feel great on the rock the next day.
Just do what works for you, I seem to be able to handle more days in a row than many, probably because I've always refused to rest and my body has adapted over the years.
Take 3 days or more off if it ever stops being fun!!!
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munky
Jun 7, 2008, 1:58 AM
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I spent 6 weeks in Tuolomne, Yos. Valley, and High Sierra last summer and only took 5 days off from not climbing at all. On those days i hiked, went swimming, drank lots of beer, and ate my ass off.
Yea I probably didn't prime myself for my physically hardest day, but hell i climbed a little over 200 pitches that summer, managed to onsight many tough climbs, could boulder 2 grades harder because i was so chiseled, and always impressed the ladies with my gnarled cuticles when opening beers for them. If I was to spend a summer in Squamish i'd climb my ass off- big routes, hard craggin, bouldering, hell, even some tree campusing.
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jt512
Jun 7, 2008, 4:00 AM
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angry wrote: ... you can put 6 hours on a bike in a day instead of climbing and feel great on the rock the next day.
Speak for yourself!
Jay
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angry
Jun 7, 2008, 9:23 AM
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jt512 wrote: angry wrote: ... you can put 6 hours on a bike in a day instead of climbing and feel great on the rock the next day. Speak for yourself! Jay
12 hours then
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shear
Jun 7, 2008, 12:47 PM
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I also find that the days that I am working a hard project...I climb for maybe 3-4 hours total. Warm ups, stretching, then working a project, then maybe a cool down or 2.
then I have onsight/enduro days where I climb lots at a lower level.
if you can mix those days up, you can climb many days in a row. I've gone 10 days in a row and felt great on the 10th day because of the way I approached project days vs. lighter days.
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a.frosch
Jun 7, 2008, 2:16 PM
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angry wrote: Just do what works for you, I seem to be able to handle more days in a row than many, probably because I've always refused to rest and my body has adapted over the years.
Maybe it's because you don't like bouldering? I definately feel like I can climb more days in a row doing routes than bouldering.
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elizaclimb
Jun 7, 2008, 4:39 PM
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climb when you want to climb. rest when needed. it's so obvious.
you love it!
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caliclimbergrl
Jun 7, 2008, 6:24 PM
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Yeah, I don't boulder at all (except maybe to train in the gym, which I don't think is really the same thing a bouldering outside at all). I'm also not much of a sport climber and even if I was, there's not really any sport climbing in Squamish. There are bolted routes, but they're mostly run-out slab which I don't really consider sport climbing -- and anyway, I don't really do those. So I'll mostly be crack climbing, but I'll definitely be pushing the grade (at least for me) some days. I did this last year and I found it hard to plan rest days. I tried because I had to line up partners, but there were some days I had to find the person I planned on climbing with another partner because my body just wasn't up for climbing that many days in a row. What really sucked was taking a rest day the day before it rained for several days straight. I was hoping to come up with a better system this time. We'll see how I do.
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uhoh
Jun 7, 2008, 9:39 PM
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caliclimbergirl wrote: Since I'm a teacher and it seems the norm for me for the foreseeable future is to temporarily become a full time dirt bag climber during the summers, and as I'm preparing to spend my second summer climbing full time in Squamish, I've been curious about rest days lately. So here are some questions for you all: 1. Do you think one has to take mandatory rest days when he/she is climbing full time for any extended period (say at least a month or so). 2. How do/would you determine rest days. For example, would you say after climbing for 3 or 4 days in a row or so, that you should force yourself to take a rest day even if you're still feeling strong? Or would you base it more on how your body is feeling each day? In other words, should you plan rest days, or be more intuitive about it on a day-to-day basis (which might make it harder to find partners if you're off dirt-bagging by yourself). 3. Do you have a magic number for how many day's you'll climb in a row? 4. Do rest days mean no climbing at all? If you do a few easy routes on top-rope, does it still count as a rest day? 5. Anything else you want to add about rest days (in relation to injuries, personal experiences, differences in rest days for boulders, multi-pitch climbers, moderate climbers, sport climbers, etc., or just random comments)?
I do 5 on and 2 off. I suppose what's best for you depends on what your mind and body tell you to do. If I had a couple strenous days of climbing I'll rest more often.
Weather is also a factor in when to take a rest day. Today was supposed to be a climbing day but it wasn't due to weather. Tomorrow may be the same.
Rest days, to me, don't mean no climbing whatsoever. They mean I can do whatever I please and can include sitting around drinking and smoking, biking all day, etc. They typically end up being days spent relaxing and doing little.
As far as extra advice on rest days, don't eat junk food. My diet affects my climbing and if I eat poorly, my climbing suffers and I may take an extra day to recover, but that's rare.
If all else fails, consult a magic 8 ball.
(This post was edited by uhoh on Jun 7, 2008, 9:46 PM)
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rjtrials
Jun 8, 2008, 4:02 AM
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caliclimbergrl wrote: I'm also not much of a sport climber and even if I was, there's not really any sport climbing in Squamish. There are bolted routes, but they're mostly run-out slab which I don't really consider sport climbing -- and anyway, I don't really do those. .
Check out Cheakamus...
Looks amazing...
RJ
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Ponchieman
Oct 22, 2008, 2:59 PM
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Unfortunately on week days I can only kick in the 4 hrs or so when my gym is open after work.
That still makes me burn out quite effectively, especially forearms. So more than 2 days in a row seems off limits for me.
Wonder if this is going to improve much - maybe I started climbing too late (at 31, am now 33)..
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knieveltech
Oct 22, 2008, 3:15 PM
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Ponchieman wrote: Unfortunately on week days I can only kick in the 4 hrs or so when my gym is open after work. That still makes me burn out quite effectively, especially forearms. So more than 2 days in a row seems off limits for me. Wonder if this is going to improve much - maybe I started climbing too late (at 31, am now 33)..
Too late? Pfft. Utter nonsense.
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Ponchieman
Oct 22, 2008, 3:28 PM
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maybe too late for my own paper-mache body. I seem to excel at getting hurt and torn more than anything else. I have the feeling sometimes climbing is more of a mental thing for me - I really enjoy the beauty and simplicity of it. But my nody responds slowly if at all - still struggling on 5.10 in scantly lit Belgian gyms and crags around Europe..
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knieveltech
Oct 22, 2008, 3:52 PM
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Sounds like you're too hung up on grades to me. I started climbing at 31, I'm 33, and .10a is pretty much my physical limit on toprope. I go climb easy shit often and generally have a good time at the crag. As for injuries, I'm definitely more injury prone than my noticeably younger climbing partners. I offset this by not pulling down as hard, working the hell out of antagonist muscle groups, and making sure to do a thorough warmup before I climb.
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Ponchieman
Oct 22, 2008, 3:57 PM
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that sounds reasonable - what do you recommend as far as antagonist muscles exercise? I do the obvious push ups+sit ups.
(This post was edited by Ponchieman on Oct 23, 2008, 7:40 AM)
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sspssp
Oct 22, 2008, 8:30 PM
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caliclimbergirl wrote: I'm preparing to spend my second summer climbing full time in Squamish... 2. How do/would you determine rest days.
I thought Squamish made it pretty simple. If it is raining, it is a rest day. Otherwise climb.
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