Is it Better for climbers to Rest or Actively Recover?

It seems obvious that you should take breaks between climbs, yet the question comes up - what should you do to maximize that time off?

The answer surprised me and it has to do specifically for hard sport routes, but there’s also a tip for boulderers.

This advice comes from coach Steve Bechtel who cites a fascinating study on elite athletes including climbers.

What Study Results Show

They looked at two groups of athletes with a two hour break after an intensively hard effort.

The first group did nothing, just sitting and resting passively.

In the second group, some people walked on a treadmill and others did low intensity climbing. Overall the first group performed worst, but surprisingly the low-intensity climbers did even better than the walkers.

But a caveat is this - for short intense effort, like bouldering, the research shows little improvement with active recovery on your activity day.

Yes to flow, no to load

✅ Easy treadmill walking

✅ Low-intensity climbing

✅ Conversational pace running

❌ Weighted hangboarding 

If you’re sweating buckets or failing reps, it’s too intense.

What about boulderers?

The important lesson is to implement active recovery on your days off. For boulderers this means placing emphasis on low-intensity effort, also known as Zone 2 cardio.

One great rule to follow is that during Zone 2 activity you can still carry a conversation. That means a run where you are gasping for breath is too intense for proper rest!

And of course good nutrition and sleep carry the majority of impact for maximizing your rest days.

** You might also like The Surprising Link Between Climbing and Living Longer (3min read) **