Active Rest

"Harder! Faster! Stronger! We must give 100% at all times. No Pain No Gain!" Every Coach in America

As much as I like to make my training resemble a Rocky training montage, it is impossible to give 100% at all times. Quite frankly it's also stupid. In the past week I have been updating my facebook status with my "active rest" week. Many have asked what this means. Many have told me to stop resting and get back after it.  The purpose of this article is to inform you what "active rest" is and to continue to encourage you Train Smart, Paddle Hard, Out Perform."

"Rest when you're weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” Ralph Marston

Why Active Rest?
Active Rest is the exactly what it sounds like. Letting the body recover from normal stress patterns and intensities yet remaining active through exercise that is designed to rejuvenate the body often in a manner that feels good or is fun. The strategic practice of active rest can increase performance and more importantly keep you stoked about your training. In an article called active rest makes you stronger on active.com the author states, "Although rest is needed, it is still important to remain active on those days. The body, just like the mind, needs stimulation every day. Even after a grueling marathon many people find it's a good idea to move around, maybe take a walk, as early as the day after to avoid stiffening up. Even people who suffer heart attacks are encouraged to get out of bed and move around as soon as possible." I find the concept of rest challenging yet active rest still gives me all the benefit without me going crazy. Intense training or racing breaks down the body. Only through proper amounts of rest and diet can we recover and come back stronger. Over training is the #1 source of injuries in endurance athletes. If these athletes simply took a break , varied intensity, or cross trained they could avoid over use injuries and increase performance. The National Academy of Sports Medicine defines the #1 goal of sports performance is to decrease injury. Therefore, if we systematically plan recovery periods or simply listen to the quote above, we are likely to avoid over use injuries and keep our stoke firing.

Examples of Active Rest
Walking
Static Stretching
Dynamic Stretching
Low Intensity Paddle (an eco tour, etc)
Light Yoga
Bike Riding
Playing with kids
Light sporting activities
Knocking out the honey do list ;)

My Active Rest Experience - These are my actual Facebook posts in my active rest week following the Key West Paddleboard Classic and the Gulf Coast Stand Up Paddleboard Championships.

I was absolutely fried after back to back races. I fell apart in the Gulf Coast Race and knew it was time to take a break. I normally do not get passed in races after the first few minutes and begin to pick people off in the 2nd half of races. I faded at the four mile mark and had about 6 people pass me loosing my chance at a top 10. I knew I need a rest. It has been completely worth it. I feel refreshed energized and as stoked as ever. I have begun setting my sights on the YOLO seaside celebration in September as my next performance goal.
Here's the posts.

Day 1 Active Rest, slow sunset beach walk. Doing my best to let these tired muscles rest.

Active Rest Week Day 2 is going good so far. I shot baskets for about 40 minutes and did about 20 minutes of foam rolling and corrective exercise for my shoulders. Today is a normal training paddle day I'm jonesing for the water, might have to at least go float around. Please encourage me to keep resting!

Active Rest day 3. Long beach walk to Caladesi Island park border. No one in sight besides my beautiful wife.

Active Rest day 4 took a little bit of a hit today when one light game of basketball turned into 4 competitive games. Whoops, still lighter volume than normal and it had the fun factor.

Active Rest Day 5. Got a light core and flexibility workout in on the TRX today. took about 25 mins. I am falling more in love with TRX every day.

Active Rest Day 6. 1 hour relaxing paddle with my lovely wife. No intervals, mileage goals, or stroke thoughts. Just enjoying the water and the stoke of this wonderful sport. Almost ready to get back to training mode

Active rest day 7. Swimming with sharks! We walked up to caladesi island and went swimming. Some fisherman comes running up and splashing. "No need to worry he's just a little guy" as a 4-5 ft black tip swims away. Awesome.!We stood an watched him stalk a school of fish after.

It's quite funny to look back at these days and remember how I felt on each one. It was really hard to rest at first, but I really began to enjoy the slow pace of things. Even though I was "resting" I still exercised for over 60 minutes a day. Best part of all my sore shoulder is recovered and I found a way to loose 2 lbs even with the holiday weekend! Time to get back after it. YOLO!