Active Recovery For Mountaineers

​Most mountainers are aware that recovery during their time is important. But the actual application of recovery protocols and strategies in the mountaineering community often leaves a lot to be desired... one aspect of recovery which often doesn't get applied well is 'active' recovery.

In this episode, we explore this topic and dive into:

• What active recovery is (and why it can be valuable for mountaineers in training)
• Common mistakes I often see from mountaineers with their active recovery
• Some simple recommendations and tips to help you get the most out of this aspect of training 

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​Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking about active recovery for mountaineers and just going over some basics around what active recovery is, a few common mistakes I can see from mountaineers with this, and what I typically recommend for mountaineers when considering this in their training week.

[0:19] Now, to start with, what is active recovery? You probably know this already, but essentially it's low-intensity, gentle exercise. The idea around these sessions, it's kind of in the name. It's not designed to push your fitness forward. It's not designed to be strenuous. It's not designed to be difficult, but it's designed to help promote our recovery. We typically use these on our days off from our typical training program just to help the body kind of chill out and recover.

[0:50] Or sometimes we'll kind of use this later in the day if we did a really strenuous session. So if you did a really tough session in the morning, maybe you'll use this in the afternoon to kind of help you bounce back. Now, why do we use this in a training plan for mountaineers? Or why would people consider this? Well, it's literally in the name, recovery. The idea for these sessions is to get the body moving, promote circulation, promote blood flow, reduce a little bit of muscle soreness, reduce a bit of stiffness, help calm our mental state down, and potentially speed up physical and mental recovery. On top of that, this can just be a nice change of pace, a nice refresher. If we are kind of training hard through the week, just having a day where we're kind of chilling out a little bit, still doing something positive, not just sitting on the couch, it can be really good. So that's kind of why we're using it. Most people are pretty aware of that, but it needs to be said.

[1:44] Now, with this being said, let's get into some common mistakes because a lot of people are aware active recovery is pretty good. A lot of people are aware, especially someone doing a big training program, they're like, Like, well, active recovery maybe should be a part of my week. But I often see the application of this, you know, not be super amazing. So I'm going to talk through just a few common mistakes I kind of see with this type of stuff. Mistake number one, and this is the most common mistake I see from mountaineers with active recovery, is turning it into another training session. Active recovery should be easy. It should be relaxing. We are, our number one priority is to promote recovery.

[2:30] But in the mountaineers community, there are a lot of people out there who do like to be very, very driven. They do like to work hard. They do like to really, really put in things. And a lot of mountaineers out there really do have a hard time holding themselves back. They're like, well, I've got 30 minutes. I might as well make the use of it. So they start off with good intentions to have it nice and easy, but they end up pushing things and testing things and this and that, and turning into another training session. That's not really the idea. This session is designed to be easy, designed to be simple, and if you're programming it out as a recovery session, or if your coach or your program says it's a recovery session, we want to use that as recovery and not be tempted. So that's number one. Don't turn these into another training session. Mistake number two is not choosing an appropriate modality for you. Now, what I mean by this is one of the most common recommendations around active recovery is doing light jogging. Particularly in the world of mountaineering and endurance sports, people say, hey, I'm going to go for a recovery run or go do a really, really gentle 20 minutes or 5k or whatever it may be. Now, if you were a strong runner. If you're experienced, if you've got the ability to go for long, long periods of time and adjust your intensity and all of that, this can absolutely work and this can be really, really good.

[3:51] But a lot of people are not really amazing runners and they may do a lot of

[3:56] running, but they wouldn't be considered a strong one. Or maybe they just don't have the ability to change their pace and they'll go out and do these running sessions and they'll say it's a nice, easy run, but it's not really easy for them it's kind of still moderate and they walk out of the session like yeah that was kind of easy it was easier than doing 60 minutes 90 minutes of running but it's not really easy enough to count as recovery you know if you are not an experienced runner don't use running for it and when choosing active recovery choose something that's right for you don't look online and be like oh cool they said do a gentle run or this and that but think it's going to be right for you if it's not, Work what's right for you. And you probably know, it wants to be easy, no stress, simple.

[4:42] Common mistake number three is overcomplicating active recovery. Now, I've seen these in a few different situations and a few different contexts. And essentially, active recovery, it doesn't have to be complicated. It just should be simple, easy. It's a break for your mind as well as your body. Now, I'm going to use a bit of a far-fetched example, one that I've seen once before. Just to talk you through this. But a lot of people fall into a similar trap, maybe not to this level of extreme.

[5:12] Now, you may have come across this before if you do have a little bit of background in regards to how to lift it. And this is a really interesting workout or an approach to active recovery. I can't remember who used to promote it, but I have seen a mountaineer do this and I have read about it years and years and years ago. But essentially in this situation, This particular person read that they can do a really, really good recovery workout using a sled workout. And essentially what you did was you'd spend 30 to 40 minutes doing different movements with a workout sled, where you would walk up and down the gym, you'd push it, you'd pull it, you'd sidestep with it, you'd do like presses with it, you'd do rows with it, and just go up and down for 30, 40 minutes going through those movements. And the idea here is because the sled, when you're doing these movements, it doesn't really have eccentric resistance.

[6:02] You're just pushing it, but there's no anything coming back the other way. A lot of muscle damage comes from eccentric training. The idea behind this is just doing lots and lots of concentric. That can be great for recovery because it promotes movement, doesn't have that muscle damage, all well and good. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, technically, that probably works, but my gosh, it's way too complicated. You don't need to go into the gym and do these fancy routines or whatever it may be. Like, yeah, it's just a bit bizarre. So keep it simple.

[6:32] And then number four is mountaineers using active recovery just in the wrong circumstance. In the sense that many mountaineers out there, some people love training. Some people are perfectly happy doing like full training load. Training is almost like a full-time job or whatever it may be. But a lot of mountaineers out there really do struggle with training load. In the sense that mountaineers know they need to fit in a lot in their week. They're building up to big expedition. And realistically, fitting all their required training sessions for the week, they are just scraping that in.

[7:04] They're just getting into their day. They're just getting into their week. They're just managing to find that time around work, around family and all of that. And then in these particular circumstances, looking at fitting in an extra 30 to 40 minutes, they're like, how am I supposed to do this? And instead of it being a nice, relaxing, calming thing, it actually adds more stress to life, which is a little bit backwards. So in the situation where you're struggling for time, this type of stuff may not be right for you, or at the very least going out and doing like a 40-minute session or something like that. If you have a lot of time, active recovery can be great. But if you're short on time, be smart. Maybe do some shorter sessions or just skip it and just do something else for recovery.

[7:49] So with that being said, those are the common mistakes. What I recommend when it comes down to active recovery for mountaineers, a few really, really, really simple points. Number one, when you are considering this, unless you're a really, really good runner, don't do this running.

[8:05] Choose something gentle and easy. Don't worry about running. In all honesty, even if you are a good runner, mountaineers themselves, they just take so much stress through the feet, through pack workouts, hiking, running workouts, whatever may be. So I much prefer active recovery, not to be running, not even walking or hiking either. I typically like this to be something off feet. So cycling, whether it's indoor or outdoors, the elliptical, swimming, or even pool walking, just getting in the pool and going up and down. Now there are additional benefits for getting in a body of water and kind of having that pressure from the water on your muscles. That can be great. But cycling elliptical is good as well. They're kind of my go-to options. Off feet, give the lower limbs, give the feet a bit of chance to recover. And it's much easier to manage the impact and the intensity with those types of things.

[8:53] Now, if you're a mountaineer who has a hard time holding themselves back, I would personally even steer away from this type of stuff. And I would intentionally choose something which you just can't have the temptation to push yourself. Like if you wanted to do an extended session, it may be a case of getting in the pool and literally doing pool walking. You're not even allowed to swim because you have the tendency just to turn into a session, but all you're doing is just walking up and down a body of water, doing some side steps, doing some high knees, kicking your bump, doing that type of stuff. Because you can't really work very hard, even if you really try with that. So you may do that. Or if even that doesn't work, or maybe you don't have a pool access, I might get these particular people who hold themselves back. I would recommend maybe just skip active recovery altogether and doing something that's a little bit, I don't want to say passive, but a little bit less active. So you may do some self-massage, some foam rolling, some using the massage ball, whatever it may be. You may just do some stretching or some gentle yoga. Like all of that, you're still moving. It's still going to be beneficial for recovery in one way or another, slightly different to the full active recovery. But for the person, the individual circumstance, that may be much more appropriate.

[10:04] Or another thing is one circumstance, a lot of mountaineers find themselves in, particularly if they're quite an active person and they're like, you know what? I'm generally do a lot of sports, a lot of activities in my week. And then I've just picked up, like I've decided to book on an expedition and I'm like, you know what? I'm going to train hard and hard and hard. Everything goes towards that. A scenario a lot of people in that situation find themselves was in, is they just end up having their whole week where it's dedicated to training.

[10:31] And that can be taxing mentally for these people, where before exercise was a lot of fun, a lot of exploration and this and that, but all of a sudden you're running, it's for a goal. You're hiking, it's for a goal. Everything is kind of training-based and it can wear some people down. So in that context, in that situation, I may even recommend don't worry about those typical cycling, elliptical swimming or whatever it may be. Don't worry about self-massage or stretching but instead maybe go find an activity which you just have fun with something that still lines up with the guidelines of being easy still lines up with the guidelines of just moving the body ideally still lines up without putting too much stress through the feet but something for you that you just consider being fun so for examples of things that i've used my clients in the past these are all a little bit left of center but they work well enough is i've had clients who've literally just done lawn balls and if you don't know what lawn balls is it's like.

[11:25] Or bowling, not in a 10-pin bowling, but going down on greens. Look it up and Google it. It's hard to describe. But lawn bowls, where you're just walking up and down, very gentle movements, picking up balls, going down for little lunges, that works well enough. I've had people in the past do stand-up paddle boarding, where they live on a lake or they live near the beach, and they just go and cruise along that. I've had people do Tai Chi, people who do dancing, people who just go out and do a bit of mountain biking and just cruise along with that. But all of these have been good options because they get that fun in their week that helps them not only recover, but then when they actually get to their training for the rest of the week, they've kind of had that mental break from it's all training.

[12:06] So when we're looking at this active recovery idea, it's not just physical, but sometimes it can be pretty beneficial mentally as well.

[12:13] So with that being said, I'm going to wrap things up here. There's not that much more to talk about in this subject. In all honesty, it's very, very basic. It's very, very simple. But I did just want to talk about it today just to kind of cover a few points. Just make sure people aren't falling into those mistakes I see and just give a few options for people who, you know, may be considering this. Last thing I will say, as I always do say when it comes down to these episodes, if you are a mountaineer, you're going through a training plan and maybe you're just not recovering well enough. Maybe you're struggling to manage your training load. Maybe you just don't know how to find that balance between pushing yourself forward and just not overdoing it or whatever it may be. And you need a little bit of help from that. If you do want to learn a little bit more about what we do with Summit Strength and how we help mountaineers in these situations, you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer. On that page, there's a big video that talks about our online personal training for mountaineers. And if it sounds like something you want to learn a little bit more about, you can book a free call with our team through a link on that page. We can have a chat, learn about you, your mountaineering, and everything you're going on, and see if we might be able to help you out. So if you want to learn a little bit more, go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer, and we can take it from there. So with that being said, thank you for listening. Hope you had a lovely day and we'll talk to you very soon.

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