"Downtime" throughout the year

About two years ago, I embarked on a training regimen that was more structured than anything I had ever tried before. I did a full period of the RCTM method, then about 18 months of non-linear periodization (basically, Bechtel), with lots of climbing outdoors. It worked. I went from a mid-12 sport climber to working on (and even sending a couple) 13a and b routes. (And I feel like I could go higher with better crag access and more focus on hard redpointing.) It's been awesome.

But now that I'm coming up on my second full year, I feel like I need some time "off" of training. I still want to climb some, and I REALLY want to maintain my strength (in the broad sense) that I've accumulated over the last two years, but I need a couple of weeks where I'm not focused on my next hangboard or limit bouldering session. 

I have read a lot about how it's important to dial back the training a few weeks a year, but I've never gotten a good answer as to "how." Do you just stop climbing altogether for a few weeks? Just climb for "fun" 1-3 times a week without focusing on training? I'd prefer to basically stop hangboarding for a few weeks to recapture the psych of getting stronger, but I don't want to give up too much of my gains. 

What are everyone's thoughts on how to approach the type of seasonal "time off" that I'm talking about? Have you noticed ways to maintain strength while hitting the reset button on a training cycle? I'm talking something along the lines of 2-6 weeks, not a full season or many months...

I'm still plenty active--skiing, hiking, etc--so my focus with this question is just on climbing.

(I did a search for this but couldn't find anything. Sorry if this has been discussed before.)

Goddard's book Performance Rock Climbing (dated but still excellent) talks about the "reminiscence effect" whereby your body clears poor motor engrams through taking a couple of weeks off from climbing.  No climbing, no watching climbing videos, etc.  Keep active ( hiking, biking, skiing, whatever) .

Other authors disagree, and say to just switch up your focus.

I've done both, and both seem to work.  However, taking two weeks off completely from climbing will have negligible impact on your strength and just might really help your technique if you've been pushing hard all year.

Ward Smithwrote:

Goddard's book Performance Rock Climbing (dated but still excellent) talks about the "reminiscence effect" whereby your body clears poor motor engrams through taking a couple of weeks off from climbing.  No climbing, no watching climbing videos, etc.  Keep active ( hiking, biking, skiing, whatever) .

Other authors disagree, and say to just switch up your focus.

I've done both, and both seem to work.  However, taking two weeks off completely from climbing will have negligible impact on your strength and just might really help your technique if you've been pushing hard all year.

That's pretty interesting--I'll have to check that book out. Thanks.

His book talks about a linear periodized structure for your training.  I followed it in the 90s and made great leaps in my top grades. However, I now follow Bechtel's method..

My coach (who is under Bechtel’s program) schedules a dedicated week of almost every phase of training to just climbing for fun, or taking the week off. It helps “reset” my regimen so I don’t get burnt out, and I feel that I actually come back stronger or put forth more effort from psyche (or both) and I get great results. He also doesn’t big deal missing scheduled workouts, but I try my hardest around my full time + overtime schedule to stay on track. It comes out to about a week after every month of training, and through their research of athletes taking extended time off, they’ve concluded that it doesn’t have the tremendous effect of performance decline that the athlete originally feared. 

I find that “weeks off” naturally happen for me, because of life circumstances (e.g. we try to take one non-climbing family vacation a year— that is couple weeks of not climbing, but usually a lot of walking).

Also, around here there are natural good climbing seasons (spring/fall), and off-seasons (summer/winter), that makes structuring the year  easy, and happens naturally.

This year is crazy, obviously, but other years it just worked out best if I climbed hard in the fall locally, took a destination climbing trip in December (lots of climbing, but not very hard climbing, because it’s a new place), then took rest/reset over the holidays, start training in winter, take a climbing trip early spring, climb hard locally in the spring, peter down the intensity/take family trip in early summer, start training in summer for the fall season... and repeat. 

If you haven't already, I would recommend checking out https://rockprodigytraining.proboards.com/forum . Those guys are pretty dedicated to all things training and Mark Anderson (Author of RCTM) posts fairly regularly.

Thanks everyone. These are all really nice insights. Sounds like I shouldn't worry about backsliding if I take a few weeks off, which was my main concern. And seems like it's necessary for everyone!

There is something to be said for listening to your body and trusting it. If you are feeling like you need time off, you probably do. If during that time you feel like you want to do nothing, or climb, or something else, that is probably what your body needs. Listen to it. Don't get caught up in what you think you *should* be doing. We get so caught up in regimented training and losing our gainz. When your body is ready to to back to training, you'll know because you will feel refreshed and motivated, and it will get back to where you were before quickly - the brain doesn't forget. There is no exact science in my above statement, but as someone who has trained in other sports at a competitive level to the point of learning exercise and nutrition science, regimenting every part of my life, and breaking my body because I was scared to take time off and lose my progress, I can attest to it being true. The past year I've taken time off of climbing and running both voluntarily and out of external necessity - each time I worry I won't be able to come back to where I was without extreme difficulty, but after a few weeks this is never the case, and I end up performing better both mentally and physically than before. TLDR - listen to your body and don't be afraid to trust it regardless of what your training plan says, you won't lose your gains in a few weeks. 

Alec Owrote:

About two years ago, I embarked on a training regimen that was more structured than anything I had ever tried before. I did a full period of the RCTM method, then about 18 months of non-linear periodization (basically, Bechtel), with lots of climbing outdoors. It worked. I went from a mid-12 sport climber to working on (and even sending a couple) 13a and b routes. (And I feel like I could go higher with better crag access and more focus on hard redpointing.) It's been awesome.

But now that I'm coming up on my second full year, I feel like I need some time "off" of training. I still want to climb some, and I REALLY want to maintain my strength (in the broad sense) that I've accumulated over the last two years, but I need a couple of weeks where I'm not focused on my next hangboard or limit bouldering session. 

I have read a lot about how it's important to dial back the training a few weeks a year, but I've never gotten a good answer as to "how." Do you just stop climbing altogether for a few weeks? Just climb for "fun" 1-3 times a week without focusing on training? I'd prefer to basically stop hangboarding for a few weeks to recapture the psych of getting stronger, but I don't want to give up too much of my gains. 

What are everyone's thoughts on how to approach the type of seasonal "time off" that I'm talking about? Have you noticed ways to maintain strength while hitting the reset button on a training cycle? I'm talking something along the lines of 2-6 weeks, not a full season or many months...

I'm still plenty active--skiing, hiking, etc--so my focus with this question is just on climbing.

(I did a search for this but couldn't find anything. Sorry if this has been discussed before.)

Apologies for posting (Im a guy), but I couldn't help to jump in as I enjoy training etc.

I've learned a lot from Natasha Barnes and have hired her for physical therapy. She's been interviewed for a few podcasts (i.e., The Nugget and Training Beta). I recommend checking her interview on The Nugget.

Here is a link to her blog for a quick read/overview:
https://natashabarnesrehab.com/blog/myths/truths/strengthtraining

PS., I'm happy to remove this comment since I'm not a Woman.

I listened to a podcast w/ Bechtel (Nugget maybe?) and they talked about how strength gains will stay for a long time. Endurance will probably not hang around, but I think not burning out is more important. Just take a break!

Gumby Kingwrote:

Apologies for posting (Im a guy), but I couldn't help to jump in as I enjoy training etc.

I've learned a lot from Natasha Barnes and have hired her for physical therapy. She's been interviewed for a few podcasts (i.e., The Nugget and Training Beta). I recommend checking her interview on The Nugget.

Here is a link to her blog for a quick read/overview:
https://natashabarnesrehab.com/blog/myths/truths/strengthtraining

PS., I'm happy to remove this comment since I'm not a Woman.