On one of my first climbing trips, I found myself in Italy with a friend, climbing pristine limestone. We met a few friendly local climbers, one of whom we’ll call Toni. A firefighter and a very serious climber, he was in spectacular physical shape. One evening, we gathered around a fire, chatting about various topics, including training. His girlfriend translated what he was saying into English, but I clearly remember understanding the message when he talked about an important aspect of climbing: rest, rest, rest.

Why Rest Is Important?

Rest serves several purposes. First, there’s the well-known function of muscle tissue repair. When your muscles work hard over a certain period and intensity, tiny micro-tears occur. Your body repairs them, making your muscles stronger (and bigger, depending on your activity). Another key purpose: allowing your central nervous system to recover. Certain climbing moves, like coordination-intensive movements or dynos, are demanding on your brain. Overdoing it can lead to diminishing returns in movement quality.

And perhaps the most important reason to rest: quality trumps quantity. Your body and brain “record” the last movements you perform during a session. So if you’ve just done a marathon four-hour climbing session without stopping, you’ll climb much worse toward the end. Not to mention, you’ll need significant time to climb out of the fatigue hole you’ve dug for yourself.

Don’t overlook external factors either: school or work (or both), family, and life stresses all affect your body’s ability to recover.

Here’s a great chart showing how the body reacts to physical stress (and training):

Key takeaway: when your climbing/training load is too high, your body takes longer to recover, and you risk injury.

Weekly Rest

If you’re climbing five days a week, it’s likely your body is overtrained, and your performance is suffering—even if you don’t realize it. This is especially true if every session is all-out on your projects. A general rule of thumb: two days of activity followed by one day of rest provides a sustainable rhythm. You might need to adjust if you’re older or recovering from an injury. Also, vary your intensity: a high-intensity day followed by an easier volume day helps prevent overtraining.

“Deload” Rest

If you’re training, plan for a rest week after a training cycle to allow your body to “integrate” what you’ve done and overcompensate. Typically, in a deload phase, you greatly reduce volume but maintain intensity to keep your body stimulated without adding fatigue.

Annual Rest

Bad news: you can’t climb at your peak all year round. It’s simply impossible. Why? Because your body can’t handle the stress of hard climbing 12 months a year. That’s why taking downtime is essential. For outdoor climbers, this often happens naturally at the end of the season. For indoor climbers, make sure to schedule times during the year—like vacations or the holiday season—where you slow down or even stop for a week.

What to Do While Resting

Doing another highly stressful activity while trying to recover from climbing isn’t the best idea. Doing nothing? Not bad. Light yoga or mobility exercises? Even better. Gentle movement (like walking or casual cycling) promotes blood flow without stressing the body further. Don’t forget: stay hydrated and eat well. Then you’ll be ready to crush holds again in no time!