Rock climbing can become an addictive hobby. Different aspects of the sport lure you in, whether it’s the endorphins you get after sending your project, the social interactions and friendships you’ve fostered, or the love of the training grind to advance your climbing to the next level. Without realizing it, you may be in the gym six days a week for multiple hours per day. You only take notice when the soreness lingers for days, or you begin to feel fatigued, and no amount of sleep or rest days seems to help.
If you’ve reached this point, you may be questioning whether you need a break from rock climbing. The part of you addicted to advancing and conquering the next project repulses at the thought. Fears of losing progress or missing community shine through. But the logical part of your brain is blaring a warning; something feels off.
Overreaching vs. Overtraining
It’s a good time to check in with your body and figure out if you’re overtraining or overreaching. Although similar, identifying which state you’re in can mean the difference between continuing to climb or not.
Overtraining is the increase in training volume or intensity that results in a noticeable and prolonged decline in performance. Fatigue levels associated with overtraining can mean weeks or months of recovery. Overtraining can negatively affect aspects beyond physical conditioning, including heart rate, sleep, and cognition.
Overreaching is a temporary decline in performance. It is less intense than overtraining. Negative effects of overreaching tend to be isolated to physical performance. Recovery time is a few days, and upon return to activity, performance can rebound past previous levels.
Determining If You’ve Overtrained or Overreached
Research from the last two decades has concluded that it is very hard to overtrain. Overreaching is more likely and is a normal part of the training process, especially for elite athletes.
Ruling out overtraining, let’s determine if you are overreaching in your training. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help decide.
Questions to Assess Performance and Physical State
- How does your climbing performance feel today compared to a few weeks ago?
- Do you feel sore, stiff, or heavy in your muscles? If yes, how long has the feeling lasted?
- Are you finding it takes longer than usual to recover from climbing sessions?
- Do you have any nagging (minor) injuries?
Questions to Assess Mental and Emotional State
- Do you find yourself dreading coming to the climbing gym or wanting to skip climbing sessions?
- Do you feel less motivated for training than you did a few weeks ago?
- Are you having trouble falling or staying asleep?
- Do your moods feel different than usual?
If you answered yes to two or more of the Performance and Physical state questions and any number of the mental and emotional state questions, there is a possibility you are overreaching.
What Do My Answers Mean?
Whether this means you need to take a break from climbing depends on the severity of the physical and/or mental declines you are experiencing. At a minimum, the safest option is to take two full rest days. During these two days, focus on fueling properly, getting 8+ hours of sleep, and doing some easy mobility work. After two days, reassess with the list of questions. If none of your answers have changed or you feel worse physically or mentally, opt for another 1-2 rest days (It’ll be okay, you won’t lose all your fitness in a week).
After your rest days, reintroduce climbing with an easier session. Warm up well and try to remove any performance expectations. The goal of the first session back should be quality movement while gradually progressing from easy to more challenging climbs. Check in with yourself during and after the session. If your muscles and joints are feeling fresh, your strength is up to par, and you’re excited to climb, you can return to your regular training schedule. If you still feel sore, achy, or are dreading going to the gym, consider extending your break. If you feel physically back to normal, but mentally drained, you could opt to introduce other forms of exercise that are enjoyable to maintain strength and fitness.
Feeling like your performance is declining and that you aren’t recovering well can be frustrating. The good news is that you are likely overreaching, which can be remedied with a few rest days and some TLC in nutrition, sleep, stress, and recovery. Any prolonged (months) decrease in performance and fatigue that carries over into cognitive, sleep, or physical health concerns is worth discussing with a medical professional, as you may be overtraining.
