Perhaps the best kept not-so-secret secret out there is that how you rest has a huge effect on how you perform. On the one hand, the temptation when the coach calls “rest!” during a workout is to flop on the floor and forget about everything until the next round starts, and a rest day seems like a good chance to post up in a beach chair or on the couch for the day and do a whole lot of nothing. But on the other hand, this view of rest as a completely passive state is sure to hurt your performance and well-being.

Rest, like anything else, can be done better or worse, and applying some intentionality to your rest might be the best trick you have for upping your performance in workouts and recovery between workouts.

Training applies stress to your body (this is the whole point), and while the inverse of stress may seem to be “doing absolutely nothing,” that’s not practically true. The individual who is aware of her posture, her breathing, her movement, and her mindset during the rest between a series of 200m sprints, for example, will be able to approach each sprint repeat better recovered and more prepared (physically and mentally) than the individual who takes their rest time to hunch over with hands on knees and let the whims of their physiology decide how they’re going to behave.

When you rest, consider:

How are you breathing? Is your mouth wide open? Your breathing rate rapid and erratic? Your shoulders doing most of the work to breathe? Or are you trying to breathe more through your nose? Are you slowing your breathing as you get deeper into your rest? Are you actively involving your diaphragm in breathing?

How about your posture? Are you a heap on the floor? Hunched over? Hands on knees? Or are you upright, proud, eyes open, and in control of the situation? Are you standing in a way that lets your breathing muscles move most freely?

And are you completely still, or do you take your rest as an opportunity to move slowly and with purpose? Do you attempt to keep yourself warm, upright, and to keep your circulation optimal?

And your mindset? Are you dragged into your own story about how uncomfortable you are? How much you wish this was over? Or are you non-judgmentally aware of your physical experiences? Are you deliberate about considering what you can do to recover faster? Improve your movement? Keep your purpose at the forefront of your mind?

The “easy” things are often the hardest to get right. Sure, it’s easier to flop on the floor in a heap of sweat and roll around for a few minutes, or to spend the day lounging on the couch, but you could do a lot better.

- PS

9/17/18

• Power clean - 1rm

• S2S 60s max reps (145/95)

Then...

• 3 rounds for quality:

• 10 box jumps (30/24”)

• 10 GHD back extensions

• Max time hanging L-hold