Active Rest: The secret to gains?

I love programming Active Rest in to my athletes and client’s programs.

Is Active Rest the Secret to gains?

Maybe.
Maybe not.

It is an ‘effing awesome way to get extra work in and balance your program though.

What is Active Rest?

This is a simple but misunderstood concept.
Active rest is simply adding in very low intensity work between larger, compound exercises in order to achieve a goal.

The goal could be:

• Accruing more volume
  Correcting strength imbalances
  Correcting flexibility/mobility imbalances
  Getting stronger
  Improving GPP/Fitness
  Increasing your total
  Adding mass

Active Rest needs to be something that does not interfere with your ability to recover from the set you just did and from the training session/week.
Let’s look at these one at a time and give you some examples of how to add in work that won’t tax your recovery but will improve your performance.

Accruing more volume:

We all know volume makes you strong and increases gains right?
When programming Active Rest in this manner we need to make it something that will allow you to be fresh for the next set. It can be for the same part of the body you are training, or the opposite.

A great example is what Jim preaches about a lot: adding a few pullups between every set you do for the day.
Let’s say you can smash out 10 pullups in a set and you add in 3 between all of your accessory exercises.
If you do 15 sets of accessory work, you’ve added in 45 pullups to your training session.

Think that extra volume will carry over?

You can add in extra volume in a few ways. On upper body day, you can add in a few reps of a lower body exercise like the Glute/Ham Raise between sets.
Maybe 5 GHR’s in between every set of upper body assistance.

Or on lower body days, you add in an upper body exercise, like Fat Guy Pullups (inverted rows), or maybe abs, like the Ab Wheel.
If you bang out 5 reps of something between each set you should not have a problem recovering for your next set, and you will see a big improvement soon from the volume.

I don’t suggest this during a meet prep cycle or during your primary exercise.

Look at this:
If you add in 5 GHR’s after each upper body accessory set and you do 15 sets that is 75 GHR’s at the end of the day.

If you do two upper body days a week, that’s an extra 150 reps a week.
What do you think will happen to your squat and deadlift with an extra 150 GHR’s a week?
It ain’t goin’ down kids.

Correcting strength imbalances:

This is one of my favorites.

Strength imbalances can be from one limb to the other, or with individual muscles, or front to back, like a strength deficit in the hamstrings versus quads.

The process isn’t much different that with the extra volume idea above you just need to target what you do.
If you are not able to diagnose your own strength imbalance, perhaps a movement assessment is in order. There are loads of people who offer this type of service.
At TPS we offer this and have a ton of people use it with success and FAST results.
A good PT or strength coach should be able to do this for you if you are unable to perform it yourself.

Correcting flexibility/mobility imbalances:

As you may or may not know, I am a mess orthopedically. I have a few serious soft tissue issues as a result of injuries and lifestyle choices.
I used to spend a lot of time pre and post training doing all types of soft tissue work.

That sucked.

It was time consuming and not nearly as fun as smashing weights.

I have changed my approach.

Now I do a pre-training warmup specific to what is the most pressing issue I have for the upcoming training session that consists of mostly mobility work using Acumobility products and drills I learned from their creator Dr. Brad Cox.

Brad working the booth!

I also do opposite work in between most sets after my primary exercise.

Opposite work means that if I am doing a lower body day, I’ll do upper body mobility releases and vice versa.

This takes about a minute or so between sets and I use Acumobility Balls and the Eclipse Roller and/or the Boomstick and other body tempering devices.
At the end of the session I’ve gotten an extra 10-20 minutes of work done, which is translating into me being able to lift better, walk better and feel better.

Brad killing me.

I still can’t squat, but I think I might be able to soon!

Getting stronger:

This is just about the same as the Volume example, but I like this to be small exercises such as curls, pushdowns, rows and the like.
Vary your reps and weights. Go heavier with low reps sometimes and lighter with more reps sometimes.

Think about it, if you are doing block pulls for sets of 5 on a lower body day, adding in a set of 5 dumbell curls
that are fairly heavy should be something that you can do without affecting your next set and it only takes about 30 seconds.

Improving GPP/Fitness:

If you are off season for powerlifting, or perhaps a Strongman who is a ways off from a show adding in stuff to improve GPP like:

• Kettlebell Swings
  Kettlebell Clean and Jerk
  30-60 seconds of jumping rope or another body weight exercise
  Sled Dragging

will improve your fitness level and GPP.

We do this in the TPS Method a lot depending on what the current block of programming calls for.

Increasing your total/ Adding mass:

Your total will go up by default if you address the issues listed above as they apply to you.

If you have movement issues and you correct them, you’ll perform better.
If you have strength imbalances and you fix them, you’ll lift better and therefore more.
If you need to add mass or simply get stronger, well, you get it.

Get off the internet and get your training journal out.
Look at your program and see where you can add in some Active Rest now.
You’ll be more jacked and more awesome as a result.

Oh and don’t forget!

The TPS/RPS Powerlifting meet is next weekend.

We still need a few more volunteers to assist us in running the meet. We are raising money for the Malden Emergency Center and need a slew of people to help us pull this off!
If you can spare a few hours reply back to this post or email me.
If you want to see some great lifting, come on by the Jackson Street Hall (inside the Jackson Street Garage) in Malden next Saturday and Sunday.
We’ll have the best local Powerlifting, food, beer and more.

Ask me a question-Be sure and Type to Murph in the header

Find me on Google-search for Total Performance Sports Malden, Mass. The Best Gym in Boston, Facebook too.

Oh, yeah, follow us on Instagram too. TPSMalden

SHARE THIS!

#bostonsstrongest

Vincere vel mori