Rest before a competition

[David_wigren]

What are some of your thoughts on resting in preparation for a contest? 

I usually like to take between 1.5 to 2 weeks rest from armwrestling training. But will hit weights and perform other exercises up and until two days before the competition. 

I’ve heard that tendons take about 2-3 weeks to properly heal up from training unless of course you’re injured, which in this case it would take longer. However, muscle glycogen tend to diminish after a week of rest. This isn’t going to affect your strength that much but it might affect your muscle endurance if you rest completely from training for such a long time. I’ve adapted my competition preparation with these two facors in mind. But I realize that the body is more complicated than just tendon healing and muscle glycogen. So maybe other setups work just as good, or maybe even better? What does your compprep look like?

[Boulderbrew]

I always do the same routine for any grip event. Say my goal was to lift 100# on the flask in competition, 4 or 5 days before the event I have my last workout. I work up to 90# for a few singles. I finish the workout by doing 3 speed sets where I lower the weight to about 70# and 5 reps as explosively as possible. I do this for every event in the contest.

I use the same strategy for a climbing competition, but the boulder problems I do for my heavy singles are about 90% of my max. 

I hope that's not too confusing, but I figured I would chime in because my contest prep seems different than most. I do not like to rest too much because I feel like mentally I lose my neuro-muscular connection with the lift.   

[Climber028]

I take two full rest days from sport specific work but still stay active, a hike, bike ride, lower body stuff just to aid in recovery. You don't want to do any static stretching in this time period, just real light dynamic stuff. Also a good time for massage, contrast baths, or sauna if available.  The big factor I noticed is optimizing sleep the night before, and getting good food in the morning. This also gets complicated if you have to cut weight.

[climber511]

For a Grip contest I do a very hard grip training session the Saturday before - doing all the comp events and a full Medley run through.  Then on Tuesday I do a pretty moderate overall body session.  Then daily stretching and some walking until the comp.  The week following I do a couple easy overall workouts and then the Saturday after the comp I am often good for a Grip PR or two.  7 days after a long hard (90 to 95%) session seems to be the sweet spot for me.  All my training lifts are done with zero excitation.

[David_wigren]

Thank you guys! Solid information shared!

I’ve thought about neuron muscular connection. I always figured that this wouldn’t be effected until at least a few weeks. At least not personally for me. I figured that the performance lost due to decreased muscular neuron connection would be lower than the strength lost from training to close to the competition. This could however be different for different people.

And yeah, cutting weight for a competition also makes things complicated. For me I always get worried that I might hurt my long term development if I go through a period with little to no training while on a big calorie deficit. 

 

Lost of things to think about. Many things that can go wrong.

[Climber028]

Short term weight cutting doesn't really involve calorie restriction, mostly controlling water retention by assisting carbs and sodium intake. I cut like 4lbs so I'm lucky enough to avoid any of the negatives from huge cuts like what fighters do.

[David_wigren]

2 hours ago, Climber028 said:

Short term weight cutting doesn't really involve calorie restriction, mostly controlling water retention by assisting carbs and sodium intake. I cut like 4lbs so I'm lucky enough to avoid any of the negatives from huge cuts like what fighters do.

Right now they’re changing alot of weightclasses in swedish armwrestling in a weight range that doesn’t suit me so I’m having to cut quite aggressively. 

[David_wigren]

Just made the weigh in earlier this evening at 79.6kg and now before going to bed I’m up to 83.4kg. Haha, I’ll probably be hovering around 84-85 kg at the actual competition tomorrow!

[climber511]

24 minutes ago, David_wigren said:

Just made the weigh in earlier this evening at 79.6kg and now before going to bed I’m up to 83.4kg. Haha, I’ll probably be hovering around 84-85 kg at the actual competition tomorrow!

I have always disagreed with day before weigh ins - the change in weight is just too great for most people - negating the intention of weight classes entirely

[David_wigren]

7 hours ago, climber511 said:

I have always disagreed with day before weigh ins - the change in weight is just too great for most people - negating the intention of weight classes entirely

Me too actually. I think weigh ins should be right before the contest. But since it’s on the day before I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity. Armwrestling in Sweden is fairly competative so a majority of the competitors will cut weight before contest.

[Emre]

On 8/18/2018 at 6:19 AM, David_wigren said:

What are some of your thoughts on resting in preparation for a contest? 

I usually like to take between 1.5 to 2 weeks rest from armwrestling training. But will hit weights and perform other exercises up and until two days before the competition. 

 I’ve heard that tendons take about 2-3 weeks to properly heal up from training unless of course you’re injured, which in this case it would take longer. However, muscle glycogen tend to diminish after a week of rest. This isn’t going to affect your strength that much but it might affect your muscle endurance if you rest completely from training for such a long time. I’ve adapted my competition preparation with these two facors in mind. But I realize that the body is more complicated than just tendon healing and muscle glycogen. So maybe other setups work just as good, or maybe even better? What does your compprep look like?

 

I am a judo guy but I do a good amount of grip work and before competition about a week out I do sand bucket work, chinese medicine ball spins.  I also get a large bucket full with water and open my hand and close them under water fast as possible quick.  I learned this from John Brooks.  I  start implementing this during about 1-2 weeks out and the last week I keep cardio up and work on speed.  For my grips this protocol worked well.  It helps with getting fresh blood to hands and removing waste.    Hope it helps.