In training, every once in a while we can take a “rest week” or a de-load week.
This is kind of like a retreat in the physical domain. The de-load week is for all levels and serves a few purposes:
- Down-regulate the central nervous system from the demands of training
- Allow for some extra sleep
- Allow the connective tissue to recover
- Allow us to allocate time to other areas in life beyond our physical practice
While we are taking the “load” off of training, we still benefit from movement. We can incorporate walking, controlled joint articulation, gentle mobility work or yoga.
The key thing here is that we are down-regulating the autonomic nervous system on a week-long timeframe, while still using passive or softening movement to promote blood flow and health.
The biggest mistake we can make with the de-load or rest week is to skip movement (rest from training), but over-emphasise work, travel or other stressors that up-regulate the nervous system generally.
