What is passive recovery?

Whether you’re vying for a personal best, training for your first race or simply running to stay fit, more miles mean better results, right? Perhaps not. While adding more speed work Best winter running gear looked at recreational Published: 19 September 2024.

There is such a thing as pushing too hard in your training. As such, getting adequate rest is essential if you want your body to perform at its peak.

‘The importance of recovery cannot be overstated,’ says Emily Booth, a personal trainer and running coach based in Denver, USA. ‘As difficult as it can be for some runners to accept, you’ll only reap the benefits of your hard work if you allow your body time to recover. That is when the magic happens.’

Now, ‘recovery’ doesn’t mean you have to lie on the sofa and do nothing all day – although it can if you think that’s what your body needs. Instead, you can rest with a ‘passive’ recovery day or get in some gentle movement for some ‘active’ recovery.

Here’s more about the difference between active and passive recovery – and how to choose which one is best for you.

No matter who you are – a novice runner, a weekend warrior or a world-class athlete – you need rest days. ‘All that hard training goes to waste if you’re not able to properly recover from the workouts you’re doing,’ says Jeff Gaudette, owner and head coach at RunnersConnect. ‘is the key to running faster and for longer, this only works up to an extent.’

There are several principles to training, including progressive overload, adaptation, specificity, individualisation, reversibility and recovery.

‘To become a better runner in the future than you are today, you must overload your system with a specific new training stimulus – such as running more weekly miles or adding in speed workouts,’ explains Booth. ‘If the new stimulus is introduced with appropriate volume and intensity, then your body adapts and your fitness improves. However, without proper recovery, instead of adapting and getting stronger, you’ll eventually break down and either be too fatigued to do meaningful workouts or, worse, end up with an overuse injury.’

There’s no magic formula when it comes to calculating the exact amount of rest that your body needs – so this is where the principle of individualisation comes in. ‘Just as some individuals respond faster to training than others, some athletes require more recovery,’ says Booth. ‘Unfortunately, there is not a universal answer that applies [to how much rest you need], as there are myriad factors that affect recovery.’

However, Booth says that aiming for at least one rest day every seven to 10 days is a good place to start.

‘Health & Injuries stress from running or any other physical activity, apart from normal daily movement,’ says Booth. That can be as simple as staying off your feet, whenever possible. But it can also include other activities outside of exercise that can benefit your body – think getting a massage, foam rolling, using compression boots or meditation.

‘For beginners or runners who don’t have as much experience with high training loads, passive recovery can ensure that they aren’t doing too much,’ says Gaudette, who notes the mental boost that runners can also get from taking some true R&R. ‘It can really help to let the mind rest as well.’

Research has shown that adding some extra recovery activities to your passive rest day – at least occasionally – may help you to bounce back faster. One small study, published in PLoS One, looked at recreational half marathon Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network that can carry into your training, he explains and massage post-race. It found that these runners experienced better recovery (in terms of markers like muscle soreness, perceived stress and perceived recovery) than those who were completely passive in their post-race rest, as well as those who did active recovery.

Passive recovery is also probably the better choice if you’re starting to notice signs of overtraining. If you’re experiencing extreme tiredness, lingering soreness or aches and pains, a lack of quality sleep, an Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network A simple foam roller routine for runners.

Passive recovery activities

• Foam rolling
• Meditation
• Using compression boots
• The best compression boots to aid your recovery
• Reading

Active recovery is pretty much what it says on the tin – it is rest, but with a little more activity thrown in. So, with active recovery, instead of lying back and putting up your feet (and then perhaps going for a massage), you’ll do an easy session of a more low-impact activity like swimming, walking, cycling or yoga.

‘It’s basically any type of training or work you can do that doesn’t involve running, or which minimises stress to the body, with the goal of getting blood flowing to the damaged muscles,’ says Gaudette. ‘The circulatory system is how the body heals itself, with blood delivering nutrients to help repair muscles.’

A simple foam roller routine for runners 2022 systematic review from Spain, activities including light jogging, aqua exercise and yoga may help to reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness when done within 24 to 48 hours after an intense workout. Researchers believe that pool-based exercises may be especially helpful, since water has a massage-like effect on muscles when you move through it. Yoga is also beneficial because flexibility is linked with decreased perception of soreness.

Can pink noise benefit runners What is passive recovery, prefers active over passive recovery the day after a hard workout. ‘Oftentimes, we don’t feel the effects of a long run or a heavy lift until the second day afterward, so I like using that energy to keep the momentum going while promoting blood flow and nutrient and oxygen delivery to the muscles,’ she says. This is also true after something like a half marathon or marathon, elevated resting heart rate.

The key to making active recovery work for you is to keep the intensity low. ‘Active recovery needs to be easy and focused on increasing blood flow,’ says Gaudette. ‘It should not be primarily an aerobic workout.’

He recommends checking in on your rate of perceived exertion or heart rate throughout your exercise and making sure that it stays at the very low end. ‘While active recovery might not involve any pounding, training does still produce stress – so if you do too much or at too high an intensity, you can still create fatigue and stress that can carry into your training,’ he explains.

Active recovery activities

• Walking
• Yoga
• How do you choose between active and passive recovery
• Aqua jogging
• Stretching

You might already have a preference in mind for your rest days – that’s a fine place to start. However, it’s also smart to consider other factors in your life beyond that week’s workouts and allow for some give and to make sure you still get enough recovery. Things like work stress, sleep, illness, travel and your menstrual cycle can all affect how your body feels after running and what it might need. So, pay attention to those factors to determine what type of recovery you need every week.

Your fitness level may also help you to determine whether active or passive recovery is right for you. ‘Runners who are cold water immersion should focus more on passive recovery and slowly add active recovery over time once they’re able to handle more total workload. More experienced runners can mix in more active recovery, but shouldn’t forget that passive recovery once in a while is needed as well,’ says Gaudette. ‘For every runner, it’s important to have a mix of both.’

Many coaches recommend listening to your body above all else and recognising what it needs. ‘If someone is sleeping well, responding well to training and not feeling any significant accumulation of fatigue, then they may opt for mostly active recovery,’ says Booth. ‘However, if they’re feeling unmotivated or stagnant, coming back from illness or not getting good sleep, then it might be time for passive recovery.’

To perform at your peak and avoid overuse injuries, it’s vital that you give your body a chance to rest and bounce back. But, at the end of the day, how you get that R&R is up to you – and which type of recovery you choose from week to week, or from one training cycle to the next, starts with taking stock of your workouts and paying close attention to how you feel. Then, you can adjust accordingly.