After completing a demanding set of bench presses do you lay on your back staring at the ceiling or walk around the weight room until you're ready for another? A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research used experienced triathletes to measure the differences between passive and active recovery.
These 16 subjects were participating in a 2-week high intensity microcycle encompassing 15 HIIT sessions condensed into three 3-day blocks of training. Researchers tested their performance just before and a week after completing this demanding cycle of training. Even though the passive recovery group had a slightly lower volume of training, they experienced improvements in endurance performance that active recovery subjects didn't realize. See what passive recovery can do for your lifting program.
