Balancing Bodybuilding with School/Cognitive Demanding tasks

[Ace0]

Looking for general tips and tricks or just ideas on how to balance hard lifting and studying or being able to perform general cognitively demanding tasks.
I know its partially in my head as there are tonnes of guys who did higher level education while training very hard and even competing, eg. Scott Stevenson, Justin Harris, Mike Israetel, Layne Norton, etc,. So it can clearly be done at the highest levels.
However for me personally, certain things - like training very hard (without adequate recovery), too many carbs, makes me feel dumb as shit. Compounds like tren also make people generally dumb, I think DHT compounds generally makes me sharper. So anything diet related, lifestyle related, compounds, etc.
What have you guys noticed helps/hinders balancing bodybuilding with other things, maybe even general life broadly? Sometimes I overdo to the point that my mood is ruined the following day.
I never realized how demanding lifting can be sometimes until COVID shutdown gyms and I had to put my energy elsewhere and I flourished for the first time in my life with school work.

 

[Virtuous]

I have a very demanding/cerebral white collar job in tech that takes 60 hours/week minimum.

I just find that getting things into a very rigid routine is the best process. All my days are very scheduled.

If I’m trying to wing it, it takes a hell of a lot of mental bandwidth to guess at meal timing, fitting in workouts, supplements, etc.

Fwiw the mental sides are broadly placebo. I ran tren on and off for years while climbing the corporate ladder and winning sales rep of the year a multiple major tech companies, working with board members and C-levels on deal structures and reading 10Ks and such at night.

If you do find there to be conflict between career and bodybuilding, index on the one you care about more. It’s your life, man, no right way to do it. Enjoy it how you want to.

 

[Ace0]

I have a very demanding/cerebral white collar job in tech that takes 60 hours/week minimum.

I just find that getting things into a very rigid routine is the best process. All my days are very scheduled.

If I’m trying to wing it, it takes a hell of a lot of mental bandwidth to guess at meal timing, fitting in workouts, supplements, etc.

Fwiw the mental sides are broadly placebo. I ran tren on and off for years while climbing the corporate ladder and winning sales rep of the year a multiple major tech companies, working with board members and C-levels on deal structures and reading 10Ks and such at night.

If you do find there to be conflict between career and bodybuilding, index on the one you care about more. It’s your life, man, no right way to do it. Enjoy it how you want to.

I think that was a huge issue I had at first, I was actually getting stressed trying to plan meals and timings with work schedule. The mental sides being a placebo makes sense, some have issues while cutting some say they have issues while bulking, meanwhile there are guys who maintain 4.0s who live the lifestyle year round cutting and bulking making no difference to their performance.
Right now I just focused on bodybuilding during the summer, took it easy in my first semester, now I plan to do both concurrently. AM cardio daily plus weight 3-4x a week should be manageable, will probably have to have more liquid meals than I'd like however.

 

[165StateChamp]

Overthinking it. I work for the largest professional services firm in the world in what’s considered an intellectually challenging role as Virtuous put it and I’ve competed in bodybuilding successfully at the highest amateur level the entire time.

Bodybuilding is really easy. All you do is eat 6 times a day and go to the gym 1-2 times a day. You pin your drugs at home. The only time it’s hard is when I’m 3 weeks out from a show and my brain is fried at low body fat levels.

I think you just need to be more mentally tough.

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

I'm an RN and also have less than a year left of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner school (tons of neurobiology and psychopharmacology-related classes, clinical rotations starting next week), father of 2, working PRN, husband. Where there's a will there's a way. Sunday evenings are for meal prep, I always have meals made and ready to eat for the following day, probably drink too much caffeine, 0430 wake ups and working out by 0500 (5 days a week). I think the bottom line for me is PPPPP (Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance).

 

[Ace0]

Overthinking it. I work for the largest professional services firm in the world in what’s considered an intellectually challenging role as Virtuous put it and I’ve competed in bodybuilding successfully at the highest amateur level the entire time.

Bodybuilding is really easy. All you do is eat 6 times a day and go to the gym 1-2 times a day. You pin your drugs at home. The only time it’s hard is when I’m 3 weeks out from a show and my brain is fried at low body fat levels.

I think you just need to be more mentally tough.

I think the bottom line for me is PPPPP (Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance).

This is exactly the kind of stuff I need to here.
I feel fatigued when I'm bulking, I feel fatigued when cutting. I think I've honestly just got way too much into my head about this shit and just have to DO and not think.
If others can do it there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to.

 

[Paul.uns]

I work as senior backend developer (programming) and have no issues you are speaking about.
I never train before my work, if carbs are making me sleepy its either time to cut or I keep them lower during work hours.
When it comes to gear i use test or test + dht, but it doesnt really affect me in bad or good way.
Sure when cutting I feel like stoned, cant think properly, my work efficiency goes down a lot. I usually work 9-10 hours a day to bring them what i need to. Also cut doesnt last forever, i guess everyone (not gym associated ppl) have their ups and downs.

 

[Ace0]

Sure when cutting I feel like stoned, cant think properly, my work efficiency goes down a lot. I usually work 9-10 hours a day to bring them what i need to. Also cut doesnt last forever, i guess everyone (not gym associated ppl) have their ups and downs.

Its interesting I often get hit with waves of crippling fatigue/lethargy and I always thought it was due to not eating enough. But most guys are still able to function well even during a cut, it truly must be in my head (and I have to convince myself that I don't have some sort of disorder).

 

[SAVAGEPMHNP]

This is exactly the kind of stuff I need to here.
I feel fatigued when I'm bulking, I feel fatigued when cutting. I think I've honestly just got way too much into my head about this shit and just have to DO and not think.
If others can do it there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to.

You can do it man! You already look like you have built a solid physique so just keep doing what you're doing! Like you mentioned, plenty of bodybuilders have had to juggle studies, life stuff, etc.! I don't know if you are on any type of social media but if so, check out Dwayne Johnson's (The Rock) page! Super motivational stuff that he posts! He trains no matter what, sometimes getting up at 3am to get it in if he's on location to film, etc.

 

[qbkilla]

I recently got a lot of shit and stress dumped on me at work and all of a sudden my perfect routine...bro split with added arms and delts on other days, everything to failure..had me feeling exhausted.

Took a deload now doing a full body 3x per week. Less time in gym, commuting to gym, more sleep and recovery.

If your doing am cardio then weights 3-4x, that's 11 trips to the gym not surprised your exhausted. I'd drop the cardio down and drop food as needed. If not already, embrace low volume hard training vs volume/rir/rpe whatever they call it. Get in, hit it hard, get out.

The perfect optimization of a cardio and training schedule isn't any good if all that work is leaving you stressed, short on sleep, under recovered and dragging yourself into the gym.

 

[goback2013]

I work as senior backend developer (programming) and have no issues you are speaking about.
I never train before my work, if carbs are making me sleepy its either time to cut or I keep them lower during work hours.
When it comes to gear i use test or test + dht, but it doesnt really affect me in bad or good way.
Sure when cutting I feel like stoned, cant think properly, my work efficiency goes down a lot. I usually work 9-10 hours a day to bring them what i need to. Also cut doesnt last forever, i guess everyone (not gym associated ppl) have their ups and downs.

No Adderall or similar prescribed medications ?
Im in upper levels of tech(sys engineer and dev) and you should see a gathering of my colleagues. Many have pupils for days... Plus are SUPER chatty.

 

[danieltx]

Overthinking it. I work for the largest professional services firm in the world in what’s considered an intellectually challenging role as Virtuous put it and I’ve competed in bodybuilding successfully at the highest amateur level the entire time.

Bodybuilding is really easy. All you do is eat 6 times a day and go to the gym 1-2 times a day. You pin your drugs at home. The only time it’s hard is when I’m 3 weeks out from a show and my brain is fried at low body fat levels.

I think you just need to be more mentally tough.

I agree completely - it's mindset.

I work for one of the big banks everyone knows. My job requires constant strategic and critical thinking in my own work and with managing developers, collaborating with other teams, building roadmaps, etc. Myself and my boss (who I hired) are literally the only 2 people with our expertise in an enterprise of 50,000+ so we can't make mistakes.

For me bodybuilding is what helps me do good in other areas of life. If my bodybuilding is going well then I'm doing better with work, personal, everything.

Maybe you just haven't done this for long enough to make it a lifestyle. Maybe you're not mentally capable of doing both at a high level. But it definitely can be done. Even in the worst phase of a diet (like me right now) all you should need is some caffeine or other stimulant of your choice to get in gear.

 

[Ace0]

I recently got a lot of shit and stress dumped on me at work and all of a sudden my perfect routine...bro split with added arms and delts on other days, everything to failure..had me feeling exhausted.

Just recently started fortitude training, low volume high intensity and loving it. Cardio is either a run or AirDyne (I bought one during Covid) so not many trips to the gym. However I just had a recent deload but because of family events I came back not refreshed and jumped straight into PSMF cut and man that was terrible decision.

The perfect optimization of a cardio and training schedule isn't any good if all that work is leaving you stressed, short on sleep, under recovered and dragging yourself into the gym

Dragging myself into the gym and throughout life. They play off each other, gotta reduce the thinking and the stress. I miss the days of just eatting lots and throwing around weight.

I agree completely - it's mindset.

Gotta get out of my head

Maybe you just haven't done this for long enough to make it a lifestyle. Maybe you're not mentally capable of doing both at a high level. But it definitely can be done. Even in the worst phase of a diet (like me right now) all you should need is some caffeine or other stimulant of your choice to get in gear.

I’ve been at it for a few years now so I had time. But ever since after Covid I’ve become a bit too aware of my body and states almost hyper vigilant and I think that’s giving me issues.

Some of these comments are straight up inspiring y’all. I’m just a kid who was working as a technician and now I’m playing woe is me because I have to use my head for once lol

 

[livinlean]

Most of it is mindset and proper planning for sure as others have mentioned above.

I notice a good mushroom complex containing lions mane among others seems to help me quite a bit.

 

[Ace0]

You can do it man! You already look like you have built a solid physique so just keep doing what you're doing! Like you mentioned, plenty of bodybuilders have had to juggle studies, life stuff, etc.! I don't know if you are on any type of social media but if so, check out Dwayne Johnson's (The Rock) page! Super motivational stuff that he posts! He trains no matter what, sometimes getting up at 3am to get it in if he's on location to film, etc.

Yeah he and Jocko are insane, one thing to lift day in and day out, but slap that ontop of being busy entrepreneurs it’s impressive.

Most of it is mindset and proper planning for sure as others have mentioned above.

I notice a good mushroom complex containing lions mane among others seems to help me quite a bit.

Gotta sort of the mindset and make longer range plans, like plan out the week.
Lions mane was amazing the first two days I took it but then quickly gave me anxiety and continues to give me anxiety every time I’ve tried it since, reallly bizarre.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

If you love sometning and have a passion for it, you will figure out a way to make it work. There are enough hours in the day, you have enough energy, you just need to be a master of creating a schedule.

I have a newborn baby and I work in a creative industry and requires me to problem solve and come up with new ideas on the regular. In order for me to live my BBiing life, I get up at 3:45AM to cook, lift and alll the good stuff before the baby wakes, then work a full day. Of course there will be some weeks where u have to move some shit around and it gets hectic, but you’ll survive. BBing is partially about being a robot. Just do.

 

[stackdizzy]

Well really it's just about priorities. Getting an education is way more important than weightlifting. Don't be afraid to let it slide if you need to. It's really a small portion of your life that can have a major influence on your career. Also I don't know if you currently work but getting an education can be difficult for a lot of people especially if you add work and lifting on top of that. Add to that a personal life and it can be a real struggle. With all this together and your going to have slip ups. It happens, don't be too hard on yourself don't sweat it just move on and do what you can to keep it all together. School/work/gym/life is generally harder than work/gym/life or even school/gym/life. Of course there are outliers above that work a lot of hours on mentally taxing jobs. So not discrediting them at all.

That being said if don't want to be like normal people your going to have to do things that normal people wouldn't. Like blowing a guy for cash(lol jk). Seriously not only are you training your body but your also training your mind as well...so mind your thoughts. Tony Robbins has several good books on this. I think you've possibly noticed a problem and that's great a lot of people never do that. While "your tuff you can do this" is great and sometimes needed I suggest you invest a little of your time in understanding thought pathways and how to control or manipulate them. It's the best thing you'll ever do for yourself that can spill over into all faucets of life. Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Paul.uns]

No Adderall or similar prescribed medications ?
Im in upper levels of tech(sys engineer and dev) and you should see a gathering of my colleagues. Many have pupils for days... Plus are SUPER chatty.

Im not fan of stims (usually i get bad anxiety reaction) except caffeine < 200-300mg daily aslo no intereset in being chatty as I work from home office.

 

[Fleezy]

adderall was how i did it

so glad that shit is over

 

[Ace0]

adderall was how i did it

Can’t do stims, most keep my awake for too long or the dopamine crash makes it a net negative.

Well really it's just about priorities.

School is definitely more important but I wanna be closer to 60/40 and not 90/10 and be obsessive with either. I wanna get bigger not stagnant/regress as it’s a fun hobby.
Mindset is something I have trouble with without overthinking and it turning into anxiety so I’m more partial to mindfulness personally.

There are enough hours in the day, you have enough energy, you just need to be a master of creating a schedule.

For me sometimes it feels like I don’t have enough energy but I think that’s because I waste it make too many micro decisions and have to be more regimented with my routine.

Of course there will be some weeks where u have to move some shit around and it gets hectic, but you’ll survive. BBing is partially about being a robot.

Change between semesters/summer/work is what really gets the stress up until I have a no schedule made.