training and tiredness/lack of sleep

wannagetbig · Jan 23, 2013

hi everyone

i was wanting to know what tips/tools people have when training on little sleep.

to give some context, i work in a large city corporate environment and work very long hours (i love my job though). I usually dont get home till around 9-11pm each weeknight night.

Consequently, i train the mornings, waking up at 4:30am so i can get my session in before work.

However, due to the late hours etc.. it really feels like im fighting with my body to get going for training in the morning. and alot of the time, never really feel 'fresh'. This is particularly so after a very late night. To try get myself going, i just have a big cup of coffee.

I cant really skip the session for the next day (and i don't) because the hours will be similar so i will be in the exact situation?

So my question is: Has anyone experienced situations similar to the above? Have you found something that really gets yourself going in the morning? Do you try to structure your training around Sat/Sun?

I guess im trying to find an optimal training structure protocol / tips to get your body going in the morning

thanks in advance

MaineGuy · Jan 23, 2013

You need good sleep and your body needs rest. I would utilize Saturday and Sunday, then pick a couple days during the week to train. 4 hard days of training is plenty on the amount of rest you are getting. You now are probably over training and you are going to run your immune system down. I think you will get better gains and feel better if you give yourself some rest/sleep time.

I work stretches of 13 hours days, and I find I start burning myself out. Once I start skipping a couple training days and getting my sleep, I feel much better.

Fitness 500 · Jan 23, 2013

I also work for a large corporation and for the past 6 months they have been giving us unlimited overtime and I've been working an average day 14hours 7 days a week. At first I did feel run down but once I started training in the mornings like you are now 4 days a week after a few weeks It didn't bother me. Sometimes it does catch up with me and I will take a day off on the weekends but otherwise it doesn't bother me. I think it has a lot to do with my diet and I do take a lot of vitamins to try to keep my immune system up. Coffee in the morning and gatoraid through the day helps.