sleep versus lift and recovery days

[JohnRoman]

I'm sorry but I couldn't find a thread like this after searching. I apologize if it is out there somewhere and my search skills are lacking.

How much sleep do you normally get and how much do you miss out on before you notice that your workout day falls off? For me, this is when an old weight feels "heavy" on the first few sets. 2 hours less than normal sleep and bad/missed meals usually means missed reps for me.

And ....
How much sleep do you miss on a recovery day before you notice some kind of effect? With me, it is prolonged joint/muscle soreness even if intensity (work / 1RM weight) was low.

[Keith Friedman]

Hi, John. Good question.

If I get two hours less than normal, I feel it in the early morning, which is when I work out. If it's strength, I get through my workout, but noticably more slowly. If it's cardio, my heart rate is about 5 bpm higher than usual. I worry about missing sleep on recovery days, but I can't put my finger on any particular effect. (I very rarely miss meals.)

I do volume day for the Texas Method on Saturday, so I can sleep in an extra hour.

[dkggpeters]

For me I can have a couple of nights with little sleep and I am ok. If I get 3 or 4 days of little sleep then I notice it. Everyone is different though.

Missing meals does make a big difference for me. If I miss meals then I feel a lot weaker. I never miss meals anymore because I now how detrimental it is. Take a protein shake or something easy rather then miss.

I am 48 by the way.

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

31 years old here. I trained this past Sunday. Saturday night I barely slept. My 8 month old had a 103 fever. We went to the emergency room when she threw up and wouldn't take the fever reducer.
It was squat day and I couldn't pass it up on Sunday....coffee like mad and I made it threw the workout just fine although I was tired as all heck.

Then again, I have adapted over the last 8 months back to not getting much sleep with the infant.

[strong_over_matter]

This thread is related to a problem I started having a few months ago (i'm 36). All night insomnia. I never realized how debilitating not sleeping at all can be. It just happened last night again so I'm working from home today. Yesterday was volume day for me and even though I ate a ton yesterday I'm much more sore than usual. Missing the sleep also seems to make me sick (cold like symptoms today).

I'm not sure what is causing it for sure, but my guess is stress. It may also be related to caffeine, but yesterday was not a heavily caffeinated day for me. My wife is currently finishing up her disertation and my own job is stressful. If anyone has any experiences with or advice on how to beat insomnia I'd love ot hear it.

[JohnRoman]

31 years old here. I trained this past Sunday. Saturday night I barely slept. My 8 month old had a 103 fever. We went to the emergency room when she threw up and wouldn't take the fever reducer.
It was squat day and I couldn't pass it up on Sunday....coffee like mad and I made it threw the workout just fine although I was tired as all heck.

Then again, I have adapted over the last 8 months back to not getting much sleep with the infant.

KONG, I'm sorry for your daughter and I hope she gets to feeling better soon. Nothing like a parent feeling helpless watching their kid not feel good and there is almost nothing you can do to make them feel better. You will get some real sleep again. But then when they get to be teenagers, you some sleep again.

And BTW, your lifts don't appear that you were slowed down a whole lot. Good work!

[Joseph Reyes]

Hey Strong,

A protocol that has helped me and some people i know in the past is shutting off the computer and tv an hour before going to sleep, not eating an hour or 2 before bed, sleeping in a completely dark and cool room, and taking some zinc and natural calm(magnesium) before bed. I would also lay off on the coffee for now to see if it helps the caffine has some correlation to cortisol http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2257922/.

I highly recommend the book "lights out" it will explain the whys on the suggestions that I gave or you can just google the info.

As far as stress on the job, just try to control it as much as you can, gosh knows its easier said then done hope this helps.

http://robbwolf.com/2012/02/23/sleep...l-impact-zzzs/

http://robbwolf.com/2011/11/30/polyphasic-sleep-part-1/

http://robbwolf.com/2011/12/09/polyp...eep-part-deux/

http://robbwolf.com/2010/12/31/easy-...iking-in-2011/

http://www.molecularbrain.com/content/1/1/4/abstract