Terrible sleep after lifting heavy, cant recover

[sillybilly]

Hello Rip,

I been training for a good 6 years now and only recently I began to have some sleep problems that weren't related to working out or playing sports, once they went away I noticed that I had the same kind of symptoms and bad sleep after lifting heavy. I am doing texas method 3 day split right now and the night after doing the high volume day my body simply does not want to go into shut down mode. My sleep is very light, I wake up after 4-5 hrs and its really hard to go back to sleep after that meanwhile I feel like I didn't get any recovery whatsoever.

I don't want to go to doctors again because they think I have anxiety or depression and just want to give me anti depressants for god knows what fucking reason. I sleep fine otherwise. I just notice that if I exert my body rigorously, I don't get really tired later on I just get into this sort of heightened state of limbo where it does not shut down and go into recovery mode like it used to normally in all my years of playing competitive sports and lifting weights. Do you have any advice here?

PS:
I've tried melatonin but it doesnt help in this situation. Also, I noticed that if indeed I am able to go back to sleep when I wake up early morning, all recovery happens in those 1.5 - 2hrs that I get . The difference between those additional 2 hrs and not getting them is MASSIVE in how I feel and how I recover.

[Mark Rippetoe]

How soon after you train do you go to bed?

[Kazzin]

Many people on here that have reported trouble sleeping after a tough workout have resolved the problem by simply moving their workouts to the morning/early afternoon.

[sillybilly]

Around 4 to 5 hrs....usually finish training by 7:30-8pm , go to sleep by 12.... I don't have trouble falling asleep, just the actual quality of sleep is very bad and restless.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Diet post-workout?

[madmaxaus]

I know of a few guys who use ZMA for this reason, to improve length/quality of sleep.

[sillybilly]

Usually some type of meat either steak or chicken or veal, with potatoes and salad....sometimes a protein shake and then the dinner. Sometimes pasta instead of the potatoes. Standard stuff really, I've always had the same type of diet. I also found this to happen when I did crossfit for a few months, if it was a very intense wod I would not be able to get any recovery for days, my head would feel as if there was pressure and that pressure would linger for days until it finally released and thats when I would be able to have deep relaxed sleep.

[Mark Rippetoe]

What are your work sets the days this happens, and how much do you rest between sets?

[johnkuc]

Buddy, you are overdoing it. The Texas Method can be too tough for some trainees. This is a great article which will help you out-

http://npcnewsonline.com/powerbuildi...the-gym/63930/

[Mark Rippetoe]

This is a great article, and I don't normally link to outside training stuff because most of it is stupid. But I still want to know the details of Billy's situation. I'll bet he's not resting enough be tween sets and not eating enough. Either that or he's 55.