I am working with a man in his late 50's doing 2 day a week LP following Barbell Prescription. He has been progressing steadily (we have moved from 10 lb to 5 lb on Squats and Deadlifts and 2.5 on Bench and Press). Bar speed still good.
His diet is good (he has been keeping a journal), and he was sleeping well, until the last several weeks, when he started having trouble sleeping through the night on lifting days only. He has mentioned feeling a little bit more "beat up" than normal
He lifts early evenings, directly after work and usually finishes no later than 6:30 and tries to be in bed no later than 9:30.
We have discussed a couple options to see if it would help:
Moving his lifting to early morning or moving to one main lift a day.
Thoughts or other suggestions.
Thanks
I never sleep well when I engage in lifting or Jujitsu late in the day. I can't unwind and get to sleep for 2-3 hours past my normal bed time of 9:00.
My suggestion is to go early. I'm retired now, so I can sleep in, but it's a great way to wake your ass up for work or some other endeavor.
Same here. I’m so amped after lifting or any other good workout that, despite the physical exhaustion, it takes me several hours to come down. I get up an extra hour early on lifting days to get it done in the AM.
I sometimes have trouble sleeping if I lift past a certain time too.
Also, a good point that it took me a long time to realize is that cutting back for under recovery easily just kills progress. You don't suddenly need less training to disrupt homeostasis just because you can't recover from the amount that it takes to do so.
I've found two things recently that help this Geezer sleep.
1. Evening shower (used to shower in the morning)
2. Upped my Melatonin from 3mg to 9mg
Early in this n = 1 adventure, but two really good nights of sleep. Best in a long while.
age: 64
bw: 264
Lifts: Weak (see log for details / a good laugh)
I'm hoping my recent discoveries help me recover better.
All good ideas, but going earlier is the best/most reliable option. Melatonin is probably the least reliable, although I will say that I take it--I'm a responder, or at least the placebo works for me.
However, make sure we're not talking about a soreness issue here. If he's awake because he's sore, you need to make sure it's muscle, not joint soreness. And if it is muscle soreness, he should take a night-time analgesic. Also, it's a good idea, when sleep becomes an issue, to log a "sleep diary" and see if there are other variables, beyond the workout, that could be playing a role.