I usually go to bed around 9 P.M. I have a protein drink at that time. I am considering having another protein drink at around 1 or 2 A.M. when I wake up to use the bathroom, then go back to sleep and wake up at 5 A.M. Has anybody tried this? If so, were you able to fall asleep fast? Did it help your training or muscle growth?
Yup it will help get in extra k/cals if needed and then yes aid in groowth and recovery. I simply dont find it hard to eat enough during the day. LOL
But yes by all means give it a go. If anything a full belly helps me sleep.
Anybody else have any experiences? I wouldn’t try this just for the calorie boost. I get plenty of calories during the day. I would be doing this purely to halt the fast so I can stay in a positive nitrogen balance 24/7.
much ado about not much.
If you are getting enough cals during the day it is not worth it. A shake with olive oil and Grow! (or similar) to offer slow release is plenty and you won’t interupt your much more important sleep.
And if you have to get up every night 4 hours after you go to bed to pee, go see a proctologist.
If this is really vital to you, I would suggest Grow! bars. Put one by the toilet and sit down–pee–eat.
Why don’t you just try it?
Just throw a mixed drink in the fridge before bed and have it if/when you awake.
Other peoples opinions are nice and all, but sometimes you just need to experiment to determine what works best for you.
Nocturnal feedings are great! Here’s an article on them: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459879
Contrary to common dogma, sleep is our most catabolic time. If we can curb the catabolism and even make it anabolic, it makes a huge difference.
I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom since I was a kid (breaking down our stored glycogen releases a LOT of water).
Sasquatch-you are an angry man.
[quote]David Barr wrote:
Nocturnal feedings are great! Here’s an article on them: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459879
Contrary to common dogma, sleep is our most catabolic time. If we can curb the catabolism and even make it anabolic, it makes a huge difference.
I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom since I was a kid (breaking down our stored glycogen releases a LOT of water).
Sasquatch-you are an angry man.[/quote]
Angry??
if you point out your reasoning for that, I will try to dispell the rumor.
Dave, makes a good point. But sleep is important too. I wouldn’t set an alarm to wake up, and I wouldn’t do it if you won’t be able to fall back to sleep either. But if falling back to sleep is not a problem, I’d have a protein shake ready and have it when you naturally wake up to go to the bathroom.
I do it all the time. I drink alot of water and get up most nights anyway. Just mix a scoop of Grow! in water (I use an egg beater to foam it up), drink it down and go back to bed. Try to keep the lights dim and make it quick and you’ll go right back to sleep. I don’t suggest you wake on purpose unless you are a real hardgainer trying to bulk. But if you’re already up, why not?
I’ve done it before. I didn’t just do it when i woke up, I set an alarm for 2 am and 5 am. Does it help you gain weight? Absolutely, but you mention that you’re neot worried about getting in enough calories, more about stopping muscle breakdown. It definitely messed with my sleep, and some of the weight i gained was a little soft. I’d only do it again if i was desperate to gfh real fast, no matter what. Of course, if you wanna leave it by your bed and if you happen to wake up anyway, then yeah, why not…
[quote]sasquatch wrote:
Angry??
if you point out your reasoning for that, I will try to dispell the rumor.
[/quote]
Who are you trying to kid? We’ve all seen video of you lumbering through the woods. You’re always furious.
You were nice in Harry and the Hendersons though.
The 2 main issues with nocturnals are fat gain and sleep disruption.
The former is easy enough to deal with -just use protein, no carbs.
The latter is easy too, if you can’t fall back to sleep, don’t do them. If you can, you’ll eventually find that you’ll wake up the next morning to an empty glass, without remembering that you drank its contents.
BTW-If I workout late, I’m up 3x at night to use the bathroom. Now THAT’s sleep disruption!
We all know that video shot in the woods was fake
I’ll try and show my Hendersonian side more often. I do need to survive though, so at times I need to bear my teeth to the group
I can’t outrun most of 'em
I fall asleep quite easy after a nightly toilet brake as long as there are no lights on its ok, i was thinking of mixing up some protein shake and leaving it in a cooler bag beside the bed for when i wake up at night.
[quote]Sime wrote:
I usually go to bed around 9 P.M. I have a protein drink at that time. I am considering having another protein drink at around 1 or 2 A.M. when I wake up to use the bathroom, then go back to sleep and wake up at 5 A.M. Has anybody tried this? If so, were you able to fall asleep fast? Did it help your training or muscle growth?[/quote]
That is my routine: asleep by 9:30 (preferably), awake at 3:30 for a 5:00am workout. I usually wake up between midnight and 2 to get rid of that hydration I’m so careful about. I stumble downstairs where i’ve left the tub of Grow! on the kitchen counter with a shaker bottle.
The hard part (for me) is that moment when I open the fridge (I like cold water for Grow! shakes) and the light goes on. I can maneuver through the house in the dark, but that damned fridge light–curse its retina-burning lumens!–threatens to wake me up.
Do the middle-of-the-night protein.
it’s pretty helpful to be aware of your sleep cycle. if i wake up naturally at the end of a cycle it’s easy for me to eat and get back to sleep. however if an alarm or something pulls me out of a deeper sleep it’s tough to get back to sleep.
also makes waking up early alot easier too like i might need to wake up @ 5:30 but if my cycle would fall around 5:00 i’ll set the alarm for then instead 'cause it’ll be much easier to get out of bed then 1/2 hour later when i’m into deeper sleep.
I don’t wake up in the middle of the night because I have a hard time sleeping.So,I drink a casein/whey protein shake with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil.I never lost any muscle.
[quote]The_Grim_Reaper wrote:
I don’t wake up in the middle of the night because I have a hard time sleeping.So,I drink a casein/whey protein shake with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil.I never lost any muscle.[/quote]
how much casein?, and how much whey?.
And any fat gain with the flax and the amount of kcal consumed at night?
[quote]smt_007 wrote:
The_Grim_Reaper wrote:
I don’t wake up in the middle of the night because I have a hard time sleeping.So,I drink a casein/whey protein shake with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil.I never lost any muscle.
how much casein?, and how much whey?.[/quote]
Oh,about 1 scoop of casein and one scoop of whey. Thats about 40-45 grams of protein together.The flaxseed oil helps slow down absorption too,because it’s fat.Not to mention flax is anticatabolic.