Why not see how your body feels like with 5 1/2 hours of sleep during a couple weeks with your training partner? The 1-2 hour naps everyday will make up for the lost sleep. I forget what that sleeping pattern name is but there is one. I remember reading about it from people doing it and they had lots of success with it.
It involves sleeping 5-6 hours at night and having 2-3 hour nap later in the day. It take about a week for your body to adjust, of course. This way you can keep training early in the morning and with your partner. I wish I could provide you the name of the pattern but it escapes me.
personally I’d take the long sleep… 5.5 hours and I cant do anything till I have jacked myself with caffine and that only works for 2 or 3 days then I crash… that said, thats what I do and it works ok, just get used to coffee !
it really depends on you, you just have to expirement and find out what works for you, try the 5.5 hours of sleep and workout thing for 3 weeks if it just aint working, then just switch over to the 9 am workouts
How long is this going to be your work schedule? Couple of months, or longer?
If you workout at 5:30am, you aren’t going to be getting 5.5 hours sleep. I assume that if you get off work at 11pm, you probably wont be getting to bed until after midnight. (time to eat drive home, fall asleep etc.) And if you are working out at 5:30 am, you probably dont just roll out of bed and into the gym. So this 5.5 hours sleep is more like 4-4.5 hours. This to me is only doable for a few weeks and maybe 1-2x per week.
Those would be the things I would think about, and the LOGICAL decision would be to find a new partner or go without a partner, and workout sometime between 9 and 1, OR maybe 11pm (this isn’t so crazy).
BUT, having said that, a good workout partner is hard to come by, and you may value him/her more than the needed sleep. Only you can make the choice. Your on the right track with weighing the pros/cons, and your options, just make sure you are being realistic with them and im sure you’ll make the right choice.
Keep in mind, any switch you make isn’t going to feel right at first, since you are use to your current schedule.
I love having a workout partner, but I can’t function without sleep. That being said though my workout partner is my roomie, and our schedules are pretty much the same.
Maybe workout with your training partner some days, and sleep on others?
This will be my permanent schedule moving forward.
It’s an office job, but I will maintain my eating throught the evening. My last meal will be at 10:30.
I get out at 11, home by 11:30, and will be VERY ASLEEP before midnight… I have an off button, lol
I wake up at 5:30… pushing my first weight by 5:45 - gym is down the street.
I’ve thought about alternating days, but I’m a creature of habit, so for me routine is key. If I choose the early workouts, thats what it will be… I can’t go early one day and later the next.
I think I’ll give the early workouts a try for a few weeks and see how it goes. If I’m too tired, I’ll have to fly solo - things could be worse…
I’d workout at 11pm right after work. Go home grab a meal than sleep. Sleep a straight 8 hours.
You could start your pre work out nutri. at work and hit the gym while you are wide awake. The workout would more than not also help you fall asleep a bit easier when you get home. It will be strange at first without your partner but hopefully this new schedule is only for a short time.
edit: Last line. Went up before I saw your second post.
sleep rules. get it. plus if you have a meal in your belly and a cup of coffee, you will have a better workout than if you hit it groggy and not fed and dont have to worry about skipping caffeine so you can grab a nap afterwards.
your partner will understand. maybe you can train together on weekends or something every now and then, keep the same split and everything, you know?
good luck. I have NEVER been able to work out at night after a late shift
when I worked as a full time personal trainer I worked a split shift 6am to 10 am, home then 5-9pm. got home ate, and went to bed.
I had a half hour commute to and from work. I tried working out at maybe 7am if I had a gap. On the days when sleep was low and I would even be able to get a few hour nap in during my break, my workouts SUCKED.
This being said I am a person who needs their sleep to function, you mayde different.
your recovery would be a lot better if you slept more, meaning you’d probably get bigger and stronger, even versus having your partner spot/help you with heavier weights. my 2cents
Keep in mind that when people say to workout at 9 am, or any other time. This is assuming that you’ve been up since 6-7 am. Basically what they’re saying is that you should give your body time to get up and get running before you go workout. There’s not anything particularly magical about 9am compared with other times.
I agree with all the others saying more sleep.
I have a workout partner but don’t always need one.
Why don’t you work-out in the morning only during those days where you need a spotter?
Some people seems to be able to sleep like 5 hours every night or even less and be perfectly fine, hitting the weights hard most days of the week.
Others however, like me, feel sluggish and get winded out easily if I get less than 7-8 hours of sleep… so workouts suffer a lot if I don’t get enough sleep. Preferably I’d get 9 hours, but that rarely happens outside the weekends.
[quote]ghdtpdna wrote:
I agree with all the others saying more sleep.
I have a workout partner but don’t always need one.
Why don’t you work-out in the morning only during those days where you need a spotter?
[/quote]
I’m going to have to agree with this, and granted like everyone said, loss of sleep effects everyone differently. If it were me, I’d take the long sleep on all days, only need a spotter on the last couple sets of chest day anyway. I would do what sounds like it’d work best for you and then see how you feel.
Total sleep is more important in my opinion. If you’re getting 5 1/2 at night and a good 2 hour nap after your workout, thats almost the amount you’d be getting if you worked out later.
In the end though just try both options and see how they work out for ya.
Sorry to nitpick on your thread, cause it sounds like you have a pretty logical question, but I’d really like to know where this retarded shit comes from:
[quote]IvanTheTerrible wrote:
Option 2. Work out at 9am:
Pros:
…
I’ve read that this is the ideal time to workout
[/quote]
This is a huge peeve of mine and I’ve seen this a few times lately from numerous sources. 9 am is not some magical fucking time where all the stars align, the earth tilts towards the horizon at an 82.023433 degree angle, and a butterfly flaps its wings in Thailand causing a ripple effect to make 9 am the perfect workout time. The best time to work out is correlated to your waking time, not some arbitrary moment of the day. I’d really like to stop hearing people talk about ideal times in terms of “time of day” and start talking about it in “x hours after waking/before bed”. If you wake up at 8:55, 9 am is not the perfect time to train!
