I am a college student and I work at UPS part-time. At work, I have just been switched to a different shift that works from about 10:30pm - 3:30 am. After leaving work, I will strength train for approx. 1 hour and then I will do sprint interval/agility training afterward, finishing up around 6:30am. My goals are to build as much functional strength and power by next August as I will be playing football. As for sleep, I hope to get at least 4 hours after class everyday. I say “hope” because I am also married and my wife works, and we have a 3 year old, so sleep is kinda rare at my house during daytime hours.
My question is about the nutritional part. Now the job that I do at UPS is somewhat of a workout in itself, (its kinda like doing about 4 straight hours of slow paced cardio). So basically, my situation could be looked at as if I’m doing 4 hours of slow-paced cardio, 1 hour of strength training, and around 30 minutes of sprint/agility training.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to how I should go about eating during the night hours (such as macronutrient intake)? I plan to keep my body fueled during the night hours, but Im a little puzzled as to when I should consume what. Ive searched the forum and t-mag and can’t quite find my exact situation. Can anyone help? Anyone’s input is GREATLY appreciated.
I am no expert but will try and lend a hand.
I dont think you will find your exact situation under any search anywhere.
First I would suggest trying to fit more rest in somewhere your just begging for some burnout and it will slow the progress of your training.
Any how. All the rest of this is going to be a summary whored out from the writings of the macronutrient master “John Berardi.” So I would suggest checking out his stuff also. Either here or on his site.
After your training you should slam down some form of high gi carbs with some protien usually in the form of a shake.
After that I would suggest two p+c meals 1 an hour or two later and 1 several hours after that. You didnt say how long after your training it would be befor class was out and u sleep. If you sleep a couple hrs after training I would try and get in the post workout shake and 1 p+c meal. Then upon waking have another p+c. This will rebound the lost glycogen in your muscles.
After that in those night time hours I would try and eat your p+f meals every 2-3 hrs. that should keep you going.
I appreciate the help. I know that 4 hours of sleep isnt a whole lot, but from prior experience, I know thats about all I’ll get except on the days that my wife is off of work.
I really appreciate the input and I will look more into this myself. I have read JB’s articles and I have a decent grasp on the post and pre workout protocols. What I’m having the most trouble with is how my job will affect my body prior to lifting. I’m wondering if a jug full of water/ protein/carbs mix to drink during work will help with decreasing protein breakdown. Any thoughts?
Jared,
Up until now, I was loading the delivery trucks from 4am to 8:30am (preload), but Im getting switched to sorting the packages on the midnight shift. Don’t really know exactly what to expect as I’ve never done sorting before.
You can expect very hectic times (what else is new?), a lot of cursing, $1.00/hr more, and did I mention a lot of cursing?
It’s funny, but when they took me through the hub for the first time, I really don’t know if I had ever heard that many 4 letter words in a work environment.
By the way, I forgot to add that I will be doing a 3 week cutting cycle to start out, using HIIT sprinting. Afterwards, I will be following Massive Eating guidelines and using 3- 4 week strength training blocks. Block 1 will prioritize hypertrophy, Blocks 2 and 3 will prioritize strength.
Annihil8tor, cutting or bulking, calculating protein and fat requirements should be fairly easy.
Protein
LBM x 1.25-1.5g (Cutting)
LBM x 1.5 (Bulking w/o a PH)
LBM x 2.0+ (Bulking w/ a PH)
Fat
LBM x .5g
Considering your situation, be sure to get your 10g of EPA/DHA from fish oil.
What you’re going to have to watch and monitor carefully when cutting is your carb intake. If energy starts to suffer, you’re going to HAVE to raise carbs. PWO, be sure to get in a quality starchy carb type P+C meal; brown rice, yams, oatmeal – all of this, of course, in the meal following your liquid Surge.
Make sure you’re tracking, measuring, weighing your carbs, so that you can raise or lower them according to your energy requirements.
The one thing I don’t like is the fact that you’re doing sprints/cardio after weight training. Ideally, those should be separated; different sessions, different times of day.
Re the sleep, don’t hesitate to use something like melatonin (and/or L-Theanine) to help you get to sleep when your body/brain doesn’t seem to be cooperating.
Since you have performance goals (football), why don’t you stop by Coach Davies’ forum, too.
I worked this summer in a similar situation. I worked for a Vo-Tech warehouse moving furniture and whatnot all day. I was dieting at the time, but I did fine on P+F the entire time I was working. That’s what worked for me, and I noticed my heart rate was never anywhere near “cardio” levels. I hope this helps
Tampa, thankyou for the very detailed information. I also prefer to split up the strength training and the running and when I get this new schedule going I will see if there is any way to do just that.