Shiftwork Raping Work Capacity

Training Powerlifting
1

Just curious if anyone else has this sort of problem, and what adjustments they’ve successfully made, and which were unsuccessful.

Over the last year things at my job were pretty slow. I’ve only been working 44ish hours a week from 2pm until 1am from Monday to Thursday evenings. During this time, I was able to ramp up my work capacity quite a bit, going from lifting 3 or 4 times a week with no GPP work, to lifting 6 times a week, and doing GPP work 4 times a week for 45 minutes.

Training like this:

Sunday AM: Max effort Squat / dead. work up to a single, than: 4 sets of posterior chain work, 4 sets for abs, 4 sets for low back, plus a few sets more of hamstring work if I don’t yet feel done.

Monday PM: sled drags / prowler pushes.

Tuesday AM: Max Effort Bench. Work up to a single, than: 4 sets of a bench variant for volume, 4 sets of direct tricep work, 4 sets of shoulder work, plus a few more sets of tricep or shoulder work until I feel done.

Tuesday PM: 15 minutes of rotator work, and 30 minutes of sled dragging with the lower body.

Wednsday AM: Accessory work for the upper back. 4 sets of heavy pull ups for 3-5. 4 sets of pull ups for reps. 4 sets for rear delts / upper back, and if I didn’t feel done a few sets of curls. /duck

Wednsday PM: Lighter sled drags with less rest. Working, but not really working hard. 45 minutes.

Thursday AM: Dynamic squat / dead day. 10 sets of 2 box squats. 4 sets for reps of a front squat or zercher squats for volume. 4 sets for hamstrings, 4 sets for abs, 4 sets for low back.

Thursday PM: Upper body sled drags. 45 mintues.

Saterday AM: Dynamic Bench. 10 sets of 3 speed bench. 4 sets of a bench variant for volume. 4 sets for shoulders, 4 sets for triceps, a couple sets more till I feel done.

Saterday PM: Upper back accessory. 4 sets of rows, 4 sets for rear delts, 4 more sets of rows, and a couple sets of shrugs.

So I think I was having a pretty decent training volume (although some may disagree).

About 3 months ago, I suddenly found myself back to working 60 hours a week from 1pm until 4am Monday through Thursday. And over the last 2 months, my work capacity has all but disappeared. I’m down to doing my speed / max work, plus 4 sets of a second lift (like dips, or straight leg deads, etc…) for reps. Any more than that, and my lifts instantly go for a shit.

Obviously some of this is going to be sleep related, or stem from a lack of real “down time” / quality of relaxation through the week. I haven’t been able to out eat it (I’m gaining weight, but it’s all around the waist if you know what I mean). I need to get my volume back up though because I need to make some size gains (I’m 6’2 and lack leverage at my current body weight).

I think I can add more accessory work if I lengthen my training cycle a bit, but the problem is that in the past when I’ve done that my accessory lifts start to increase, but my progress on my main lifts disappears.

Anyways, like I said I’m curious what has worked and what hasn’t worked for others. If I can’t out eat it, and lengthening my training cycle for more recovery isn’t productive what else is there to do?

2

That looks excessive to me. With a 60 hr + work week you’re going to have to make compromises. Looks like overtraining and yet you speak of increasing volume. Thats definitely the anti-5/3/1 program there.

I used to work 12’s myself 4pm-4am and on those days I was lucky to train at all. I was lucky to get 3 workouts in a week. I just had to make the best of it.
I notice you do a lot of GPP stuff but you also say you’re after size gains. If you compete in PL are you between weight classes and you’re trying to move up?

3

You have already answered your own question really. You’ve figured out how much you can handle while working your current schedule. I would look at something like 5/3/1 and training only 2-3 days per week. Look at Jim Wendler’s training log over at elitefts. He has been lifting two days per week and only doing one main lift and maybe 1 or 2 assistance exercises.

He also does conditioning 3-4 times a week (2 of those being after his lifting). He has reported getting stronger and feeling better on this schedule. I think something like this might be what you need right now.

4

[quote]saps wrote:
That looks excessive to me. With a 60 hr + work week you’re going to have to make compromises. Looks like overtraining and yet you speak of increasing volume. Thats definitely the anti-5/3/1 program there.

I used to work 12’s myself 4pm-4am and on those days I was lucky to train at all. I was lucky to get 3 workouts in a week. I just had to make the best of it.
I notice you do a lot of GPP stuff but you also say you’re after size gains. If you compete in PL are you between weight classes and you’re trying to move up?[/quote]

I’m coming off an extended GPP phase where I dropped a good bit of body fat, and increased my GPP in hopes that I’d be able to rebuild to my previous weight while getting stronger than before (without the use of Oreos and the like), and staying “in shape”.

I’m currently only training like this:
Sunday AM: Max Squat / Dead + 4 sets of accessory work for the posterior chain. Maybe some gimpy ab work.
Tuesday AM: Max Bench + 4 sets of push accessory, and 4 sets of pull accessory (usually dips and pull ups in superset fasion)
Thursday AM: Dynamic Squat / Dead + 4 sets of accessory work (usually GHRs)
Saterday AM: Dynamic Bench + 4 sets of push accessory, and 4 sets of pull accessory (again, dips and pull ups have been my gotos)

3 months ago I was doing all the stuff I had listed before, and I’d been making good progress on that for 6 months. When my hours changed I cut my GPP in 1/2, and than cut the extra sets of tricep and hamstring work, and than elminated the GPP entirely, and than cut out a few more sets, and a few more sets, and a few more until I’m down to my current volume, and my main lifts are on the rise again.

My main lifts are going up slowly with this low volume, and that’s fine for as long as it continues. But I don’t know that it’s really enough volume to get the kind of weight gain I was hoping for, and I deffinitly need to get my rowing volume up because my shoulder’s are already complaining. I know like you said, Mr. Wendler has apperently had success, and evidently so have alot of other people with his 5/3/1 system, and I’ve read it, but I’m hesitant to trade in my speed / max effort work for rep work while I’m still making gains.

5

So is your primary focus weight gain or lift poundage increase. I’d be the first to argue training volume is not the only or even primary method for weight gain. Or if you claim you’re still making gains with your program keep at it and tow the line

6

Right now I’m in a strength gain phase for a few months to set some better marks at this body weight before I move back up. However I don’t expect my hours to change since prior to last fall, they’d always been high. (And I always trained with minimal volume, and made minimal gains in more useful muscle mass). Just thinking ahead since for some reason it didn’t occur to me that things would go for such a shit.

7

get 10 hours sleep on your days off

8

For the past 11 years I’ve been working 16 hour days more times than not. I usually have 4 or 5 days off per week but I work doubles 2-3 days plus 1 eight hour day usually. My hours are typically 8am-midnight and I know what you mean by your hours taking the life out of your workouts. What I do is what Cprimero said, sleep 10 plus hours on your days off. I follow the 5-3-1 model and put an emphasis on eating as much good clean food as I can. I always need a pre workout kicker like Spike or Super Pump/Jacked. A lot of times I’ll down a serving before I leave for the gym and mix another one up once I get there to sip throughout my workout. You really have to fight the mental fatigue more than anything.

9

I used to do shifts, everything I would have suggested has already been said, quality sleep is your best friend, make your bed and change the sheets for fresh as often as possible, make sure your rooms dark, take herbal sleeping tablets an hour before bed and have a nice relaxing shower before bed to.

Try to get your diet as near to perfect as possible, as with the extra fatigue there is a more narrow margin for error.
Best of luck to you