I’m sure you wore it far better than I do.
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I doubt that but… If I got to do it over I would have started lifting sooner.
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IGF-1 is an indicator of GH levels (GH is inherently difficult to test for from my understanding), but high IFG-1 indicates high GH. At least that’s what the people pinning HGH say… also what my wife’s provider says.
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Isn’t that why bodybuilders end up with the crazy guts?
Damn dude!
Thibadeau says old guys should train every other day to avoid back to back workouts. That 2nd night of sleep between workouts is huge for recovery.
A lot of smart guys are into Deloads, or periods of reduced intensity to let you recover. As you train and train and train your system gets more worked up and your hormones get more and more out of whack.
The more messed up you are, the longer and easier the deload has to be to allow you get back to normal. If you’ve been blasting away for awhile, you may need to chill out, away from the weights until you can sleep again.
After that you can go back to training again. Just be careful about digging a deeper hole trying to Push to get fitter, when you should be reigning it in to recover from the work you’ve already done.
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Thanks @FlatsFarmer; I always really appreciate your thoughts - you’re typically the voice of reason that I need to hear on a lot of things.
It’s hard to not push it at something, as you know, especially when I don’t feel like I’ve peaked for anything to begin with. I’m not completely sure that my training is a major variable, but I do know I’m sleepy and it’s not improving! It would certainly stand to reason that recovery is a problem one way or the other - either because I can’t sleep or causing me to not sleep.
I really like CT’a writings, have followed him for a long time, and have consistently ignored everything he’s written about ramping it down as one ages. I have a track record with ignoring practical and relevant advice…
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Yes, but they’re playing Insulin and HGH off each other - both at tremendous doses. Combined, they make every part of your body grow (except teeth)… Bodybuilders use this to turn into mutants - but usually only in addition to a testosterone level that could support a small village of men.
At physiological levels (within the normal human range), no such thing happens. For reference, a normal “theraputic” dose of HGH would be about 2IUs/day… BBers are pinning 20IU+.
What you would be pursuing would be a therapeutic dose of something that tells your body to produce GH, rather than straight up injecting HGH. Peptides tell your body to produce more GH.
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You don’t need to totally put yourself out to pasture! You’re only 40! You can still train hard and intensely! It’s just possible that you can’t go hard for months at a time like you did when you were younger.
You may just need to plan ahead for a less intense week every once in awhile.
Look back in your log. It seems like these sleep/recovery/stress type issues pop up every couple of months for you. Find out how long you can go without trouble, or like how often you start to feel bad. Then head off the truly bad weeks by taking a little deload before you would normally get messed up.
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You are 100% correct! And then, when it does come up, it’s taking a little longer each time to get back “right”. So maybe it’s as simple as planning (just making up a number) to go hard for 6 weeks and then a week off? I have always been one of the “life gives me deloads” guys, but that may simply not be regimented enough anymore. Like you say, the data is pretty easy to look at and tell me the story.
I also tend to make what I’m now considering a mistake of ignoring the “easier” days in terms of recovery - like arm days or light days don’t “count,” so I can add as many as I want and still roll. That’s likely shortening my “go” cycles with some significance.
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Yes! Totally. Find the number, the plan for the down week.
It may not even have to be a full week, totally off. It could just be like 1 or w less workouts. I think our guy @Simo does his Heaviest work on deload weeks. Just with fewer reps/sets, so the overall volume is lower.
“Life gives you deloads” works great for some people. Like guys who actually chill on the road. But you’re the kind of guy who trains in hotel gyms and just works out through those periods, so you don’t actually get the break.
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You, sir, are both observant and wise. I really appreciate your thoughts here. It becomes obvious when you gents show it right to my face (you too @Andrewgen_Receptors).
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No problem! I hope it doesn’t come across like oppressive nagging!
I’ve learned a bunch keeping an eye on you and Andrew. Like I’m not crazy, and I’m not the only one who suffers from these issues.
It seems like dudes who are motivated get Extremely motivated as they get worked up. Like at the times they need to back off the most, stress hormones make them Manically Obsessed with training More. So maybe look out for that.
Good luck moving forward!
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When life brings me stress I can’t control, I also double down on what I can control which is gym time and gym pain! I think we are all self destructive!
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It doesn’t at all. It comes off as looking out for someone you only know on the Interwebz- that’s true human altruism stuff.
I hear you on the pushing when it’s time to pull back comment. I’ve always, always felt like we only control our word and our work ethic; when in doubt, work harder (I’m also trying to chill out on that in life and be with my kids more). It’s hard to not always see that as the solution, so I very much appreciate the additional set of eyes.
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You basically said the same thing as I was typing it!
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We’ve all seen Fight Club too many times!
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How much different would life be if Rocky took deloads?
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I heard that Apollo didn’t take deloads, so he got his life deloaded. Food for thought.
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Rocky didn’t beat Apollo; time beat Apollo
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Seen your log pop up due to the name change and read a bit about the short sleep issue you are having.
This is something I had also been dealing with about two months back and I came across an article on a different website by Dr Mike Isaretel called Fatigue Indicators and How To Use Them. If you haven’t ever read that article it may be worth a read.
In my case I had many of the so called lagging indicators (wake up stupid early, zero appetite, and eventually losing desire to train). What I discovered is I was doing a conjugate program for the first time and pushing myself too hard for too long without enough recovery/ rest (I am 39). I can’t keep up the westside pace (this should have been obvious to me) and needed more rest days.
I also found on this forum several people mentioning that Magnesium supplementation helped them fall asleep but would cause them to wake up (even rested) much more often. I found this to be the case with me as well and moved my magnesium supp to morning time or even mid day rather than just before bedtime. I also pulled way back on caffeine for a time. Luckily for me I have no issue with falling asleep so I didn’t rely upon mag to help me get to bed.
Best of luck. Hope you get it sorted out quickly; sleep deprivation is torture.
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