Working out after lack of sleep?

ChrisGoesCoo

I've struggled to stay asleep the past few week or so and was wondering if I should skip working out today? The last chest day, I felt a little more noodle armed than I would've liked, but I was still able to force myself to get it done. And it's chest and back again today, but I had another bad night with a lack of good sleep. Should I try to push through it again or skip today? I'm worried if I'll get to the point where training while tired becomes counterproductive.

michael6186

You don't necessarily have to skip sessions but your focus for the session could be a factor and also the time of your workout in relation to when you're going to sleep.

Hard workouts in the evening can be counter productive to sleeping because of the sympathetic branch of your autonomic nervous system. That's the system that's responsible for your fight or flight response that leads to more activity in the brain and body. That's where the adrenaline comes from and the other hormones that keep you up rather than let you sleep.

So you have a few options:
1) Don't train and take the day off.
2) Change your training to a different time of day.
3) Focus your training on something that doesn't cause such a reaction.
4) Go forward with training but make sure you do a cool down before leaving. This will help you to turn off the fight or flight a lot sooner to help you get some rest at night.

ChrisGoesCoo

@michael6186 Thank you for the answer, but I normally train in the mornings. So if possible, should I try to find time to train mid-day while it's still Holiday break? Or would that not help?