Sleepy after weight training?

victoria4321

Whenever I do a heavy set I always feel really sleepy after and take a nap if I can. I've only been lifting heavy starting around two months ago. Does this eventually go away?

Yesterday I only went heavy on deadlifts and squats. I did 3 sets of 5 each then 3 one rep max with 220lb deadlift and 185lb on squats.

It only going to be a big deal if I had to work out in the morning. I can't just take a nap at work lol

Elizabeth_C34

I used to get drowsy after lifting, but not as much anymore.

Usually a banana or something will get my blood sugar back up and get me back on my feet after a workout.

oats4breakfast

I usually see that as a sign of over-training. Just doing heavy BS and DL is going to tax your CNS and will fatigue you - but I can't say it is something that will always be something that would cause a nap-need.
I bet you saw stars doing your DL's ?
But when I feel tired and need to take a nap, it's usually because I've beat myself down over the days beforehand and did have not adequately rested. Sometimes, however, it may simply be that I had a bad night's sleep and was not well hydrated during the workout.
Do you feel this was always ? Or just sometimes ? What else do you do - just these two lifts or some sort of metcon too ?
Perhaps keep a workout log on how you feel will help track this down. Track you water, rest, sets, feelings and sleep - not just loads. Then compare to you nutrition and perhaps you can start seeing a pattern.

victoria4321

I'll try a piece of fruit after. I never thought of it being a low blood sugar thing but that makes sense.

shbretired

You're losing oxygen while training, and need a short rest & water afterwards to refill your tank. ☺

Elizabeth_C34

I'll try a piece of fruit after. I never thought of it being a low blood sugar thing but that makes sense.

I have to lift fasted or I get queasy, so my blood sugar is way in the tank when I'm done. I carry a banana or a protein bar with me to the gym and just down it when I get into the locker room before my shower. Works well for me. It took me a long time to figure out why I felt so tired after lifting though. Seems obvious to me now *doh*

victoria4321

I usually see that as a sign of over-training. Just doing heavy BS and DL is going to tax your CNS and will fatigue you - but I can't say it is something that will always be something that would cause a nap-need.
I bet you saw stars doing your DL's ?
But when I feel tired and need to take a nap, it's usually because I've beat myself down over the days beforehand and did have not adequately rested. Sometimes, however, it may simply be that I had a bad night's sleep and was not well hydrated during the workout.
Do you feel this was always ? Or just sometimes ? What else do you do - just these two lifts or some sort of metcon too ?
Perhaps keep a workout log on how you feel will help track this down. Track you water, rest, sets, feelings and sleep. Then compare to you nutrition and perhaps you can start seeing a pattern.

I didnt see stars but I did feel out of breath for a minute. Thats the weird thing too. I dont feel sleepy from any metcon stuff. Just after a heavy lifting session usually. I do them on different days just to be safe too.

How much training would be considered overtraining and how can I tell its happening? Aside from taking a nap I feel fine everywhere else.

oats4breakfast

I didnt see stars but I did feel out of breath for a minute. Thats the weird thing too. I dont feel sleepy from any metcon stuff. Just after a heavy lifting session usually. I do them on different days just to be safe too.

How much training would be considered overtraining and how can I tell its happening? Aside from taking a nap I feel fine everywhere else.

The stars comment is a kudos for using a real lift and doing it heavy (you said 3x1 rep max).. I get that from exhertion and holding breath. Sometimes I may even feel nauseous when trying to lock the DL out. Those type of lifts will tax our central-nervous-system to the max. So if we're under fuled or over tired, it may just push us over the edge.
I don't know what over-training is for you. All we can do is listen to our bodies and then try sensible things. It may be that you always rest after a heavy day or maybe before (no metcon either). Maybe it's a banana or a drink of water.
Just track what you do a feel and then review it. Look for patterns. It's no different than using the nutrition diary - but track how you feel too. Be verbose.

Are you crossfitting or anything like that ? That's hard to tell because not all metcons and even programming is created equal and will affect your big days differently.
I will sometimes feel this napping feel if I do something that absolutely crushes me. It may even be a met-con that contains a bunch of heavy squat-cleans in it. But sometimes it may simply be a new 1rm on DL. I can usually see what may have been a cause because I track a lot of this - but I also use it as a sign to take a day or two off and do something different. (like nothing, or an easy run/swim/walk, or maybe just go throw a frisbee). It usually has nothing to do with a banana. Is mostly hydration and rest related. But sometimes, it's just that the workout pushed me to a new level - maybe I just did something that usually takes 8 minutes in <5. Or maybe I just pulled a big DL that previously, I couldn't even break the ground.

victoria4321

I'm crossfitting three days a week and lifting two. Im gonna try keeping track of it for a while and see if anything clicks. It might just be a hydration issue too because I forget to drink during workouts a lot.

oats4breakfast

Definitely look into your hydration. During heavy lifting days it's easy because there's a ton of rest involved. I'll often drink a ton of water on those days because it's just part of my "cycle" really.
During metcon days, I tend to drink a ton afterwards. Some before (on way to gym and during warm-up) but immediately after I get it in me (also have protein/carb shake).
Note, unless I'm doing something like a 25+ minute wod, I usually don't drink on purpose during the "wods". I find that it becomes another excuse to rest - like visiting the chalk bucket too often. So,I don't have my water bottle with me so I can't drink between rounds (and stall), I drink afterwards. Then I have one less excuse to rest .... now it's just look at the bar, wipe with towel, chalk hands, put hands on knees, re-chalk hands because I put them on knees and then go . See, no drink. Saves lots of time LOL.
I'll drink at least my entire water bottle afterwards as I stretch.

victoria4321

Haha I'm guilty of that sometimes. I've went over for a drink of water just to take a break when the workouts killing me. I haven't started with the chalk excuse yet since I haven't needed it though lol.

oats4breakfast

Also, are you doing 2 on 1 off for working out (or 3:1) or just 5 days straight ?
That could be a lot - especially if you often do BS and DL on same day always. Is that typical for one lifting day or both ? Or is it just a mix between press/dl/bs/olympic lifts/balance etc

victoria4321

I work out mon/tues then thurs/fri/sat (or sun sometimes) so its gym day mon and thurs and the rest is crossfit. So yeah its usually 2 or 3 on and one off. For my gym days I don't max out often, but I usually keep my working sets at 80% max and aim for 5 reps 3 sets. I do the same routine both of those days only cause its still pretty new so I figured there was no need to tweak things yet. I was also hoping crossfit would fill in any gaps.

My routine those two days are usually bs, dl, hand release push ups, strict pull ups (i could only do 3-4 each set anyway), I do a strict press one day and a push press the other. I also do a light-ish set of hang power cleans because I'm working on my form on those. My gym doesn't have bumper plates so I don't do the whole sequence for any olympic lifts. I don't wanna start dropping stuff if it gets too heavy and piss people off. I'll do like a hanging leg lift thing or planks for my core too. I might be missing some things cause I have it written down, but those are the hard workouts mostly.

Aside from that it isn't really to intense to me. Every once in a while I'll go out for a 4 mile run too but its more so a fun run and not really part of my workouts to me.

oats4breakfast

Sounds great. Having bumpers is great, but don't under estimate the skill you're learning in how to lower the weight properly. Too many people dump the weight unnecessarily and have no idea how to lower it properly.
It's a hard thing to know if what we're doing is too much or not - because those metcons are not like the traditional p90x or cardio or traditional gym workout. They are actually changing and no 3 days are the same (instead of just a different dvd in the same set of 6). So sometimes those 3 days are hard, sometimes not. Plus, it's like crack and we want to keep doing them - but there's always another one to do if we miss one.
It's great you're doing all those assistance exercises on your lift days too. Awesome. Have you considered doing BS one day and DL the other ? Maybe DL/Press/Assistance then BS/PP/Assistance ? Perhaps that will also help you fatigue.
There's no reason not too and in fact, it's common to do that type of thing. If you look at a Wendler program. One day DL, One Day BS, one day Press, one day Bench. But if you can't do 4 days, and only 2, then it's suggested to do a press and DL one day, then BS and the other presss on the other.
This way you can rest and go heavy on both days - rather than tax your body with one lift so the other suffers.
Just food for thought.
Also - if you want some other opinions that drink from similar flavored kool-aid, and won't bicker about whether you should eat all these calories back or whether you should be doing curls instead, try the discussion board on crossfithq.
i.e. go to crossfit.com, then on left hand menu, there's a discussion board link.

victoria4321

I don't usually dump the weights but if I screw up a lift I do let it drop every once in a while. I could max out on squats in the gym since I'm in a squat rack and with the deadlifts if I can't lift it then it just stays on the floor lol. I wouldn't even attempt a c&j or snatch in my regular gym though. I feel like one bad move and those weights are falling on someone's foot.

Would I get the same benefit if I worked a muscle group only once a week though? Thats the only reason I'm doing everything on both my work outs. I thought it just might be better to do it that way I guess for muscle memory or some other broscience reason that I don't get lol. I do switch up the order that I do everything too. So one day more effort goes into one exercise before I'm too tired to max out on the other one.

I never even thought to check the crossfit boards for some reason. I'll probably just lurk around there for a bit before posting anything though lol

oats4breakfast

You can get the same benefit from doing these once a week. You may see better gains because you're ensuring that you're resting the muscles. BS and DL recruit a lot of the same muscles in the lift, so potentially it's possible that you're getting less benefit from doing these on the same day - especially heavy maxes. If you tire out your posterior chain on the back-squat, then you may not have much in your DL so will lift less (and potentially, round out).
As mentioned before. A proven program like Wendler (which is really good) has you lifting each lift only once a week. I use that Wendler formula for other lifts too. So one 2xcycle (8weeks) I'll do Press, DL, BS and Bench. But another 2x Cycle I'll do push-press, OHS, DL and Jerk. Or maybe Front Squat instead of Back squat and then Press and Cleans. Just different lifts so that I target different muscles, and slowly but surely build each individual lift's max.
I'm about to start a DL/Press day (with chin-ups, T2b, situp, ring dip and good mornings as assistance). Then just OHS on a 2nd day (with push-up, HSPU practice, Back ext and GHD situps). I usually have a full day rest (maybe light run or swim) the day after my 2nd lift day but have also lifted and 2-3 metcon leading up to that 2nd day. (with random running).
I week typically goes like lift/wod - wod - lift - rest -wod -wod -rest
(rest usually just means from anything weight or crossfit related). But I will change this as I need to and is not set in stone.

victoria4321

Thanks so much for all the help

I just read wendler's program and was figuring out the numbers to start with. I'm gonna try that twice a week for a few months and see how things go from there. That and cf should give me some good results hopefully.

oats4breakfast

That's awesome. I first tried it with 3 lifts. The DL, BS and Press. I never had a dedicated day where I'd do the lift and assistance exercises, I just did the sets in the "yo aint doing sh1t" fashion . I would do them before metcons. For example, during the week, if we had a metcon with DL in it, I'd do my DL sets beforehand. If a squat was in netcon I'd squat beforehand. Stuff like that. I did know our programing 5 days in advance so it was easy to schedule what days I'd do wendler. Before starting this program I had stalled on most of my lifts. Especially the press - it was like one weight was easy, but add 5 pounds and I couldn't budge it - I didn't have any small change plates to go up in any smaller increments so that wasn't helping. I was stuck there for months, somethimes I'd get the +5 weight, but mostly not.. After two cycles on wendler, however, I increased my Press by 20#, DL by 45# and BS by 25#. Since then, I haven't seen the same dramatic gains, but they are slow and steady. I did do an OHS and also gained 35# the first time I did it - that was definitely technique and confidence related.

People who try this will often mess up the numbers and totally miss the concept of the deload week. Let me know if you have any questions on it.
Most of the time, at first people will neglect any assistance work (like me) but you seem to be doing that now anyway. They'll also think it's too light and want to load up the bar - but that's not how this works. A lot of the time, you're working technique and then pushing yourself in the last set. There's a method to this madness that just works.
Now, I do each wave with assistance and then a 5x10@50% kicker too. (from the "boring but big" style). Which is why I have a day I do this on as opposed to pre-metcon. I see consistent gains but are smaller. There are times that I will seem to stall - I notice it when the 5+, 3+ or 1+ sets was almost impossible to achieve - at that point I will stop adding weight each cycle and retest and reset my 1rm and start again.
I do find that sometimes, if I go too many cycles in a row without testing, the weight will get too much to see good results. Often after a retest - I'll be back where I was two cycles ago, but typically up from my previous 1rm.

victoria4321

I tried it today with the two day format. Today I did back squats and bench then I'll do press and deadlifts later this week. I added some leg assistance work in there today and some other body weight exercises. I like this format though so I think I'm gonna stick with it. I probably went too light on the bench but thats fine since I never do it. I'm actually afraid to go heavy on it because I don't have a spotter so I avoided it all together lol.

For the deloading week, do you think it'll matter that much if there numbers are off by like 5lbs? My gym doesn't have a women's bar but I have weighted bars in fixed 10lb increments. So if 50% of my max bench is 35, I can either go down to 30 or go up to 40.

Also on the 5 3 1 week, for that last 1 rep you just keep going up until you hit a max right? If so, for the next cycle would I push my max to the one in that set or still stick with the 5 to 10lb increments?

Flamenquero

You are depleting your glycogen. Up the complex carbs the night before you lift.

victoria4321

You are depleting your glycogen. Up the complex carbs the night before you lift.

I don't think thats the case. If so, I'd be even worse off after a 4 mile run or an hour running stairs in the park.