3 Reasons Why You Should Analyze Sleep for Better Training Sessions

The one thing that everyone does in life is sleep. Sleep as you all are aware can make or break someones life completely. Not enough quality sleep has been shown to a numerous amount of negative health side affects [1] and is something that everyone should have at a high priority in life. Recent studies tho have shown that it is not the amount of sleep we get but the quality of the sleep that matters. Today i am going to provide you with 3 reasons you should be tracking sleep quality and how to track sleep quality to allow for better training sessions. I also will provide you with some simple things you can start doing to increase your sleep quality immediately,..

 

"Sleep Cycle"

"Sleep Cycle" is an Iphone App (Not sure about android) that allows you to track your sleep pattern, record snoring (yes kinda creepy lol), analyze R.E.M. and give you a sleep quality percentage of each night. This is such an extremely useful tool. I even record the sleep quality in my training notes the next day so i know if its a day i should push or back off some. For me if i get a 60% or higher in the morning on the app that usually translates to a really great training session. If it is below 60% i really feel that the next day and especially at the gym, This app is extremely accurate and so easy to use. CHECK IT OUT and get to know your sleep patterns and how it aligns with your training. For me my weeks night sleep quality is usually around 60-75% and on the weekends it gets up to 80-90% easy to say that my best or at least highest energy workouts are usually Saturday because of this.

This article is not going to cover how to sleep better but here are some things you can start to incorporate to have better sleep

 

- Train in the evening

- Don't use more than 200mg of caffeine after 5 o' clock

- Eat a big dinner

- Take 50mg of Zinc before bed or eat oysters on a regular basis

- Have sex

- Take a warm shower at night

- Sleep in complete darkness [2]

- Sleep in a cooler condition

- Stretch and or foam roll before bed

- Drink Green Tea before bed

This is such a useful thing to do once you start tracking sleep quality. You can build your training sessions the next day with the quality of sleep you achieved the night before. For example on your training you might have written;

 

squat 3-5 sets of 5 at 80-85%

 

So when your in the gym then you notice that your sleep quality the night before was 56% you decide to only go with 3 sets and you pick 80% to work with. By giving yourself that option you still feel successful with your training session and you adjusted accordingly for the loss of sleep quality the night before.

 

 

A cheat sheet you could go off of;

60% or lower sleep quality = reduce volume and intensity for the next day.

60% or higher sleep quality = you can attempt heavier percentages and more volume for the next day.

This next one to do is hard if you have a set split like i do but you can still use this to your advantage. Simply structure your heaviest training days on days where your sleep quality is higher or supposedly going to be higher. This for me is usually Monday and Tuesday since I'm recovered from the weekend and still fresh so i schedule my heavy upper day on Monday and heavy Lower day on Tuesday. Pushing through hypertrophy sessions later on in the week on lower sleep quality is nowhere near as bad as having to squat heavy on a day you had low sleep quality.

 

"So Shawn what if i get to the gym on whats supposed to be a heavy lower day and i had 55% sleep quality the night before?"

 

If it lined up like that i would reduce total volume and reduce intensity for that day so what might have been squat 315lbs for 5 sets of 4 to instead being 3 sets of 4 at 285lbs. You still put in work for the day but you allow your body a break since it won't perform at it's best. Sorta like a day long de-load.

Using these methods and still tired in the gym?

Check out my 4 Proven Methods to Increase The Effects of Caffeine Blog Post!

Speaking of De-loads I actually just noticed this in my last training block. As my intensity and volume went up in my training block the percentage of sleep quality kept getting lower on a weekly average. I knew it was time to de-load when i was averaging about 45-50% a night. Once I de-loaded my sleep quality got right back into the 70%'s again. Pretty crazy how accurate that app is! For me knowing this info allows me to program when i should plan a de-load week which for me is right around every 4-6 weeks.

- recording sleep quality every night with the app called "Sleep Cycle"

- write down the sleep quality in your training journal and use it to program the days training

- don't be afraid to back off or push harder on your training depending on the Quality you get

- try and structure your heaviest days on days with higher sleep quality

- Use the weekly average of sleep quality to determine if it's time for a de-load

 

If your like me then i know you probably like staying up late and sleeping in but having a day job really does not allow much sleeping in at all. Stop worrying so much about the time you slept and just focus on quality. i only get about 6 hours a night on the week days but i don't focus on that. Instead i use the "Sleep Cycle" app and track the percentage of sleep quality. Using this approach is less stressful because it makes you feel better in the morning when you look and see that you may have only got 5 hours of sleep but you got 80% sleep quality. At the end of the day sleep is extremely important and it will equate to how successful you are in the day but don't let the number stress you out. Do your best at getting quality sleep but if you like staying up late watching tv and playing video games don't be afraid to do that. Just maybe back off on your next workout if the quality of sleep isn't there. Be smart and listen to your body as your body always knows the best thing for it.

 

 

If you guys enjoyed this weeks blog let me know and feel free to share on your social media as i greatly would appreciate it. Till next week guys.

 

Stay Strong,

Shawn Fausey

 

References

1: Xie L, Kang H, Xu Q, Chen MJ, Liao Y, Thiyagarajan M, O'Donnell J, Christensen

DJ, Nicholson C, Iliff JJ, Takano T, Deane R, Nedergaard M. Sleep drives

metabolite clearance from the adult brain. Science. 2013 Oct 18;342(6156):373-7. 

doi: 10.1126/science.1241224. PubMed PMID: 24136970; PubMed Central PMCID:

PMC3880190.

 

2: Shanahan TL, Czeisler CA. Physiological effects of light on the human

circadian pacemaker. Semin Perinatol. 2000 Aug;24(4):299-320. Review. PubMed

PMID: 10975436.

• Shawn Fausey is the Founder and CEO of Fausey's Fitness. With Over 6 years experience in Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Nutrition. Shawn offers services of online fitness coaching, programing and consulting. Shawn is also a Graphic Designer and can be reached for graphic services on www.rev-graphics.com
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