Hydration and Sleep

This is very anecdotal and I guess a bit of history on me…

…Anyway

Gyms are back open and people are going back to work, meaning some may be returning to that early bird training lifestyle, so I thought this might be a good thing to put out now.

I'm sure i've mentioned it before, but for those who don't know, before I coached I used to work in TV, Theatre and Live Music.

This meant long hours, early mornings, late nights and more often than not, training at times most would class as 'not normal' with 3:15am still being a record early training time that I doubt i'll ever beat.

I don't expect any of you to be this extreme, its just a little context to the rest of the article… blog, I mean blog…

Obviously if I got up to train at 3:15am, I'd train on an empty stomach... because bollocks to getting up at 2am to eat before a session.

However If I trained at 5am, or after, i'd often fall into the trap and sacrifice sleep for a meal… because unless you’re going fasted cardio, this is what we’re told we need… ‘Always gotta get that meal in bro’

Compound that into days and weeks and you've lost a whole load of sleep and ultimately recovery… And once you start under recovering, things become unsustainable.

As with anything thats unsustainable, after a while I was forced to change, so I bit the bullet, took the only real option I had and started training on an empty stomach regardless of when I trained in the morning and truthfully, my performance in sessions soared… which at the time, being young and naive, I didn’t at all expect.

So, my point, recovery is as important as the training when it comes to progress and even more important when you lead a demanding work life.

Sleep is a huge part of the equation, I still see it in my clients all the time… 5 hours sleep usually means a relatively shit session where as 7 or 8 hours sleep means they’re flying… It’s why I get them all to track it.

If you're in the same boat as I was, try getting up later, drinking some water, then going straight into training.

It might feel weird at first, but give it time, do it for a week, or two and see how you feel.

The likelihood is, if you’re eating well you’ll already be well nourished ready for the session and all you have to do is rehydrate after waking up.

Adam Johnston, 27th July 2020