I’m happy for any input from the Barbell Medicine team, or anyone else who frequents this forum.
I’m trying to plan on how to balance my strength training goals with a job that requires a lot of aerobic endurance work, coupled with long work hours that cause me to sacrifice sleep.
This post went a bit long, so here are the big questions up front:
- Is 2-3 reps, for sets of 4-6, with an RPE target of 6-7, an adequate stimulus to improve maximal strength on primary lifts? That’s in general, for a 40-something male whose S/B/D are about 1.75x/1.25x/2.25x BW.
- I’m anticipating 5-6 hours of sleep per night during the M-F workweek, when I’d ideally get 7-8. I’d love to sleep more, but it’s going to have to occur on the weekends. Am I wasting my time trying to make progress on a sleep deficit? Or is it doable, but just sub-optimal?
- If I’m looking for ways to reduce fatigue and still make gradual gainz, should I eliminate accessory lifts?
Again, this post went long, so those are the big questions. Everything that follows is context and more detail. No judgment if it’s tl;dr and you only read what’s above.
Situation: I am in the Army. I am transferring to a unit that requires everyone to attend a 6:30am exercise session, Monday through Friday - similar to the problem set here: Balancing strength training with military PT. I was in this unit from 2021 to 2023, so I am familiar with what to expect. Each day’s exercise session is typically a 3- to 5-mile run at no prescribed pace (most people just run as hard as they can). Then there are lots of bodyweight exercises, usually for timed sets (30 seconds to 2 minutes), and chosen largely at random - pushups, situps, flutterkicks, burpees, air squats, planks, and so on. That was the life I lived every morning, two years ago. I typically arrived at a training session on about 5 hours of sleep, according to my Apple Watch.
Concerns: That experience was debilitating. I initially attempted to continue my strength training program without modification. My rationale was that the Army’s morning exercise session was a time-consuming joke, so I would not even factor it into my training. What I failed to anticipate was that I would accumulate a ton of fatigue. The inadequate sleep, coupled with the daily hour of running and frolicking in the grass, used a lot of energy and prevented me from recovering from my training. In response, after a month or so, I dialed back the weight on the bar (probably not enough). That was the only change I made initially. Thereafter, still tired and irritable, I often skipped one or two strength training sessions per week (usually due to exhaustion), more heavily relied on pre-workout, and did lower rep ranges. I focused on primary lifts, usually at RPE 8-10, missed reps, skipped accessory work, and got weaker and slower. In hindsight, I guess I should have stuck with my program’s original exercise selection, but reduced intensity, volume, and frequency more deliberately and significantly. I also should have put forth less effort at the Army exercise sessions. I intend to do so this time around. But, how much can I reduce intensity, volume, and/or frequency and still make progress?
Plan: Once I begin the Army’s Monday-Friday exercise sessions, these are the modifications I’m considering for my program. I expect there will be some trial and error, and experimentation. But, for an initial plan, does this seem reasonable?
- Eliminate aerobic training from my program, because that is the majority of what we will do at 6:30am, M-F.
- Cut anaerobic and muscular endurance training volume in half (carries, pushes, pulls, hill sprints, etc).
- Do 1 upper and 1 lower primary movement at each session. I currently alternate between 2 upper for workout A, 2 lower for workout B.
- Eliminate a work set from each primary movement, in each session, while also cutting the rep range and RPE target.
- Do one fewer accessory movement, and eliminate a work set from each accessory movement, in each session, while also cutting the rep range and RPE target.
- Get as much sleep as possible on the weekends (I have small kids, so good luck).
- Put forth minimal effort at Army exercise sessions (RPE 5 or lower) to preserve energy for my training.
What this will look like:
- On M/W/F, each session will include one upper and one lower primary lift, and one upper and one lower accessory lift. Primary lifts will be 2-3 sets of 4-6 reps with an RPE target of 6-7. Accessory lifts will be 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps with an RPE target of 7-8. Is that an adequate training stimulus to improve maximal strength?
- On Tu/Sa, each session will include one carry (farmer, suitcase, hex bar), one push (sled), one pull (sled, rope, row), one brace (plank, wall sit), and one movement on a pull-up bar (leg raise, leg tuck), with RPE targets of 6-7.
- My program’s rest days will be W/Su.
