Fatigue

[dtg]

For the last three weeks or so I have been working out very early in the morning (wake up at 5:30 and take in carbs, whey + BCAA with some caffeine) then hit the gym at 6am to 7am. Then have my PWO shake. I usually get about 6 or 7 hours of sleep and I workout 5 days a week (3 lifting and 2 cardio/abs).

In the last three or four days, I've been feeling very tired and yawning all the time. I am getting about 6 hours of sleep a night. Could this be the problem or am I getting sick or something?

I take 1-2g Vitamin C, a Multivitamin, fish oil daily. I have about a 300-500 calorie deficit per day and my carbs are around 150g daily.

Your feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Jinx5000]

sounds like it might just be the beginning of overtraining conjoined with a lower Carb intake and calorie deficit. have you tried a re-loading day or simply taking a day or two off from all exercise? the extra sleep, relaxed muscles, and extra nutrients may be all you need to get you feeling back to where you were a week ago

[dtg]

What does overtaining feel like? I just feel tired, yawning, sort of short of breath, legs weak...

I have not lifted in five days but it's not any better

[President Wilson]

ITs definately easy to overreach when dieting, and particularly on low carbs. Two reccomendations are to supplement with glutamine as this helps with glycogen stores on a low carb diet, and it helps strengthen immune function, and second is to periodize your training. This way you arent training heavy every single workout. Its very difficult to do this while dieting

[dtg]

Originally Posted by President Wilson

ITs definately easy to overreach when dieting, and particularly on low carbs. Two reccomendations are to supplement with glutamine as this helps with glycogen stores on a low carb diet, and it helps strengthen immune function, and second is to periodize your training. This way you arent training heavy every single workout. Its very difficult to do this while dieting

I do a full-body three times a week and cardio (HIIT & LISS) twice a week. Would it be better to split the body parts instead of a full-body or would it be better to do on "light" workout a week?

Also, what if I increased carbs as much as possible until I started to gain weight then cut back?

[President Wilson]

My rule on dieting has always been to get away with as much carbs as possible.
Gabe's lab does work on what they call a carbohydrate threshold, which is the threshold amount of carbohydrates to get all of their metabolic and energetic effects without negative effects (e.g. hindering fat metabolism). THis will vary from person to person. For example on a cut I can have about 200-250 carbs and still get cut, but others cant go much higher than 150-180. If you current diet is getting you really cut, but you are fatigued, you might try raising your carbs by about 30 grams and see how that works, and if you still are leaning up, maybe increase it to 200 and see.

In terms of how to sequence your training. I prefer a split routine on cuts because its difficult with a caloric deficit to give each bodypart the intensity it needs. So at least upper and lower body days. Then, to periodize your training you can have heavy days (compound movements, 4-6 reps, 3-5 minutes rest) and hypertrophy days (compound and isolation movements, 8-12 reps, 30-60 seconds rest), and I like power days where you train at 40-60 % 1-RM and compound and explosive. I find this is a great way to still activate fast twitch muscle fibers and avoid accumulation of fatigue. In fact my colleague Dr. Ugrinowitch recently finished a study where they found that power training caused as much muscle growth as traditional strength training.

[Gregsimo]

on the power days using 40-60% of 1RM, what sort of rep range is used as i can hit 15+ reps using 40% of my 1RM?

[dtg]

From what I read, power lifting you do light weights with explosive movement in the 15-20 rep range.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

By the way, after five days of total rest I feel so much better. I took in a bunch of extra carbs yesterday and got 8 hours of quality sleep and now I feel great... thank God.

With that in mind, I do have somewhat of an interesting question:

Is it better to workout in the evening but do longer workouts and less frequency (i.e. twice a week for 1.5 hours each) or would it be better to do early morning three times a week for 1 hour each)? I always feel stronger in the evening but I can't commit to three days a week with my schedule and family.

Cardio is easy... I can always just go for a 30 minute jog every morning in my neighborhood. It's the weight workout that eats up time with the drive to and from the gym and all that.

Thanks.

[President Wilson]

power days are in the 3-5 rep range generally. Its not about how many times you can get the weight, but how many times you can explode optimally with it. It definately will help with muscle and strength to

[Gregsimo]

how long do you take on the concentric, pause and negative on power sets for them to be optimal?