Over the years, I’ve come up with a simple rule for determining if you should prioritize sleep vs training. In this article I’m going to breakdown a few very common scenarios. Use this as a guide!
Case #1: You don’t work out at all.
You need to get up and workout. Not sleeping enough is TERRIBLE for you. Not sleeping enough and NOT working out is even worse. Many of the health benefits of not sleeping enough can be mitigated by becoming fitter, and when you get fitter you’ll sleep better. This isn’t forever… but, if you don’t workout at all, not sleeping enough or being tired is NOT even close to an excuse for not training.
Case #2: You have achieved a high level of health/fitness, and are very happy with your physique.
You need to prioritize your sleep. If you’ve been very fit for years and years, and the possibility of you falling off your training is zero, then you need to prioritize your sleep. You can maintain what you have for a LONG time on 1-2 training sessions per week (or less – maintaining is significantly easier than gaining).
Case #3: You have been training 1-6 months, and you’ve been improving but you’ve got a long way to go to either be healthy, satisfied with your physique, or both.
You need to put training first, meaning it is non-negotiable, while making changes in your life that allow you to get great sleep. Here’s why: every single person I’ve ever coached that is early in their journey that decides they need to not work out in order to sleep more ends up not working out and not sleeping. They just fall off. Make training a non-negotiable, but understand that sleep is very important.
Case #4: You’ve been training 6-36 months, and you’ve made significant progress, but you’re starting to plateau; you are considered “healthy” and pretty darn happy with your physique.
You may need to sleep in and miss a workout here or there so you can be rested enough to really crush your workouts, while making necessary changes in your life to get better, more consistent sleep without missing training… keep in mind, in this case, NOTHING could cause you to fall off of your training. If you are a flight risk from training – meaning 1 missed workout to sleep could result in missing 3 months, then you are really a Case #3.
Almost everyone falls into these 4 cases, and most people just don’t know what they should do when it comes to balancing sleep and training.
I hope this helps you decide what you should do!
Also… if you didn’t miss it… there’s basically never an excuse to not miss training… it all starts with training. Sleep is EXTREMELY important… but keep in mind, most people who don’t train still don’t sleep… so priorize training, and work on getting better sleep!
Coach Connor
Find me on instagram @connorgreen3000 and the gym @sparkfitnessla
Find me on YouTube here @connorgreen3000 and the gym here @sparkfitnessla
