Help me with my schedule?

Hello everyone,

I hope you’ve had a great week, and that you’re all safe and well. Today I’m hoping to get some feedback regarding my schedule and the beginner’s routine, as my rather unique situation has me a bit stumped as to the “best” course of action. While I’m fine with anyone chiming in, I do hope that some of the more “seasoned” veterans can also provide some input for me.

My question is: How should I schedule the routine to get maximum gains while being safe?

Here is my dilemma:
So, in my current job (and it’s not likely to change anytime soon) I work as follows (keep in mind I also commute 1hr each way for these shifts) :

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
Off 3p-11p 7a-11p 7a-11p Off Off Off

(The days that are marked “Off” I actually work a second job, but it doesn’t interfere with my time as much; also, I can’t get the formatting right on the post, but I work 8hrs, then 2 x 16hrs starting on Monday.)

So given this setup, if I do the “2 days on, 1 day off” schedule I will inevitably end up doing the routine at a time when I get “less than ideal” the amount of sleep I should get. While I’m okay with this, I’m also concerned with hindering my potential progress because of the improper amount of sleep/rest/recovery time. I would also be a bit concerned that, due to time constraints, I may inadvertently rush through parts of the routine when the “on” days land on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I could simply have a 2on/1off/2on/2off schedule to avoid this, or I could do something entirely different (which is where you come in!). Any and all opinions are certainly welcome, and thank you for your time.

What kind of PE work are you doing?

I think the body works on cycles of 48 hours, actually, so it wouldn’t be much of an issue having less sleep one day and more the next.

marinera,

I’m going to start the newbie routine. I figure if I can get a solid schedule that’s safe/effective with that, once I move beyond it I’ll be good.

Thanks

Why are you so concerned?

No starting routine takes more than 40-45 minutes max.

Do it before you go to bed.

My concerns stem from the fact that I routinely only get about 5.5 hours of sleep per day for 2 days out of every week. To quote the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:

“Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. “

Given that some of the work in PE is related to damaging tissue (microtears, etc.), I want to be sure that I won’t be cutting myself short on those days. Thus, if I should be avoiding doing any PE work on those days I can, but I want to get some outside opinions from those who may have experience with this sort of thing.

As for doing it before I go to bed, I certainly can do that, but not only does that not address my concern of “is the reduced sleep going to affect me” but also that will reduce my sleep by another 30+ minutes (which also affects my work day, regardless of whether it affects my PE or not).

I appreciate the feedback, and I’ll admit I may be overcautious.

Damages created by PE aren’t a big deal. But you should find a way to have more sleep, for the very same reason of the study you cited.

Well, better safe than sorry.

Of course, I must say that sleeping hours vary from person to person. For example, I sleep 7 hours a day, but anything close to 5- 6 hours will do for me. I have this from childhood.

Same thing. My grandma never slept over 5-6 hours daily in her whole life from her childhood. She died completely healthy, except from some minor cholesterol issues, at the age of 98 and she could solve any simple math or logic problem to her last days. Did I mention she was attending sheep and goats through her whole life, until the age of 87?

You worry too much. Perhaps you may have a reason. Everybody is different.