Working Out Sleep Deprived | Should You Do It?

My wife just had a baby 2 weeks ago. We're absolutely THRILLED to have a new member join the family. She's truly a little bundle of joy. But the biggest challenge of having a new born? I'm completely sleep deprived and it's KILLING my workouts!

We all know that sleep is important for our health, but did you know it relates directly to your recovery from your workouts? There's a stage in the sleep cycle (stage N3 of non-REM) where our body increases the blood flow to our muscles and signals for increased production of HGH and other anabolic hormones. It's during this phase of sleep that a lot of growth and repair of muscle tissue occurs. If you're sleep deprived and you're not spending enough time in this sleep cycle, it will undoubtedly impact your recovery.

Further, you have the fact that lack of sleep leads to increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone). The sleep deprivation effects on stress levels are actually quite significant. Cortisol is what keeps us awake during the day, so when your body is flooded with cortisol from too much stress and lack of sleep, you can actually end up feeling like you can't sleep at night even though you're incredibly tired. It's stress overload!

And on top of it, elevated cortisol levels will increase your body fat and leave you feeling weak and physically drained. So the increased cortisol are making you tired, fatter and too stressed to sleep (even though you're exhausted).

If you've wondered how much sleep is needed for muscle growth, or how much sleep is needed for weight loss, you should have a pretty good idea after watching this video. (Spoiler: I recommend 6-8 hours per night consistently!)

All in all, sleep deprivation and intense workouts just don't mix. Low intensity workouts like going for a walk and doing basic mobility exercises should be fine, but you shouldn't do anything near or at your max. You can force yourself to work out hard even when you're exhausted, but no matter how hard you push yourself and make yourself suffer, you'll only lose in the end. You'll wind up more stressed, more tired and you will NOT make gains without adequate rest.

So, I decided to make this video to share my experience with sleep deprivation the last couple weeks, explain how it's affected my fitness, and share a few tips on how you can overcome this challenge next time you face it in your life, because we ALL face lack of sleep at some point or another.

I hope this helps you on your journey. And thanks for watching!

-Ryan

[MinusTheGym]

How many hours of sleep do you average per night? Let me know! 👇

[LesleyVictoria]

Thanks for being so realistic with workout expectations during tough times. That's one adorable little girl!

[ptstud]

working out sleep deprived. Sounds like another day in the Army

[davidwatkins]

I am a single father to a 7 week old. I am chronically sleep deprived. I tried to keep up some form of exercise but it is not humanly possibly. Thanks for your video. Reaffirms my feeling that now is not the time to worry about gains.

[danzim]

8 hours sleep is sufficient for me. Great video as always. Keep up the good work!

[milunacodes]

Congrats for the baby!!
I love that you see this as an opportunity to work in some of your weaknesses instead of being pissed off for not being able to workout as you wanted. Looking forward to your mobility tutorials!

[jeremycanfield]

This is super helpful. I work overnight on weekdays and sleep during the day, and then on weekends I sleep at night to spend the daytime with the family. I've struggled with my workout routine on days when I've lack of sleep, so this tip of "being kind to yourself" and "live to fight another day" is exactly what I needed to hear.

[neosahft]

Like 5 to 6 hrs. I sometimes have stressful weeks where I skip training cause I work long hours and I just can't get proper form or focus. I was afraid of taking rest but your other video on doing more by doing less helped me be not be too worried about it, thank you. Congratulations to you and your partner wishing you the best. I totally understand how new borns can be very tiring intially, hope you and your partner smile your way through this phase.

[FeelnLikeIDoEveryDay]

Thanks man, I never understood the toll lack of sleep was having on me. I would just push through it, but I see now why that was sabotaging my progress and how to better address the problem.

[njw]

Congrats on becoming parents! What joys and challenges ahead of you! I am an empty nester who has always struggled with insomnia. Thanks for the information and “permission” to walk and do less intensive “body work” when you are just so depleted.

[leilatehrani]

Congratulations Ryan!! :)
All the best for the family.
Also, thank you for the honest video - nobody talks about this.
Fitness is supposed to make us feel better and healthier, not push ourselves over our limits when our body is begging for rest.
We should listen to our body and practice self kindness.

[joshuabush]

Became a dad last march it definitely was a shock to the system! He's only just started sleeping better Very recently so had over a year of really bad sleep.. I cut my workout frequency in half and now train hard when I can and recover hard. Slow and steady progress 👌🏼

[raiderzmb]

I really appreciate the information and focus on stretching. It is a great alternative

[teresasanchez]

Congratulations for Olivia's blessing. As a mom I understand your sleepiness. Take naps when you can.

[greyhk]

No, I didn't notice you haven't been posting b/c I have so many other subscriptions. But a HUGE congratulations to you and your family for the birth of your daughter! Thanks for posting some useful info re: sleep despite this busy time. Stay safe.

[TheJuandhx]

Congrats on the little one. Welcome to the sleepless but wonderful club of parents !!!

[asmarfontenot]

This was good and relevant content. Relatively short and filled with good info. A good change up. People/YouTube tend to try to focus on just one thing or get clicks with “hacks” and “shortcuts”, but it’s good to remind and inform in a way that’s effective that strength training is not the only thing that will make you healthy and happy, or even seriously jacked if that’s your goal. It’s one piece to the equation. One part of an entire system. Take care of the whole system, including sleep and nutrition, and you’ll see better results.

[muhammadnuri]

Congratulations mate for your bundle of joy!

[PaulLeMay]

Great information. Thank you for sharing. 🇨🇦😎. Congratulations on the new member to your family. ❤️🙏

[huesitos]

Watching this vid after a long night with insomnia.

Also, congratulations for your daughter 🎉