What evening exercises help you sleep the best?

[BadGaskets350]

I have to workout most days from 5-7pm (not necessarily 2 hours worth, usually 60-90 minutes). That's the only time slot available.

I'm not an insomniac but I've had trouble the last couple months getting quality sleep that seems to be partly a result of working out in the evenings.

I'm going to be making other changes such as avoiding heavy meals before bed.

But I figured it would be worth asking if there were any exercises you have done in the evenings that help, and not hurt, a good night sleep.

My current program is about 90 minutes of hypertrophy training upper/lower (sets of 8-14) and definitely taking many sets to failure. So, I'm pretty wore out after a workout and hungry....so I have to fight the temptation to eat ALL the food when I get home.

[lsiberian]

Sounds like maybe the workouts are too intense for you. Maybe cut down on the accessories.

[smokinal]

Whats your caffeine intake? Do you use pre-workouts? Intra-workouts?

The best exercise I do before bed for a good sleep is reading

[BadGaskets350]

Sounds like maybe the workouts are too intense for you. Maybe cut down on the accessories.

Yeah this is possible. I go pretty hard when I'm there. Maybe I'm crossing the point of diminishing returns.

[BadGaskets350]

Whats your caffeine intake? Do you use pre-workouts? Intra-workouts?

The best exercise I do before bed for a good sleep is reading

Coffee (black) before lunch, never after 12:00 though.

No pre-workout stuff other than MAYBE a little whey shake (1 scoop max) but even that is rare. Most days I'll eat some grapes, an apple, or a small sandwich about 1.5 hours before the workout.

During the workout I drink water spiked with lime juice (and a pinch of potassium bicarbonate, I've found the potassium helps a lot with recovering because I'm a heavy sweat guy, and the lime juice just helps flavor. Obviously the acid reacts with the bicarbonate but it still seems to provide good potassium, I usually feel really trashed during summertime workouts if I skip the potassium.

Good point about the reading.

[BeginnerGainz]

Do you have trouble putting the phone down at night? Putting it up earlier and not scrolling endlessly has been the best sleep aid IME

[paulinkansas]

The best exercise I do before bed for a good sleep is reading

For me, it's sex.

[GeneralSerpant]

What's going to work best is how well you establish what you do as a routine. Practicing sleep by trying to dovetail your daily goins on into a rest time is helpful imo.

What's going to stir you up is what you're not used to. The more you do anything and regularly at that in the gym the less you're not used to it. If you raise the weight it can get your blood pumping quite a bit, but if your body expects to do it again like it did the last 5 tues/thurs weeks then it will learn to calm down regularly, especially if you're practicing sleep along with it after.

[MarkZB]

For me, it's sex.

For me it's reading about sex :'D