Night shift workers??

[Dave4D]

I have worked rotating 5 to 5 shifts for almost 20 years. My biggest problem is sleep. I drink a lot of water at night to keep myself awake which makes me have to get up 2 to 3 times in the morning for bathroom breaks. On a night shift I get home at 6am. Wake up around 12:30 drink a protein shake, go to the gym by about 1, workout until around 2 or 2:30,shower, eat, then leave for work at 4. I try to eat something about every 3 to 4 hours at work.

It's usually my day shifts that kill me. On days I get up at 2:30 to be to the gym by 3.

[TeenyWeeny04]

You will never get used to doing night shift you just get beter at adjusting. I have been on night shifts for around 9 years, Monday night to Friday night 20:30 start and 06:00 finish. The weekends are spent in a tired haze and the Monday is spent in bed trying to catch up. I have recently started body building to improve my strength and well being and have found I sleep better and feel better in myself. I get up 15:00 have breakfast, once I have woken I neck half a good shake like USN Muscle Fuel get my **** together and warm up, 5g of creatine and a fruit juice and I start benching. Once I have finished I have the other half of the shake and warm down. Dinner is couple of hours later before I head off to work. I eat a good snack or a protein shake around 22:00 and Lunch is at 02:00 I rarely eat again until breakfast. Bedtime is 07:00. I drink water all day every day. I take a multi vit everyday and use a day-light light in the winter to head off depression, this is less dangerous than the tanning mentioned above. Saturdays I shorten my sleep to around 5 hours, I will catch these hours up on the monday. Which means I can enjoy a bit more of the weekend. Remember when benching you need all the sleep you can get but it should be in a block and hour here and an hour there is no good.

Thank you so much for your post it really helps. I work 19:00-07:00 the to fire days a week and unfortunately it's not anyways consecutive. So maintaining my every 3 hour meal plan and working or 5-6 Days a week can be very consuming and overwhelming. Your post helped me get an idea of how to manage it. So Thank you

[BlackCloud762]

I've worked swing shift 7am/pm - 7pm/am 4 days on 4 days off for almost 13 years. Just got serious about lifting/getting in better shape roughly 6 months ago. Sometimes it doesn't bother me swinging shifts and working nights, but other times it's a real struggle. I've tried all the tricks in the books over the years, but for the most part there's nothing that makes it easy to do. I believe the human body is just not built to operate in this fashion. Personally I have to adhere to a strict time schedule to stay on track. If I waited until I just felt like lifting/eating it'd rarely happen...

Currently cutting and time my meals as such:

Days
Meal 1 - 12pm
Meal 2 - 4pm
Meal 3 - 8pm

Nights
Meal 1 - 6pm
Meal 2 - 10pm
Meal 3 - 2am

On days off and during day shift I workout around 8pm. Not sure, but it seems that with my rotating schedule this is when I'm at my best. If I'm on nights I workout right before I go in, so roughly 6pm.

One of these days I hope to have a "normal" job lol

[inkonae]

Hi ,

I have been working shift work for a couple of years and I still train 6-7 days a week hard and make it work.

My schedule work like this ,

12hr shifts

2 on 2 off , 3 on 3 off

So for example a 14 day cycle might look like this for me:

Mon - 7pm-7am
Tues - 7pm-7am
Wed - off
Thurs - off
Fri - 7am-7pm
Sat - 7am-7pm
Sun - 7am-7pm
Mon - off
Tues - off
Wed - 7pm-7am
Thurs - 7pm-7am
Fri - off
Sat - off
Sun - off

For the night shifts , here is how my day goes... Workout 4pm-6pm then off to work , home by 7am and right to sleep. Get up around 3pm get my pre workout meal etc in and then off to the gym 4pm-6pm.

On the day shifts , I work out after work at 730pm , get home around 9 do my thing and off to bed by like 11.

On the off days i just train when I want. Usually earlier in the day.

It's not hard as long as you prepare , and always do meal prep before your shifts. I cook the day before I go back to work for the entire 3 days so I don't have to cook anything or worry about food prep.

For any shift worker you just need to realize how bad you want it, and make it work for your lifestyle.

Keep in mind you should do your heavy days on your days off or on the first night before Headin in for nightshift.

I usually do arms or shoulders aftery day shift because I'm pretty gased from working 12hrs and I know I won't be able to lift huge but can still do a high rep workout.

On my days off or before my nightshift I do my heavy like back legs chest.


It really just takes planning an dedication and you WILL succeed.

And maybe the odd sleeping pill lol

If anyone ever needs help with shift work planning in relation to food prep or training schedules pm me I'll try help you and show you how I do it and make it work.

Also a tip , stop drinking water prior to 3am otherwise your sleep will be broken up during the day because your body will force you up to pee.. And you really want to maximize your sleep to get at least 6-7hrs otherwise your gains and Health will be affected.


Good luck !

[Skwidward]

I work 7PM-7AM 3 nights a week. If I lift on a work day, it's only the day of the first in a string.

I do Leangains-style IF, so I wake at around 4PM and eat from 4PM-6PM and grab the rest of my cals in protein shakes at work. Then I fast at midnight. It works great with cutting. With gaining, I have to really work to eat enough.

What does your routine look like?

I work 7pm-7am. While I was training for tough mudder last year I would lift and run afterwards 4x week after work. I got used to it.

I work 3 shifts one week and 4 shifts the next week. Currently I'm on an upper/lower split and only workout on days I don't work, and, like you you said, if I do workout on a work day, its the first day of a run after my 2-3 days off. I do the upper/lower so I can workout 2 days consecutively without any trouble and/or miss a workout if I need more rest. It works out so I loft 3x week.

As for diet, I eat big in the morning after a night shift and just do a regular meal and protein shake during the shift.

As for sleep, its all ****ed up. I sleep in 4-5 hour stints when I need to and/or can.