Sleep is super important. It helps you recover, build muscle, burn fat, and improve your overall health and fitness. Whatever your goal, getting enough sleep will help you succeed.
Sometimes life gets in the way.
One of those times is welcoming a new baby to the family. The other day, new dad David asked me, “Any advice for working out on newborn sleep?”
Absolutely.
If you’re going through a period of limited sleep, like having a newborn at home, your priorities in the gym will change. Your main goal becomes showing up and staying as consistent as you can.
Exercise can help you feel better, maintain your fitness, and make the most of the limited sleep you’re getting. This isn’t the time to worry about setting a new personal best every workout.
Take a Conservative Approach
When you’re not getting enough sleep, choose less weight and fewer reps than you would if you were fully rested.
This gives you an opportunity to focus on things that are still valuable:
- Increasing mobility
- Improving technique
- Maintaining your strength and fitness
- Leaving the gym feeling better instead of completely exhausted
The goal isn’t to see how much you can survive when you’re already exhausted. The goal is to keep moving forward until life settles down and you’re ready to push again.
Let Your Coach Do the Guesswork
Group fitness classes and personal training, like what we offer at CrossFit 781 here in Weymouth, MA, can make this much easier.
You don’t have to figure out what workout to do, how much weight to use, or how to modify an exercise when you’re running on four hours of sleep.
Just show up and talk to your coach about how you’re feeling. We’ll take care of the rest.
Every workout can be adjusted to meet you where you are that day. That’s especially important when you’re balancing exercise with work, kids, family, and everything else life throws at you.
Consistency Over Perfection
There will be seasons of life when you’re sleeping eight hours a night and feeling great.
There will also be seasons when you’re up with a newborn at 2 AM.
Your training doesn’t have to stop because your circumstances have changed. It just needs to adapt with them.
Whatever stage of life you’re in, regular exercise can help you stay healthy, strong, and active. And when you’re ready to push harder again, we’ll be here to help you do that, too.
You don’t need perfect circumstances to make progress. You just need to keep showing up.
