Yes! I had serious sleeping problems the last 5-6 weeks of prep. Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, etc. once in a while I’d have a decent night but most were a coin toss. I especially as your body gets more stressed and calories get lower. I found saving as many calories as I could for my pre bed feeding was helpful. 5 hours of sleep was typical, 6 was a good night I rarely was able to sleep more than that.
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My sleeping was always a mess pre contest. Taking minerals at night helped a bit, but I’ve never been a great sleeper anyway.
S
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Well at least I’m normal! I guess…
I appreciate you taking the time for a response. I had to look up the term ‘skiploading’, I learn something everday on here!. How many days/week are you currently training? Does your carb intake vary on your off days? What carb sources are you typically consuming? Sorry for all the questions! Thanks 
are you working with Skip, or just using the method?
I’m only training 3 or 4 days a week, and doing cardio like I said above. I do swap fats for carbs somewhat on non training days, but mostly go by feel and energy level. If I feel depleted that’s ok, but if I feel completely drained I eat a little more fat if I’m restricting carbs on non training days, I adjust the amount of deficit making sure to keep it lower than the calorie limit I’ve set for myself for the day. For carb sources pre workout is usually rice farina, or plain cheerios. For post workout I had been using dextrose and maltodextrin, but after listening to what Skip Hill had to say about carbs I’ve been on a frosted flakes and vanilla protein powder kick lately after training.
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No I’m not, but I respect his methods very much, because they work.
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yeah I’m a big fan of his. Read his articles, listen to his podcasts, etc.
I’m going to give the skipload thing a try next time I cut.
Question npc, what does your pre-bed time ritual look like? From last meal to lights out? supplements, habits, meal, wind down activity, etc?
That’s a good question. I work a rotating 12 hour schedule at work, I’ll work 4-5 days 6am-6pm, (in bed by 9:30 pm and up at 4:00 am for fasted cardio), then have 4-5 days off, then I’ll work 4-5 nights 6pm-6am, (in bed by 7:30 am and up by 1:00 pm), then have 4-5 days off and repeat. So with all this switching back and forth I imagine my circadian rythm is pretty screwed up.
I try to keep my nighttime routine consistent when I’m on day shifts and days off, the variance being including carbs my last meal when I’m on day shifts because I train in the evenings those days. Otherwise the final meal is usually a casien/whey isolate shake with either de-fatted peanut butter powder or natural almond butter if I haven’t eaten enough fat during the day. I typically keep stimulants 6 hours away from bedtime. I have regularly slept on up to 100mcg of clen in the past when I was at a higher body fat without any issues, if I take it the moment before my head hits the pillow I sleep fine. I never have problems falling asleep it’s the staying asleep. I don’t have any wind down activities per se besides showering, reading scriptures, saying prayers; I don’t have time to watch TV anymore, and we don’t have a TV in the bedroom, also try to limit screen time before bed from phones computers etc. I have used melatonin periodically and have been relying on benadryl the last week or so to keep me asleep.
Yeah, that is a very tough place to be. Your schedule is really brutal but you are taking care of the things you can in terms of limiting screen time, light, etc.
A couple things–if you don’t take zinc and magnesium you might start that right before bed on an empty (or at least not super full) stomach. No need to do the ZMA supplement, it just costs more money. Just go to Walmart and get a bottle of zinc, a bottle of magnesium, and take 1 of each before bed. Zinc and magnesium tend to improve your sleep quality although they do not PUT you to sleep per se. They also do not keep you asleep more than before but I have found that they make any sleep you do get more productive.
Putting them all together it is: 1 zinc, 1 magnesium, 1-2 melatonin, 1-2 benadryl all together. That is usually the best general sleep supp I have found that’s not a hangover generator.
You also might try a small amount of carbs before bed as well, in the neighborhood of 20-25g. Carbohydrate intake can stimulate natural melatonin production (although if you’re taking it via pill I don’t know if you would see the same natural bump up).
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Thank you for the tip on the zinc and magnesium timing, I take them now but usually in between my morning cardio and my first meal, I will be utilizing them in my bedtime protocol now. It’s little things like this that can make a big difference at times.
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Glad to help. Let me know if you feel any difference!
Here’s a shot roughly 48 hours post load, I ate 1600 grams of hi gi carbs beginning at 0530 Sunday and loaded until 1600 the same day (10.5 hour load) I’ll try to get a picture once a day until next Sunday’s load to see if there’s any significant differences day to day as my weight comes back down to baseline, to try to better plan my pre contest loading plan.
What’s your daily salt intake?
What’s your dehydration plan?
Sodium is quite high I’d say 6-8g right now, I will reduce my sodium by not adding salt to egg whites, chicken, oats etc. starting Thursday aiming for roughly 1/2-2/3 my current sodium intake. I’m currently drinking 2.5 gallons per day and will increase it to 4 gallons by the week of the show, I’ll cut my water off 8-10 hours before prejudging. I move water fast, dropped 7 lbs in 12 hours in a recent trial run, with no changes in sodium. Figured I could do another carb load after weigh ins if necessary after cutting water Friday night, I’m going to be very close to the top of the weight class anyway and hopefully don’t have to mess with water too early just to make weight but will if need be. That’s the plan so far. Any suggestions or changes?
P.S. I’m on night shifts this week, I’ve been using zinc and magnesium before bed and sleep seems to have improved. Thanks again for the tip.
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Glad to help!
I’m trying to see where your contest date is. Can’t seem to remember. However my suggestion is not to cut salt. Keep it up until 12-24 hours before dropping water intake (not before pre-judging). Then cut all of it along with water… That said I advocate trial runs almost exclusively–to find your own individual timing since it can vary so much–and I wouldn’t want something unforeseen to develop for you. Thus I feel conflicted giving a solid recommendation. Also depends on whether it’s a two day show or a single day show, which I don’t remember. One day shows are relatively straightforward.
However, dropping sodium similar to that has almost universally led to better drying out for me and my clients. I just finished an mma fighter’s weight cut where we dropped 17.5 lb of water in what amounted to 36 hours or so. Obviously I would change timing and things for a physique guy, where weight class is not usually the primary concern.
EDIT–since it seems you’re so far out (still over a month?), you have plenty of time for a trial run. Taking in such a high level of sodium should pretty much make a post drop rebound non-existent after the trial run. For added insurance simply don’t carb up (just do the drying phase) and go back to the salt intake as soon as you have finished your trial run.
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The competition date is August 13th so roughly 3 weeks out. It’s a one day competition, weighing in Friday evening around 6:30, pre judging starts at 9:00 Saturday morning, and the evening show is at 6:00 Saturday night. Say I have to manipulate water on Friday, and weigh in depleted and dry just to make the light heavyweight division. Would I want to drink 2-3 liters immediately following weighing in from 7-9 pm, wait a few hours to check urine color and output, then do a quick carb up around 11-12pm Friday as the water starts coming back off? (depending on condition of course)
I really think I’m going to be splitting hairs to make the light heavies, ultimately I’d like to wake up weighing 195 on Friday morning eat and drink like normal, put on my usual 3 pounds of water and food weight like I do every day, then go weigh in at exactly 198 Friday night, but I don’t think I’ll be that lucky.
Down another 1.6 lbs today, lower back and hams are starting to come in a little better.