[Francesco]

Allison, you definitely nailed the “autistic athlete” part 😂

That’s probably exactly where I get into trouble — I’m very disciplined and I like having everything structured, tracked and under control. That mindset works great for training, nutrition and recovery… until I try to apply the same level of control to sleep, which obviously doesn’t want to cooperate 😄

I think I need to learn that, in this case, doing less and caring a bit less is probably the more “optimal” strategy.

Your story actually helped put it into perspective as well — different fear, same mechanism: once the brain starts attaching too much importance to sleep, it can easily become self-perpetuating.

Thanks a lot, really appreciate it.

[Francesco]

Thank you Kuba. Do you think your blood sugar/cortisol idea is still compatible with the fact that my recovery markers have actually been improving over the last few days?

My RHR has been very low, HRV high, temperature and respiratory rate stable/good, and my morning blood pressure has often been even lower than usual.

I also wake up feeling physically very calm and relaxed, not wired or tachycardic, but then my mind starts wandering and I begin thinking about all sorts of things — recovery, training, sleep, work, random life stuff, etc.

Would you still consider a blood sugar/cortisol trigger plausible in that context?

[Francesco]

Thanks Meg, really appreciate the input.

One thing that may be useful to clarify is that when I wake up, I’m actually very calm and physically relaxed. I don’t wake up with a racing heart, sweating, feeling wired or anything like that.

In fact, my recovery markers have actually been improving over the last few days — RHR has been very low, HRV high, temperature and respiratory rate stable/good, and my morning blood pressure has often been even lower than usual.

What seems to change is more the mental response to the awakening.

In some periods I wake up, don’t care at all, roll over and fall straight back asleep without even remembering it the next morning.

In other periods — like these last few days — the same normal awakening turns into:

thoughts about recovery → training → how much sleep I have left → random life thoughts → basically the meaning of life by 3am 😂

So physically I feel relaxed, but cognitively I start switching on more and more.

That’s why I’m trying to understand whether there could still be a physiological trigger for the awakening itself, like what Kuba mentioned with food/blood sugar, while the thing that actually keeps me awake may be the mental side afterwards.

I’m happy to test moving some food closer to bed as well, especially since I eat dinner quite early (5.30/6.00 p.m.).

Thanks again, both — really appreciate the ideas.

[Francesco]

Thanks Clare, really appreciate the advice.

It does sound counterintuitive at first, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I’ve probably got into a pattern where I’m spending too much time trying to “protect” my sleep, which may actually be reducing sleep pressure and giving me more opportunity to stay awake and think.

I’m going to try pushing bedtime back to around 9:30 pm for a week, keeping my 4:50 am wake time fixed, and only getting into bed when I’m properly sleepy.

I’ll also stop checking the time completely during the night and try to just accept the awakening rather than analyse it or calculate how much sleep I have left.

My room is already very dark and quiet, but I’ll also try the eyemask and earplugs to remove as many external stimuli as possible.

Hopefully breaking the pattern for a few days will help reset the association between bed and sleep rather than bed and “trying to sleep”.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.

[Francesco]

Just a quick follow-up regarding my Upper/Lower split and the 5-exercise limit we discussed.

If I’m only going to keep one chest press variation in the Upper session, which of these two setups would you prefer?

Photos 1–2: lower handles, semi-pronated grip

Photos 3–4: higher, more traditional chest press handles

Both are on the same machine and both feel stable and comfortable. My goal is simply to choose the variation that gives me the best overall pec stimulus while keeping the exercise easy to standardise and progress over time.

Would you favour one over the other in terms of pec loading, ROM, shoulder position, stability and overall stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, especially considering that this is my only chest press slot in that Upper session?

[Francesco]

Thanks everyone, really appreciate all the input.

It’s actually reassuring to hear that this is something quite a few people experience to some degree.

I think what I’m starting to understand is that the main issue is probably giving the awakening too much attention and trying to control something that should probably be controlled less — sleep itself.

That’s not especially easy for someone like me because I’m naturally very disciplined, structured and used to monitoring things closely. With training, nutrition and recovery that mindset is usually useful, but with sleep it can probably become counterproductive.

So I think the goal for me now is to stop treating every awakening as something that needs to be analysed or fixed, and just let it be what it is without turning it into another metric to optimise.

It’ll probably be difficult at first, but I’m going to give it a proper try and see how I get on.

Thanks again guys, really appreciate the perspectives and suggestions. I’ll keep you updated.

[Francesco]

Yeah, I think that’s probably the mindset I need to work on most.

I’m very structured with training, recovery and routine, so I probably end up giving a normal night-time awakening far more importance than it deserves. Instead of just thinking “I’m awake for a bit, no big deal”, I immediately start evaluating what it means for sleep quality, recovery and the next day.

I need to take some of the pressure and expectation off it and just accept the awakening for what it is, rather than trying to “solve” it in real time.

Easier said than done for someone who likes optimising everything 😄 but I think that’s exactly the point.

Really appreciate the perspective, mate.

[Francesco]

Thanks James, really appreciate the input.

Nothing relevant has changed recently in live/work. The training volume, nutrition or supplementation are the same. I also finish almost all fluids by around 6:00 pm, apart from roughly 100 ml of water to take my pre-bed stack.

I don’t consume caffeine in any form at all — not even coffee, which is probably a bit ironic considering I’m from Naples 😀

I think you’ve identified the main issue very accurately (orthosomnia). The awakening itself feels completely normal: I’m still sleepy, physically relaxed and not anxious or wired. The problem starts once I become aware that I’m awake and begin monitoring the situation mentally.

Lately, even when I deliberately avoid checking the clock, I catch myself trying to work out what time it might be, how much sleep I have left and what that could mean for recovery/training. So I think the clock-checking has almost become internalised.

Another factor is that my mornings are very time-structured. I wake at 4:50, start training around 5:30–5:40, and then I have to get ready and go straight to the office. So I’m very aware that I have a fairly fixed amount of time available, which probably makes me more likely to mentally calculate how much sleep I have left once I wake during the night.

I’m naturally very disciplined and metric-driven, so I can see how sleep has probably become another thing I’m trying to “perfect”, which then creates an orthosomnia-type loop.

I agree that changing supplements probably isn’t the answer, especially as the same stack was in place when I was sleeping well. I’ll focus more on changing how I respond to the awakening and stop treating the time/sleep duration as information I need to know during the night.

The strange thing is that, apart from the OURA sleep/readiness score, my general parameters (RHR, HRV, etc.) are remaining within a favorable range.

I’ll also remove any visible clock/phone for a while and stop checking the time completely. The only issue is that I’ve noticed that when I know I can’t or shouldn’t check the time, I sometimes become even more anxious about not knowing what time it is. My brain then starts trying to estimate it anyway, which probably shows how strongly I’ve linked knowing the time with judging how much sleep/recovery I have left.

So I think I probably need to work not just on physically avoiding the clock, but on becoming comfortable with not knowing the time at all during the night.

Out of curiosity, have you dealt with something similar yourself? If so, what helped you get out of that cycle?

Thanks again — really appreciate the advice.

[Francesco]

Thanks a lot Kamara, I’ve already implemented the strategy of increasing water/salt intake before the start of the workout, including EAAs in the pre-wo. In fact, it’s working out really well; at first I thought I’d get to the gym with a stomach full of water, but it’s not like that. Thanks for the precious support!

[Francesco]

Thanks a lot, Peter. I really appreciate you taking the time to look through everything and for the very useful feedback.

The points on hydration, salt distribution, pre-bed carbs and moving the EAAs directly pre-workout are especially helpful. I’ll make those adjustments and see how they play out in practice.

Really appreciate the advice.

[Francesco]

Hi KAMARA,

I will follow your advice, try a volume release (particularly on push compounds) and see how the situation evolves. If I feel that the recovery continues to be in the red zone, I will try to change the split, perhaps reducing the frequency (P/P/L or similar). THANK YOU

[Francesco]

hi Rich,

my current split includes 3 different upper/lower sessions: Upper A, lower A; upper B, lower B, upper C, lower C and do the following routine: U/L rest U/L rest …

I come from a period during which I pushed a lot with the upper trying to do a U/L/U rest U/L rest routine for about 8 weeks (3 upper and 2 lower per week) which at the beginning made me gain a lot of progress, but it made me accumulate considerable tiredness, putting recovery in the red zone. I will keep the push volume to a minimum (3 sets of compounds and some isolation volume). THANK YOU

[Francesco]

Hi Oscar,

I really appreciate your advice. I too had thought about reducing volume on push compounds and unlocking some volume (not much) on isolation movements that require less recovery. I’ll try. THANKS

[Francesco]

Hi JP,
how do you manage working sets on the leg press? in the last workout you did
3×7 7 7, how did you change the load (plates) and elastic bands between one set
and the next? Thank you

[Francesco]

Great session. is the volume of this session (23 set total) the volume you use for upper sessions 3 sleeps apart, UL rest UL rest…?