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I want to go to the gym today but I didn’t sleep well last night.
That’s fine. It’s been 15 days since the last time I hit this muscle group. I’ve gone a month and still hit PRs.
That was at maintenance/slight surplus. Now I’m doing an aggressive cut at 1600 cals/day and the body has more reason to keep fat and shed muscle. So time may be of the essence.
I’ve been sleeping poorly in general lately. Who’s to say tonight’s sleep will be better? It may even get better because I work out today.
I’m running an experiment to see if I can keep my strength while on an aggressive cut. If I go to the gym today and get weaker numbers, I won’t know whether to attribute that to the cut or to poor sleep.
But if I still hit PRs while on aggressive cut and having slept poorly, that data point would be all the more meaningful for it.
I may still know depending on the numbers. If my strength dips a lot, then it’s not plausibly due to poor sleep (I didn’t sleep that poorly) and I should ease up on the cut anyway.
I’ve gone to the gym twice already during this cut and kept my strength each time, even hit PRs on some exercises. And last time I did this cut I also hit PRs.
But this is the first time I’m doing a cut this aggressive for more than just a week. I’m approaching the two-week mark. I know eventually I won’t be able to maintain strength, but it would still be good to know where the cut-off point is, roughly.
Okay but if I go tomorrow and I do lose strength, I won’t know if it’s because I waited too long.
I’ll be on the cut for another week at least, so there’ll be one more workout to compare with. Not everything hinges on today or tomorrow.
But knowing I’m losing muscle would inform my decision about stopping the cut sooner.
I’ve been sleeping poorly in general lately. Who’s to say tonight’s sleep will be better? It may even get better because I work out today.