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Old 11-09-2006, 05:17 AM
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Default Bodybuilding and Polyphasic sleep

Any serious bodybuilders out there that have experimented with polyphasic sleep? I am dubious that it is possible as recovery from heavy workouts requires a lot of rest and at the moment I need 9 hours a night to stay healthy, including some daytime naps. Also, many people who experiment with polyphasic sleep look a bit underweight (judging by their blogs).
Steve seemed OK, but he was not pumping iron heavy once or twice a day and he looks pretty lean to me.
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Old 11-27-2006, 11:12 AM
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Polyphasic, no - but biphasic doesn't seem to have any negative affect on recovery. I'm currently getting a little under 6 hours (roughly a 1.5/4.5 hour split), and it seems to result in better quality sleep than I was getting before.

A few observations :

The weights/reps haven't decreased for any exercise since the switch (a couple of exercises use the same weight as before, but other aspects have been adjusted).

My weight is stable, although I haven't been actively trying to change it. Same goes for bodyfat.

I feel more refreshed after the 4.5 hour core sleep than after 7-8 hours when I was monophasic.

During the first week of the transition from monophasic to biphasic, I knew I was going to be tired and kept away from the weights (no easy task, but worth doing). The first couple of sessions afterward were the same as you'd expect after a week's break for any other reason.
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Old 11-27-2006, 01:56 PM
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Quote:
Any serious bodybuilders out there that have experimented with polyphasic sleep?
Most of the Polyphasic people are geeks and most geeks aren't exactly serious bodybuilders.

Quote:
I am dubious that it is possible as recovery from heavy workouts requires a lot of rest
If you rest six times a day you rest six time as often as someone who sleeps only one time.
The usage of Sleep is not linear.
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Old 11-27-2006, 10:23 PM
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Yep, you're right about the geek element in polyphasic sleep experiments - I get the feeling that one of the driving reasons these guys are doing it is to avoid contact with other people.
I am currently sleeping biphasically, with an extra 2 X 10min naps but I still need 9 hours to recover properly. I am really going hard though, doing many one rep maximums and 20 rep breathing squats.
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Old 11-27-2006, 10:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lonewolf View Post
Yep, you're right about the geek element in polyphasic sleep experiments - I get the feeling that one of the driving reasons these guys are doing it is to avoid contact with other people.
I'm not quite sure where that stereotype comes from - it certainly isn't the case with anyone I hang with (and I'd class myself as a geek).

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I am currently sleeping biphasically, with an extra 2 X 10min naps but I still need 9 hours to recover properly. I am really going hard though, doing many one rep maximums and 20 rep breathing squats.
Lonewolf, what type of biphasic routine do you have at the moment? A couple of things that really make a difference with recovery time are :

1. separation between nap and core sleep
2. number of cycles in core sleep
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Old 11-28-2006, 02:09 AM
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I believe the most growth hormone release is during the first two hours of monophasic sleep, and leuteinizing hormone release largely occurs in the morning just before you wake up after a full nights rest. Take that for what you will.

I am a bodybuilder but uninterested in polyphasic sleep.
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Old 11-28-2006, 05:39 PM
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I'm a former bodybuilder and powerlifter (3rd in state competition some 20+ years ago). Now a days people call it biphasic sleep. Back then we called it napping or siesta (1-1.5 hrs) after the afternoon workout.

Of course it was much easier for me back in the day to take afternoon naps because I was in college and had a more flexible schedule. I no longer bodybuild or powerlift, so I don't know what the latest research has to say.

Good luck!
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Old 11-28-2006, 11:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by morias View Post
I'm a former bodybuilder and powerlifter (3rd in state competition some 20+ years ago). Now a days people call it biphasic sleep. Back then we called it napping or siesta (1-1.5 hrs) after the afternoon workout.

Of course it was much easier for me back in the day to take afternoon naps because I was in college and had a more flexible schedule. I no longer bodybuild or powerlift, so I don't know what the latest research has to say.

Good luck!
Morias, with your current schedule, do you still take the naps?
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Old 11-28-2006, 11:37 PM
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I nap too, but splitting sleep up into two halves doesn't seem to reduce the daily quota. Currently I sleep from 10pm - 6am, take a 10m nap at 9.30am and 12.00 midday, then a 20 min sleep at 3pm. I work out twice a day, going unusually hard and I eat very heavily with the goal of putting on weight. I drink a small amount of coffee and take ginko and ginseng.
On this schedule, I only just recover between workouts, i.e. it feels like I am progressing at maxiumum capacity.
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Old 11-29-2006, 03:39 AM
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Lonewolf, over the past week or so I've been experimenting with a short nap and a longer core sleep. The result is that a slight reduction in the nap length equates to a large amount of oversleeping.

As an example, previously I had a 1.5/4.5 hour split with no problems. Reducing this nap to 10-15 minutes meant oversleeping 2 hours last night, and a similar amount the night before.

Perhaps by increasing the length of your nap to 90 minutes or so you will greatly reduce the length of core sleep you need. Try a 1.5/7.5 hour split for starters, and gradually decrease the length of core sleep until it feels right to you (and obviously doesn't affect your recovery).
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Old 11-29-2006, 05:51 PM
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No nap time for me at the moment. Just a straight 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I just saw an article somewhere that said meditation can be more effective than napping. I'll see if I can find it.
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Old 11-30-2006, 01:27 AM
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I meditate too, and it is great for mental clarity, but does not refresh the cells of the body in the same way that true sleep does.
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