Winding Down After Training

[qatet]

How do you wind down after training? Now that I get up early for a "real" job (as opposed to staying up until 2 to work on my dissertation), I'm finding that fencing at night can be a bit of a problem. I can no longer use the adreneline of training to help me get in a few hours of work because instead I very much want to be getting to sleep. I'm one of those lucky people who generally never has any trouble getting to sleep, so this has me a bit baffled. I'd love to hear what other people do to help get to sleep after training.

[oso97]

One thing that is important is to incorporate a good post-workout stretching routine into your system. In addition to all the obvious benefits (reducing delayed onset muscle soreness, helping to develop flexibility and range of movement), a post-workout strech routine can be a good time to calm the mind and do a little meditation. Do it at the club, before you go home, while your muscles are still warm.

I also find that having a specific routine when getting home is important. When we get home from practice my wife and I make the coffee and lunch for the next day, read a magazine or book, and have a >small< snack. Helps with the "its time for sleep now" signals.

[Allen Evans]

Your body is going to very awake after a night of fencing. Your mind is going to be in a fairly high state of arousal, as well, since fencing is an extremely mental activity. Very few people can just drop off to sleep after fencing, but here are some ideas:

1. Make sure you do an adequate cool down at the end of fencing. Tell your body it's done working for the night.

2. Make sure you replenish your fluids, and if necessary, eat a light snack (usually something easy on the stomage, with some protein in it, like yogurt). Your body might be keeping you awake because it needs to eat/re-hydrate. No, this does not involve alchohol, which may put you to sleep slightly faster, but to do so, you'll have to drink enough to make waking up the next morning unpleasant, which is what you're trying to avoid.

3. Spend a little bit of time at home writing in your fencing journal, mediatating, or sitting quietly. Don't watch television. Don't just go to directly to bed.

4. Adopt the recommended habits for people who have trouble sleeping (plenty of advice on the web about insommnia).

I find it takes me a half an hour to 40 minutes to relax enough to sleep after fencing. I do try to go to bed at the same time every night (even if I'm not ready for sleep) to keep my body to a schedule.

Everyone is a little different. Like a pre-comp warm up, your post-fencing cool down has to be experimented with and tweaked until it works. keep records and find what works for you.

A

[Superscribe]

This is in no way meant to sound patronizing or condescending:

You might try working out harder during your fencing. My coach kicks my patuckus up and down the strip. I take a hot shower at home after that and that puts me right to bed. I'm not familiar with this idea of having "too much energy to fall asleep" after fencing.

Then again driving home, taking a shower, brushing/flossing, etc, etc takes about 45 min all in all, so it could just be my way of winding down.

[qatet]

Ha! Not working out hard enough is _definitely_ not my problem! There's a samll chance that I might be overtraining, which disturbs sleep cycles, but I think that I'm okay there, too. As I've been adding more nights of fencing, I've been cutting some of my cross-training to allow for better recovery. I'm just unfamiliar with this experience of lying in bed with my heart thundering through my body!

I've been doing a lot of what people have mentioned thus far. I walk back from training, which lets my body calm down a certain amount and makes me pleasantly sleepy. I shower when I get home, get ready for the next day, eat some yogurt or pudding and drink more water. I haven't tried adding in stretching, but that makes sense. I guess that that's more what I am curious about. Do people have routines to specifically help their bodies calm down?

For that matter, do people have routines to help their minds calm down? To get their head away from still fencing or doing drills?

[Mike O]

I used to have the same problem. I take a magnesium or calcium-magnesium supplement with food to prevent cramps during the night and replenish my muscles. Magnesium also happens to be a natural muscle relaxant, which puts me right out.

[Superscribe]

Ha! Not working out hard enough is _definitely_ not my problem! There's a samll chance that I might be overtraining, which disturbs sleep cycles, but I think that I'm okay there, too. As I've been adding more nights of fencing, I've been cutting some of my cross-training to allow for better recovery. I'm just unfamiliar with this experience of lying in bed with my heart thundering through my body!

I've been doing a lot of what people have mentioned thus far. I walk back from training, which lets my body calm down a certain amount and makes me pleasantly sleepy. I shower when I get home, get ready for the next day, eat some yogurt or pudding and drink more water. I haven't tried adding in stretching, but that makes sense. I guess that that's more what I am curious about. Do people have routines to specifically help their bodies calm down?

For that matter, do people have routines to help their minds calm down? To get their head away from still fencing or doing drills?

Are you a grad student fencing on a Uni club team?

[dramamine]

Ha! Not working out hard enough is _definitely_ not my problem! There's a samll chance that I might be overtraining, which disturbs sleep cycles, but I think that I'm okay there, too. As I've been adding more nights of fencing, I've been cutting some of my cross-training to allow for better recovery. I'm just unfamiliar with this experience of lying in bed with my heart thundering through my body!

I've been doing a lot of what people have mentioned thus far. I walk back from training, which lets my body calm down a certain amount and makes me pleasantly sleepy. I shower when I get home, get ready for the next day, eat some yogurt or pudding and drink more water. I haven't tried adding in stretching, but that makes sense. I guess that that's more what I am curious about. Do people have routines to specifically help their bodies calm down?

For that matter, do people have routines to help their minds calm down? To get their head away from still fencing or doing drills?

Maybe you could try putting some breathing exercises on an ipod/mp3 player and listening to it while you walk back? I know doing visualization puts a lot of people out cold right away lol

[KidLazy]

Are you a grad student fencing on a Uni club team?

No, she has a Ph.D. for some time now.

Do people have routines to specifically help their bodies calm down?

For that matter, do people have routines to help their minds calm down? To get their head away from still fencing or doing drills?

For me, the one hour and forty min. drive home does the trick always.

[Superscribe]

No, she has a Ph.D. for some time now.

I have no idea what you're being sarcastic about or why you would even be sarcastic.

Are you a high school student?

[Peach]

Actually, qatet has a Ph.D. and has had it for some time now. KidLazy's not being sarcastic at all. He and I happen to have lived through it with her

[KD5MDK]

Actually, qatet has a Ph.D. and has had it for some time now. KidLazy's not being sarcastic at all. He and I happen to have lived through it with her

A reasonable % of the USFA lived through it, though they may not have realized it at the time.

[Superscribe]

Actually, qatet has a Ph.D. and has had it for some time now. KidLazy's not being sarcastic at all. He and I happen to have lived through it with her

I see. I was going to recommend going through some boring college level writings about fencing (minutes to a coaches meeting of a particular conference) to put oneself to sleep, but with a Ph.D, you might otherwise find that stimulating.

[AdamH]

Depending what time you finish work and start off for fencing, try and have everything done that needs doing for the next day in that window, within reason.

Sounds simple, and most off us will put some things off but there is nothing quite like getting in to bed knowing the next morning is prepared for. The evil voice which says, "You've worked hard, take a break. You can get up a little earlier tomorrow to do that other thing; now get your beauty sleep, sexy beast." That's the naughty voice, it means little good

Otherwise, depending on the club pop out for a little drink of orange juice and post shenanigans chat. Or, get back home and write up the fencing journal as previously discussed - something that puts the efforts in perspective and, figuratively, to bed.

Avoid TV/internet and just do something mundanely non-technical/flashy lights, I don't know; speak to the wife? Get your head into the process of approaching a quiet place where you can say, "The day is over and tomorrow will not be imporant until then. Right now, nothing matters." Relaxation is not something you do, it's a natural part of your being. The process of relaxing is just removing all those other distractions.

[telkanuru]

obviously the correct plan is to go for another degree.

[KidLazy]

Are you a high school student?

I finished my M.S. in Engineering in one year, before I could legally drink, with 4.0 GPA , from a Top10 Eng. Grad. Program (at that time, not sure now, have not checked for awhile). It could be earlier, but I took a year off doing nothing after finishing Eng. College., with Honor, with 140 credits. Total study time is less than 70 hours over the years (from entering college to getting my master. I actually calculated this once, for fun).

High School!? pffft.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

If your body is really having a hard time getting the message that it's time to relax, despite built in routines, have you tried melatonin? Go for the pure stuff (you don't need to pay for chamomile and other herbs, really), and the stuff that absorbs under your tongue is generally faster acting than the stuff you swallow. It's not habit forming in the way that most sleep medication is, but it might help your body get the message about sleep time.

[Peach]

obviously the correct plan is to go for another degree.

No, the Ph.D. is a terminal degree. That is, if you have any common sense, it kills any desire you ever had to go to ever go to school again for any reason whatsoever, and should also make you aware of how utterly useless a doctorate is.

As for getting to sleep after training, I never have any problem. I get home around 9:30, plunk around the house a little, and go to bed around 11:00-ish. But I lay out all my clothes and things for the next morning before I go to bed. And I am hyper-vigilant about overtraining, which will lose me sleep in no time flat.

[Morale Officer]

Keep in mind, this is coming from a hopeless insomniac:

Work night shift! While I was working, it was a nice "morning workout" for me.

[bigfirststep]

How do you wind down after training? Now that I get up early for a "real" job (as opposed to staying up until 2 to work on my dissertation), I'm finding that fencing at night can be a bit of a problem. I can no longer use the adreneline of training to help me get in a few hours of work because instead I very much want to be getting to sleep. I'm one of those lucky people who generally never has any trouble getting to sleep, so this has me a bit baffled. I'd love to hear what other people do to help get to sleep after training.

I come home, put ice packs on my knees, and log onto fencing.net/forums. Works as well as a bedtime story.