Which is easier to recover from?

[IronFist]

I should know this.

Say you didn't get as much sleep as you would have liked last night, and today you have to pick between lifting weights and doing a heavy bag/sparring workout.

Which would be easier to recover from and therefore better due to the lack of sleep?

I was gonna lift today but I didn't sleep enough so I'm kinda thinking against it. I hate lifting weights when I'm tired. For some reason I would say the weight lifting would be harder to recover from, at least on the CNS. But I don't really know.

[Chief Fox]

This is just a guess but I would say that the weight workout would be more difficult to recover from.

But on the other hand, if you go with the bag workout your foot work may be sloppy and you might have bad form if you're tired. So you may not benefit from this type of workout either.

Maybe take a rest day. Sounds like you need one.

[FngSaiYuk]

Heavy Bag work & sparring always leaves me at an elevated energy state, which tends to keep me from sleeping.

Heavy weight lifting tends to leave me tired after, which makes passing out really easy.

[IronFist]

I think I'm the reverse. Heavy bag training makes me tired and after lifting weights I feel awesome.

Of course I'm still stuck at work so if I don't get to leave soon it's going to be neither. Stupid unpaid overtime.

[Toby]

I feel awesome after both. But lack of sleep makes both difficult. If anything, I'd do better on the bags with lack of sleep. Mainly because I can slack off a bit and still do some effective stuff. If I'm coming to the end of a PTP cycle and I'm tired, I might fail on a set.

Recovering from them is a different matter. I probably recover better from weights, but that's PTP. If I did more volume lifting, then I might recover better from MA/bagwork.

[FngSaiYuk]

Heheh, I think for me, it's 'cuz heavy weight lifting right now is hitting the full body to failure with as heavy a weight as I can purely for raw power. I do this twice a week and the first thing I need immediatly after is food - lots of protein... then I would really like a nap.

I tend to stop the bag work when my technique slacks and I can't go full power, so my stamina isn't taxed. And sparring has plenty of opportunity to regain my wind, which is why I'm bursting with energy afterwards. The first thing I need immediately after my bag work & heavy sparring is water... lots of it. Then I'm up for a loooong while.

As far as recovery goes, I'm still kinda muscle sore by the time my next round of heavy weight lifting comes around - I think I need more sleep... And I can hit the bags & spar again the next day.

Of course if ya analyze the diff between my weight lifting sessions and my bag work and/or sparring sessions, my muscles are under far more stress and tension during the weight lifting sessions - so it probably comes down to just what your training is like.

[manofkent]

If ur really tired then its may be dangerous to lift heavy. If ur tired enought for it to hav an effect then have a rest day, or have a nap before u train. If u do bag work u'll have bad form and may jar wrists as ur not punching properly. Best thing would be to swim, as even if u have bad form, its not gonna hurt u. that or get on the Ginsing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ming Yue]

if I'm sick or sleep deprived I have a much harder time with recovery from a strength intensive session than a cardio intensive one.

I also think you're more likely to injure yourself if you're lifting when you're fatigued.

(as opposed to sparring fatigued, when someone else is more likely to injure you....)

[Ford Prefect]

Physiologically speaking, I'd say that lifting is harder to recover from if you're not doing a crazy number of rounds on the heavy bag. I know you hate cardio though, so you may never recover from the heavy bag. You'll be scarred for life.

[fa_jing]

I work out quite often on little sleep. I don't think it effects recovery so much as it does performance. You may not hit your targets in the weight room and it can be disappointing. You probably won't notice it as much with something like the heavybag, though you are sure to be sleepy later.

[Pork Chop]

I'm useless when I don't get enough sleep.

Kills my recovery time too- end up being sore waaaaaay longer than I am if I sleep well.

On days I'm sore and haven't gotten enough sleep, i'm a lot more likely to skip a weight workout than a bag workout.

I've noticed that with a decent, light to medium intensity warm up, i can get rid of a lot of the soreness; but lifting weights is the more mentally taxing imho and probably a bad idea if the sleep deprivation is that bad.

[Toby]

Originally posted by fa_jing
I don't think it effects recovery so much as it does performance.

fa_jing said it in one sentence.