Sleep and Recovery Checklist. The basics that make training and food structure hold.

• Target seven to eight hours of sleep on weeknights, not just weekends.
• A consistent wake time that does not shift more than one hour between workdays and rest days.
• A wind-down period of at least thirty minutes before sleep with screens off or on night mode.
• A bedroom that is dark, cool, and used primarily for sleep — not for work or late-night scrolling.
• Caffeine cut-off no later than two to three hours before your target sleep time.

Note

If your average sleep is under six hours on work nights, this is the first thing to address before optimising anything else.

• At least one full rest day per week with no training and minimal physical stress.
• Two to three lighter movement days (walking, stretching, easy cardio) rather than full rest plus full intensity alternating.
• No back-to-back hard training days if sleep or nutrition was poor the night before.
• Protein intake adequate to support repair — not obsessively tracked, but not accidentally absent either.

Note

Recovery between sessions is not just physical. Cognitive load from work stress also affects the body's ability to repair. A hard week at work is a recovery variable.

• Some form of deliberate decompression built into the day — walking, a set lunch break away from a screen, or ten minutes of nothing after work.
• A line between work hours and personal hours that is enforced at least five days a week.
• No training immediately after a high-stress spike — waiting thirty to sixty minutes allows cortisol to lower and makes the session more effective.
• If sleep quality is poor for more than three consecutive nights without obvious cause, log what changed the week before: food, alcohol, schedule, screen time.

Note

Most recovery breakdowns are not about the gym. They are about the pattern of the day around the gym.

• Water intake of at least two litres on training days, more in heat or during intense sessions.
• A post-training meal or snack within two hours that includes protein and carbohydrate.
• Alcohol minimised or eliminated on training nights, particularly if sleep quality is already weak.
• No extended fasting periods that overlap with training — eating too little around training undermines recovery regardless of aesthetic goals.

Note

Food and hydration quality directly affects sleep quality. A late, heavy, alcohol-adjacent meal will cost you the recovery the sleep was supposed to provide.