Tips on Balancing Training and Fatigue

[LonArcvarden]

I’m happy for any input from the Barbell Medicine team, or anyone else who frequents this forum.

I’m trying to plan on how to balance my strength training goals with a job that requires a lot of aerobic endurance work, coupled with long work hours that cause me to sacrifice sleep.
This post went a bit long, so here are the big questions up front:

1. Is 2-3 reps, for sets of 4-6, with an RPE target of 6-7, an adequate stimulus to improve maximal strength on primary lifts? That’s in general, for a 40-something male whose S/B/D are about 1.75x/1.25x/2.25x BW.
2. I’m anticipating 5-6 hours of sleep per night during the M-F workweek, when I’d ideally get 7-8. I’d love to sleep more, but it’s going to have to occur on the weekends. Am I wasting my time trying to make progress on a sleep deficit? Or is it doable, but just sub-optimal?
3. If I’m looking for ways to reduce fatigue and still make gradual gainz, should I eliminate accessory lifts?

Again, this post went long, so those are the big questions. Everything that follows is context and more detail. No judgment if it’s tl;dr and you only read what’s above.
Situation: I am in the Army. I am transferring to a unit that requires everyone to attend a 6:30am exercise session, Monday through Friday - similar to the problem set here: Balancing strength training with military PT. I was in this unit from 2021 to 2023, so I am familiar with what to expect. Each day’s exercise session is typically a 3- to 5-mile run at no prescribed pace (most people just run as hard as they can). Then there are lots of bodyweight exercises, usually for timed sets (30 seconds to 2 minutes), and chosen largely at random - pushups, situps, flutterkicks, burpees, air squats, planks, and so on. That was the life I lived every morning, two years ago. I typically arrived at a training session on about 5 hours of sleep, according to my Apple Watch.
Concerns: That experience was debilitating. I initially attempted to continue my strength training program without modification. My rationale was that the Army’s morning exercise session was a time-consuming joke, so I would not even factor it into my training. What I failed to anticipate was that I would accumulate a ton of fatigue. The inadequate sleep, coupled with the daily hour of running and frolicking in the grass, used a lot of energy and prevented me from recovering from my training. In response, after a month or so, I dialed back the weight on the bar (probably not enough). That was the only change I made initially. Thereafter, still tired and irritable, I often skipped one or two strength training sessions per week (usually due to exhaustion), more heavily relied on pre-workout, and did lower rep ranges. I focused on primary lifts, usually at RPE 8-10, missed reps, skipped accessory work, and got weaker and slower. In hindsight, I guess I should have stuck with my program’s original exercise selection, but reduced intensity, volume, and frequency more deliberately and significantly. I also should have put forth less effort at the Army exercise sessions. I intend to do so this time around. But, how much can I reduce intensity, volume, and/or frequency and still make progress?
Plan: Once I begin the Army’s Monday-Friday exercise sessions, these are the modifications I’m considering for my program. I expect there will be some trial and error, and experimentation. But, for an initial plan, does this seem reasonable?

1. Eliminate aerobic training from my program, because that is the majority of what we will do at 6:30am, M-F.
2. Cut anaerobic and muscular endurance training volume in half (carries, pushes, pulls, hill sprints, etc).
3. Do 1 upper and 1 lower primary movement at each session. I currently alternate between 2 upper for workout A, 2 lower for workout B.
4. Eliminate a work set from each primary movement, in each session, while also cutting the rep range and RPE target.
5. Do one fewer accessory movement, and eliminate a work set from each accessory movement, in each session, while also cutting the rep range and RPE target.
6. Get as much sleep as possible on the weekends (I have small kids, so good luck).
7. Put forth minimal effort at Army exercise sessions (RPE 5 or lower) to preserve energy for my training.

What this will look like:

• On M/W/F, each session will include one upper and one lower primary lift, and one upper and one lower accessory lift. Primary lifts will be 2-3 sets of 4-6 reps with an RPE target of 6-7. Accessory lifts will be 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps with an RPE target of 7-8. Is that an adequate training stimulus to improve maximal strength?
• On Tu/Sa, each session will include one carry (farmer, suitcase, hex bar), one push (sled), one pull (sled, rope, row), one brace (plank, wall sit), and one movement on a pull-up bar (leg raise, leg tuck), with RPE targets of 6-7.
• My program’s rest days will be W/Su.

[princemeraj]

If it’s possible to do the running/conditioning at ~ 65-75% max heart rate (RPE 3-5), that’d be great. The BW exercises would be cool to skip, but that’s probably not possible.

[MichaelSavan]

I’ve found it helpful to keep an eye on total weekly stress, not just from lifting but work, sleep, etc. When I’ve pushed volume while running on poor sleep or high work stress, I got worn down fast. I started tracking trends with aftcalc.net—it helped me notice patterns in recovery and adjust training before things got too rough. Cutting one set here or swapping to lighter accessories made a big difference.