3rd shift..... Anyone work this schedule??

[Themachine01]

Georgie24, you'll probably be recieving a PM from me sometime. Im trying to decide how to schedule everything, whether to sleep when I first get home, or train when I get home. Im going to be tempted to sleep a little while at work, which I can get a way with, but I think that would screw me up more.

The only good thing is, its only a 4 day work week:
Sat 10pm - Sun 10am
Sun 10pm - Mon 10am
Tue 12am - 8am
Wed 12am - 8am

It might be a little easier this way, i will have off from Wednesday at 8am until Saturday at 10pm, so I still have my Friday nights.

 

[Redux]

Hey bro, I worked 3rd shift for over 5 years and I won't lie to you, it's tough. It's hard to gain weight and have energy to lift weights. I always lifted after I got off. Even if you do sleep for 8 hours, it in no way translates into 8 hours of night sleep. The quality of sleep is nowhere near as good. I always stayed awake until 2pm or later then went right into work. Though I must admit almost no one could do that. They usually went to sleep within an hour of going home. If you do go to sleep soon after you get home, you will wake up around 4 - 5pm. Think about it. You will be up around 7 hours before you work. Then you have to work. If you sleep like that you will be exhausted when you get off and your training will suffer. I don't know if you can do it like me, but remember one thing. Don't split-sleep. I mean don't sleep like 4 hours and then 5. You'll feel real bad doing so. Get it all at once. And remember to keep your room pitch dark. I could never sleep well with daylight comming in.

I am in my tenth year of working 3rd shift, and I agree with this. The one pointer I have is that you should mentally prepare yourself for the sunshine. By that I mean that you may feel very, very tired at work, but once you get out in the sunshine, (especially in summer), you will feel rejuvenated. This is somewhat deceiving, as you still need rest, though you don't feel tired. If you give in to the urge to start squeezing this and that in before bed, you will be astonished at how fast the clock moves, particularly if you get online.

Toward the end of your work day, start mapping out specifically you have to do that day. Then go out and stick to your plan. Also, you will have to learn to think further ahead than you are used to in terms of sleep. For instance, I work Sunday to Thursday, so I have to plan for a solid eight hours on Thursday so I can get away with a four hour afternoon nap on Friday, so I can go out Friday night, stay out late, and still not sleep my Saturday away. It will take some time to get used to. If that is you in the avatar, I am sure you'll find the discipline and the motivation to make it work.

...Oh, and be ready for those 5:00am hard-ons...

 

[georgie24]

i get the 5 am hard ons as well!!! kinda funny when you know when your cock is gonna standup like a flagpole. i also agree that its 90% mental prep. i take ambien from time to time as well, especially on hot summer days when everyone is out and i ahve to go to bed..all in all i wouldnt go back to day shift

 

[atutt2]

I work from 3am to noon for the last 3 years and it sucks. My body just will not adjust. My schedule was to go to bed as close to 7pm as possible to get at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep, that hardly ever happend. Most nights I got 5 hours of sleep. I would go home at noon and eat another meal, check email, pay bills, etc and then go to the gym. I have to force myself often because once you stop and sit on that couch, forget it...
The other thing, it was a little easier my 1st year, it was a new job, and I was single.
However, the 2nd year started getting tough, and the 3rd year I married and never got to see my wife. That, plus since I trained my body clock to sleep around 7pm, going out on a Friday/Saturday night was almost impossible...I'd fall asleep!

My advice, is to try it out. You may be one of the lucky ones that can do it. Also, a buddy of mine likes to split his sleep into 4 hours each. I coudn't even attempt that!