27/08/2026
You'll get more intimate with your coach over your sleep schedule than almost anything else.
There's a reason fitness professionals are suddenly listening to neuroscientists on this one. Think of it this way:
Training is the demolition. You go in, you tear things up, you rattle the nervous system, you leave a mess on site.
Sleep is the overnight shift. That's when the repair work actually happens: hormones get dispatched, tissue gets rebuilt, your nervous system resets so you can produce force again tomorrow instead of just feeling sore and flat.
Skip that shift and the site just sits there. You can hammer the demolition harder every day, but if the overnight work isn't happening, you're not progressing. You're just piling up damage.
So yes, I'm going to ask about your sleep. Awkward or not. It's not small talk, it's asking whether the shift's actually happening.