Late nights and early mornings. How do you get through the days? And what's your take on exercise?

As far as a gym schedule goes, I personally find that the best way to get through workouts when you're reallly dragging is to have a long term tangible goal (don't say "I want to be in shape", say "I want to bench press 225 by this date.") in mind and to not make excuses or let yourself slip on it. If you get into a routine of not letting yourself miss workouts it's a lot easier to get through them when you feel like death. Once you let it go once or twice you're going to just stop going whenever you're tired, which will be borderline always.

I always skip breakfast. I have one cigarette and 4oz espresso when I wake up. I take caffeine and green tea during the day. I'll eat lunch if coworker asks to go out, but if not, I intermittent fast the whole day. I workout and eat at night.

Stop the caffeine after breakfast. You'll sleep much better at night.

Sleep: limit caffeine intake, don't eat as much throughout the day, don't eat before bed, stay hydrated. Instead of watching tv, phone, PC try to read or write before bed. Try using headspace, etc.. before bed

Try to avoid sugar all together

Workout in the morning before work, no booze during the week/Sunday.

Most mornings, the second I get out of bed, I drag myself over to the gym and walk on the treadmill for about 15-30 minutes. Pretty much asleep whilst doing this, but by the time it's over I feel energized and ready to start the day.

adderall

Stay hydrated and eat well, this is going to keep your body awake and from feeling lethargic. I only have one cup of coffee a day, in the morning (10ish).

I try and workout 5 times a week, so if I miss a day during the week I'm forced to go on the weekends, but this makes me accountable to myself and more likely to go after work.

Interested in thoughts on nootropics, since OP mentioned them. I tried a couple (Nexus and one I can't remember the name of) after Eddy's post on them last year. The one I can't remember the name of did nothing for me and I thought Nexus did very little. I didn't notice a difference in my ability to focus but I did perceive somewhat of a calm energy that lasted through the day. Made it hard to fall asleep though if I took it too late in the day. It's possible what I perceived was just a placebo effect though. I guess nootropics affect people differently because others on that aforementioned post claimed they really helped. Anyone use them and benefit from them?

Some solid advice above about getting in the gym and staying motivated. But if all else fails, bust out some pushups at your desk, or if that's taboo at your shop, find an empty office/conference room. Shouldn't take more than 5 mins to do several sets of however many you can do. Gym is best, but pushups are far better than doing nothing.

[Edited for typo]

trading hours so I'm up early anyway what's the extra 30 min to workout. I'll either run a 5k-7k or just do 5x5 bench or 5x5 deadlift depending on the day. I found just doing those 3 as my primary weekday workouts is good enough for me and it takes no longer than 35 min. Waking up a little earlier is easier to me than going to the gym after a long day, plus I get a nice natural energy, focus, and mood boost from it.

If you can get a legal prescription, is Adderall bad to abuse?

Up at 5. Gym at 5:30am. 20 minute high intensity cardio. Two upper body super sets no rest, max out, 3 sets (15minutes). Abs 5 minutes. Drenched and out it 40 minutes. Do that everyday followed by a Steam/Sauna/Steam. I try to go without food as long as possible to stay lean. Office life is tragic.

Some American pscho-esque responses here.

I think you can be normal, healthy and work a lot of hours. Get coffee in the morning (you're human, it's okay), drink A TON of water (really was a game changer when I started doing that), and take 40-60 minutes in the evening to hit the gym and do your thing. I can't stay up to 2/3/4am without at least some cardio and weights. I also try to avoid milk and wheat, not sure if it's just me, but I feel like they build up in my gut. Makes me queasy.

Wake up, double espresso, hit the gym, cold shower. Cold showers are great for waking you up, especially after a lift.

Big breakfast (not big every morning, but breakfast every morning), coffee, mid-day meal, lunch, snacks throughout day, lift heavy, post workout meal, dinner.

I find that running has the best effect at making you feel more energized. Working out heavy typically drains me and I just want to sleep.

light beer and heavy women are the keys to staying in shape

UK University Student POV during final term before exams - fitting gym and working in the day w/o getting tired
TL,DR: I missed half the year due to surgery and so had to cram 5 exams worth of revision and 5 exams worth of learning into 4 weeks and so can say this works (the most stressful time IMO with pressures somewhat similar to working life) drink plenty of water, and train 2 times a day on weekdays i think gives the kick up the pants to re-wake you up. Also blasting heavy metal in the AM is a shout. regular eating and do self shocks (eg be cold, get fresh air, get the heart pumping etc)

my routine was (if interested)

5 wake up (shower and get dressed) have meal + coffee and wash up everything from the day before. pack the days food
6 start studying before seminars
8:30 another meal and head to campus for lectures and seminars (15 min walk - fresh air etc)
Between 11:30 - 12:15 gym (compounds only ie 5x5 of either bench/deadlift/squat/military press incl. 5 min warm up and cool down either side)
Between 12:15-12:30 post work out lunch (2 chicken breasts, salad, and a pack of rice) and then onto studying/lectures etc
16:00 snack or mass gainer shake
Between 18:00-18:30 head back to room (to dump off books etc) and bust out callisthenics for 15-20 mins (15 push ups, star jumps, burpees, sit ups, squat thrusts) and shower. change into t shirt + shorts (so you feel cold and stay awake)
18:45 - 23:00 Go to A/C study rooms and study (take snacks, protein shake and a banana)
23:10-23:30 head back to room and eat a meal and go to sleep.

saturday is spent studying and doing isolation work in the gym. Sunday is spent bulk cooking in the and then sleeping

1 year doing the Keto diet and its the best thing I've done

https://www.ruled.me/guide-keto-diet/

Take Melatonine. It induces sleep

To be honest I've found what can consistently work for me is the following:

Base:
1) Up at 5:45/5:55 - 5mins of just 'waking up' without the pressure to go do anything.
2) skip breakky get ready for work.
3) In office by 6:40/6:50
4) work till 6:30/7pm - go gym from here
5) grab food on way home

That pattern holds pretty well for the Mon-Weds part of the week, with Thurs and Fri a bit touch and go.

My only advice sleep wise is try get your best sleep and exercise/healthy crap the first three days of the week, rough the last two days and then have the weekend to recover.

Terms of supps; ALCAR stack + caffeine work (plus hydration etc).

Probably should add cardio in too...

I gave up on breakfast two years ago. I find that I can focus better and more alert. Digestive system takes a lot of energy. Note I have a pretty slow digestive system. Rarely take caffeine either. Both take about 1 month to get used to (your (my) body starts to wake up naturally). But benefits I've noticed: always calm and very Clear Thinking. This all assumes: Water, 5:30am workout, and steam. If I miss any of those, which is rare, I am pretty much useless. In terms of the calmness from fasting, until lunch, it may just be me, but I have heard similar things from my buds.

I've tried all sorts of schedules.

Used to be prescribed adderall and would take 1.5 20mg tablets daily. This sucked because it destroyed by appetite and I lost a ton of weight and would feel extremely burnt out by the end of the day so I could never get into the gym.

Also I had issues with the adderall "crash" where by the time I was home from work I would be too tired to focus on anything let along make it to the gym but could still not fall asleep until like 3 AM -- quite shitty.

Decided to cut out adderall entirely and feel a ton better these days.

Weekly routine after tons of trial and error is currently as follows and I can now sleep uninterrupted from bed time to alarm:

--No alcohol Mo-Fri (unless I choose to go out Friday night)
--Go out only 1x in a 7 day time span -- max
--Multi-vitamin + fish oil in the AM
--Protein bar breakfast + 0 calorie monster
-- Lunch: usually meal prep on Sundays, but also buy something healthy if in time crunch i.e. Salata, grilled chicken sandwich wtc.)
-- Green tea & water throughout the day

Once I get home from work I'll eat a light snack take a pre-workout supp and head to the gym.

When I get home from the gym I eat my biggest meal of the day, take a warm shower to unwind, watch some relaxing TV or read a book and pop 1-2 melatonin around 11pm targeting a 7am wakeup. (if you're supplementing with melatonin aim for 8 hours) also, melatonin is an anti-oxidant and is non-habit forming I often go weeks without using it but prefer to continue its use at this point more for the health benefits than for the sleeping benefits.

Note that melatonin isn't a sleep hormone, rather it regulates your internal clock.. essentially it makes you start to get tired at the same time each day and thereafter improves the quality of your sleep. So remember to take your dose at the same time each night.

Summing up, the most important thing is to establish a routine that can be repeated on a daily basis with some room for schedule adjustments/flexibility. Aim to wake up and go to sleep at the same time each night including weekends where you don't go out and workout 5-6x per week.

Since doing this a few months back I've been feeling great, put on a lot of muscle mass, and have more focus in the office.