Joe Pietaro
Joe Pietaro Contributer
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- May 30, 2014
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Building quality lean muscle is hard enough, with the strict diet that it entails, the hours in the gym, bottles and bottles of supplements all over the place and - for those who choose - chemical enhancement. You also need to be vigilant of proper hydration, especially when performing cardio. So all of these aspects obviously take a lot of time and like the old saying goes, there aren't enough hours in the day. But all of this dedication may go to waste if you forego what may be the second most important (after diet) of this mix - sleep.
Rest and recuperation are essential because you don't grow in the gym, but rather in the bedroom. (That didn't come out perfectly, but perhaps it did... depending on your priorities.) You need to get a good amount of sleep and the number recommended is at least seven hours and preferably eight. It kind of goes like this in the game of life: you work eight hours, play for eight and sleep for eight. Us in the bodybuilding game hit the gym as part of our 'play time,' if you will, and that makes the last part of that trio so much more important.
You will begin to notice when you are not giving yourself enough time to sleep. One easy sign is your eyes - are they red, puffy and sporting bags under them? The eyes begin to droop when you are keeping them from getting enough rest. You are actually throwing off your hormone control and tissue repair when not allowing yourself deep sleep. Another tip is to gauge your hunger level. When your body is tired, the hormones that affect your urge to eat is out of whack and higher, causing you to eat more and that usually leads to snacking on the wrong foods. You will actually crave junk food when being awake too long.
The vast majority of us live on coffee and the average person drinks two cups per day. But when you are sleep deprived, that number multiplies many tines over in some cases. But that is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound; it's barely a short term solution. You may be able to push yourself for an extra hour or so with that ninth cup of coffee, but it's better to listen to your body and get more rest so that you can go back to enjoying coffee and not needing it.
When you're tired, you easily become irritable and that leads to negative situations that you would usually fluff off. You become a moody pain in the ass and don't enjoy anything, complaining about this and that. Some folks even feel depressed when they are exhausted and that cannot be helpful in any aspect of life. It's also hard to focus when you do not sleep enough and even your regular commute behind the wheel can become difficult. Your awareness is effected and that can also lead to injuries in the gym, as well.
But perhaps the most ironic part of this is that even when you finally give yourself rest, you wake up feeling worse than you did before crashing out. You have dry mouth, a sore throat, headache and still feel groggy. This is a direct indication that you need to adjust your schedule and find the time to sleep properly, or else you'll be running in place and probably backwards.
Rest and recuperation are essential because you don't grow in the gym, but rather in the bedroom. (That didn't come out perfectly, but perhaps it did... depending on your priorities.) You need to get a good amount of sleep and the number recommended is at least seven hours and preferably eight. It kind of goes like this in the game of life: you work eight hours, play for eight and sleep for eight. Us in the bodybuilding game hit the gym as part of our 'play time,' if you will, and that makes the last part of that trio so much more important.
You will begin to notice when you are not giving yourself enough time to sleep. One easy sign is your eyes - are they red, puffy and sporting bags under them? The eyes begin to droop when you are keeping them from getting enough rest. You are actually throwing off your hormone control and tissue repair when not allowing yourself deep sleep. Another tip is to gauge your hunger level. When your body is tired, the hormones that affect your urge to eat is out of whack and higher, causing you to eat more and that usually leads to snacking on the wrong foods. You will actually crave junk food when being awake too long.
The vast majority of us live on coffee and the average person drinks two cups per day. But when you are sleep deprived, that number multiplies many tines over in some cases. But that is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound; it's barely a short term solution. You may be able to push yourself for an extra hour or so with that ninth cup of coffee, but it's better to listen to your body and get more rest so that you can go back to enjoying coffee and not needing it.
When you're tired, you easily become irritable and that leads to negative situations that you would usually fluff off. You become a moody pain in the ass and don't enjoy anything, complaining about this and that. Some folks even feel depressed when they are exhausted and that cannot be helpful in any aspect of life. It's also hard to focus when you do not sleep enough and even your regular commute behind the wheel can become difficult. Your awareness is effected and that can also lead to injuries in the gym, as well.
But perhaps the most ironic part of this is that even when you finally give yourself rest, you wake up feeling worse than you did before crashing out. You have dry mouth, a sore throat, headache and still feel groggy. This is a direct indication that you need to adjust your schedule and find the time to sleep properly, or else you'll be running in place and probably backwards.
