I’ve read studies and articles on the role sleep plays in muscle building (and fat loss). Unfortunately, my current schedule doesn’t allow for much of it. I get about 5 hours a day and try to sneak in naps/extended sleeps on weekend whenever possible.
Just wanted to hear some thoughts/anecdotes of people who have made great strides in body recomposition despite sub-par sleeping habits.
Is it worth cutting out night workouts to get extra sleep if one’s primary goal is increased muscle mass?
Quality of sleep is extremely important and can influence almost every facet of your life. If you are getting low quality sleep as a result of your workout times, I think that it is more than worth it to rearrange your schedule in an effort to gain higher quality sleep.
Also, if your striving for better body comp, working out in the mornings may be a better choice for you, because you start your metabolism up early and let it run through out the day. Just make sure your taking care of your diet (use the search function here if you need help with that), as that is the most vital part of developing a healthy body.
I’m wondering about this as well. My job is pretty laborious, so I need a few hours between the end of work and my workout to rest and refuel. Unfortunately, this usually has me hitting the gym around nine or ten at night which makes it a tad difficult for me to get to sleep until fairly late. Basically, I’m sacrificing sleep for a better workout, and I’m hoping it’s the right call.
Maybe every once in a while cut out a workout to get a better night’s sleep but really that depends on you. Tinker around to find the Pareto Optimum where you’re maximizing sleep and quality of workouts, but minimizing unnecessary off days. Man, this Eco class I’m taking has me thinking of everything in economic efficiency terms lol.
just from my experience ive found sleep has a huge impact on my progress in the gym. when im sleeping well, im growing. but my job cuts into my sleep routine at times and when im getting less than 6 hours a night my gym performance will suffer and ive actually started to lose weight.
im anal about it now, even more so than nutrition, and if i had to ch-ose between a training session and 8 hours of sleep id choose sleep without thinking twice.
Sleep is everything.
try and change some stuff around so you can get more sleep. Do it
[quote]matko5 wrote:
Sleep is everything.[/quote]
X2. If it is possible I would say move your workouts to the morning. Evening workouts rev up your metabolism and raise your overall body temp, which stays up for at least a couple hours after, thus they are going to have a pretty negative impact on sleep for most individuals.