Building Muscle in 30 Minutes a Day – Recovery
Building muscle in 30 minutes a day
Today's a day to relax. Or at least learn about it.
A critical component of any exercise program is recovery. It's just as important as exercise and nutrition. In fact, if you don't give your body enough time to rest and recover from the strenuous workouts you do, no matter what you do otherwise, your muscle gains will be minimal, if even positive.
Yeah, you could lose size even if you train right and eat right.
It's a sad fact. But it's true. I've seen super athletes fall from grace by partying too hard into the early morning. I've also been plagued myself by a significant lack of sleep for extended periods of time (years, decades even). I always rationalized my poor sleeping habits with a mucho macho phrase:
I can sleep all I want when I die.
Of course, this thinking is all crap. There's nothing good to be said about sleep deprivation. So let's lay it on the line right now: Get at least 8 hours of sound, restful sleep every single night. Here are a few other "Rules of Recovery" –
- Go to sleep at the same time each night.
- Avoid shift work if at all possible.
- If you must consume caffeine, do so only prior to 3PM.
- Rise at the same time each morning.
Try to abstain from these activities –
- Going to sleep full.
- Exercising immediately before going to bed.
- Consuming any caffeine after about 3PM.
- Taking any kind of weight-loss aids, like diet pills, as they contain caffeine and other stimulants.
Read more about sleep here.
Sleep isn't the only component of Recovery.
You also need to calm down and relax. If you want to build maximum muscle, you need to put your mind at ease and stop worrying about stuff. I used to be a worrier; it's a trait I got from my mom, who constantly worries about this, that, and the other thing. Fortunately, I have overcome this unfortunate mental characteristic. It's a long road, but it's certainly worth it.
Sit if you can stand, walk if you can run. That sort of thing. Conserve as much energy as possible throughout the day. You will find that you won't have to eat as much to get results, either.
It's really win-win.
There's more on Rest here.
If you follow the advice given in this series, you will most definitely be training and eating right. If you find that you still aren't gaining the muscle you think you ought to be gaining, look first at your recovery practices.
- Are you getting enough sleep?
- Do you fidget while working or watching TV?
- Do your ears ring (classic sign of overtraining)?
- Is something bugging you and making you sleep less soundly, for less time, or both?
That's it for this series. I hope you liked it – let me know in the Comments! Thanks for visiting.
To recap, this is the entire series, How to Build Muscle in 30 Minutes a Day:
