Are you a person who trains more than three times a week?

Are you a person who meals prep on a regular basis? Or a person who checks on their nutrition on a regular basis?

Are you a person who gets 7-8 hrs of sleep a night?

If you are a person who’s feeling that their gym progress has plateaued for a long period of time and answered “YES” to the first two questions but “No” to the last question concerning sleep. Congratulations we found the reason you’re possibly plateauing.

You can have the best nutrition plan and/or the most efficient training plan but it won’t mean anything if you don’t get proper sleep.

What are some benefits of a good night’s sleep

Sleep promotes muscle growth and recovery.

Heavy weight training creates these microtears in the muscles that you work on, for example when you do a heavy leg day that focuses on your hamstrings and quads, you will get these microtears in those areas due to the volume of work you did in the gym. The only way these microtears can be repaired is through proper nutrition and SLEEP. According to most studies you need 7-9 hours of sleep to promote consistent muscle growth.

Increased Strength and Stamina

As a person who practices powerlifting as a discipline, I need the sleep to keep these numbers going up on every program cycle. The amount of sleep I get every night has really helped my strength numbers and has really helped in avoiding those bad days in training where everything feels heavier than usual.

Reduces Injury

I’ve been weightlifting/powerlifting since I was 15 years old and while I’ve been able to get away with a lack of sleep for maybe the first 10 years.The last 8 years I’ve been aware of making good sleep a habit instead of something that I should do eventually.

Sleep suggestions

Meditation- If you are someone like me who’s mind is constantly pacing throughout the day, then practicing stillness can be a great way to silence the mind before bed. Start out with a 3 minute practice of just practicing calming breathing patterns before bed.

Stop doomscrolling- I know that we are attached to our phones and we have them by our nightstands before bed, but instead of doomscrolling for the final hours of your day worrying about things that are not in your control. I suggest spending the final hours doing something to calm the brain. Watch your favorite show, listen to some calming music, anything but doomscrolling.

Blackout Curtains- This is more environmental not mental, however this still can be a big help in creating that calming, nighttime environment you need to help you in reaching your muscle building goals. Building that nighttime environment is key however that may look like. If you want to light some candles and take a warm bath or do a calming yoga session. You have the power to create the environment you wish to help start the sleeping process.

I’m aware and understanding of my own personal situation as an independent trainer as I’m writing this. I have the advantage of setting my own schedule to assure that I get plenty of sleep on a nightly basis, but I hope you use some of these tips in your own personal situation to better your sleeping habits and I hope this helps in you staying consistent in the gym.

If you reached the end of this blog, Thank you first and foremost for taking a few minutes to read my work, I hope you learned something and always remember

The winner is you!!!