When training or working out, we focus on form, intensity, cardio levels, heart rate, reps and sets etc.  One thing most don’t pay enough attention to is sleep - even though it is one of the most important factors in your recovery and progress.
 
During our workouts, we put our body to the test by decreasing or depleting our energy supplies and putting a strain on our muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs etc.  For example, after doing an intense workout, your muscle fibers suffer from micro damage.  This is what causes you to be sore 1-3 days after a workout.  However, since these muscle fibers got damaged, your body reacts by making them better.  This means they can get larger (hypertrophy) after weight lifting or become more efficient (better blood flow, more mitochondria in the cells etc.) after an endurance workout.  These are only a few examples of how the body improves the function of the muscle that was trained and micro damage is not the only aspect that needs recovery.  Think about restoring the glycogen levels, processing the excess lactate* in the muscles, re-instituting body fluids and much more.
 
  • Contrary to popular belief, lactic acid is not what builds up in skeletal muscles - lactate is.  Biochemist used to believe that the body produces lactic acid which immediately turns into lactate after losing a proton.  Now it has been proven that this was incorrect.
 
All of these processes take time and can be sped up if you do certain things after training.  One of the most important is sleeping enough.
 
Everyone knows that rest between workouts will help you recover but there is still a difference between rest and sleep.  A few processes that occur while you sleep:
 
  • Cortisol levels go down.  Cortisol levels elevate in periods of stress.  Since training is a form of stress on the body, cortisol gets released.  This unfortunately can be catabolic in long term.  When you do not rest enough in between training sessions, your body will go into a state of overtraining and cortisol levels will remain high while insulin levels will remain low.  Since insulin is a great hormone to build tissues, this may lead to performance and/or muscle loss.  Sleeping is a great way to lower the cortisol levels.
 
  • Increased levels of Human Growth Hormone.  When sleeping, your natural levels of HGH get elevated.  This mainly occurs in the later and deeper phases of sleep so when you cut your sleep short, you are missing out on a significant opportunity to recover.   HGH supports muscle recovery, promotes lipolysis (decomposing fat), stimulates the immune system etc.  No doubt this will aid your recovery and performance.
 
  • Higher testosterone levels.  The more and better you sleep, the higher your testosterone levels will be when waking up.  This gives you mental and physical energy and promotes bone and muscle mass since it is an anabolic steroid.  The body produces testosterone itself in men and women.  The levels differ but women have testosterone in their system and men have estrogen in their body.
 
So instead of getting paranoid over your supplements or whether you did or did not train hard enough today...  get some sleep first.  It will benefit you both mentally and physically and the next day you will be ready to work out again.
Written by Sander V. for Define Defense Martial Arts & Private Training in downtown Boulder, Colorado.
Define Defense is Boulder’s premier place for modern martial arts, self defense and personal training. We are not the typical martial arts school as we incorporate personal training and fitness into our classes. Our clients enjoy a blend of fight / self defense instruction and physical training. Define Defense has a fully equipped gym which includes over 1,000 square feet of martial arts mats and cutting edge gym equipment.

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