Nap for my Back

There was a time in my life when I thought sleeping was a huge waste of time. I had so much to do, so much to fit in, and sleeping just ate into that. 


I have since learned (a long time ago) that sleep and rest are just as important to building muscle as the actual lifting, in fact, without proper sleep, your efforts in the gym may actually be more detrimental.


In a world of "bigger is better, more is better" this is often forgotten- people go to the gym and train and train and neglect the other half that is necessary- the rest and rebuilding.


I needed to change my training split, I have to add a second Back day in since I have a competition coming up. I have found adding a second Back day gives me the wide back, impressive shoulders, and well developed rear delts and biceps that all help me place well.


I was discussing it with Roy and told him the only thing I think I can do is eliminate my second hamstring morning on Thursday and add in the Back. I hated to do it as we have been working on legs and really making progress, but I have to get that second day in.  


Then I had an idea and I sent him a private message on Facebook. "What if I trained back on Wednesday morning instead of doing my conditioning? I would still see you in the evening for my quad training. It's not unheard of in the Bodybuilding world to lift twice in one day - it's done all the time." 


He messaged back: "Yes, but in the Bodybuilding world Jay Cutler goes home and naps for a few hours before training again at night, I don't think you can do that."


I thought about it and decided I could easily do that. I cannot sleep a few hours, but I can get a good 30 minutes in. We decided to try it and see how I did.


Wednesday morning I trained back and biceps, my usual session. It felt good to add a second day in. Off I went to work and plotted my day.


I have my own office, complete with a door.  At 11:15 I shut the door, closed the blinds and everyone knows that means "stay away" (I change in my office to run stairs at lunch, so the closed blinds is nothing new).

I have a big, long body pillow that I laid out under my window, and although laying in the sunny window would feel great, sort of like a cat, I decided I needed to close the blind and make it dark.

I slipped the pillow under my desk, it would make it a bit darker and cozier; I had my light wool blanket too.

I set the alarm on my phone for 30 minutes, that is all I would really need, and all I could fit in. Much to my surprise, I fell asleep almost immediately (I did notice the wall clock is very loud though). 


I awoke suddenly- I had forgotten one key thing- turn my office phone off! Damn, someone called and needed to talk to me. Luckily my alarm would sound in only 5 minutes, so I didn't lose too much rest time.

I folded my pillow in half, tucked it under my desk out of sight and got back to work. I left at 5:00 and headed off to meet Roy. I told him I napped and felt great- I was ready for a brutal quad day. He seemed intrigued.

I killed it. I felt rested, I felt strong, and excited. I love new things, and this would allow me to fit all my training in and develop the legs and back simultaneously.

The only question now is how many days a week do I nap? I could really get used to this!

Sleep, Sweet Sleep

I take all my own pictures (surprised?) and unless I set the timer at 10 seconds and ran and jumped onto the bed, I couldn't get one of myself sleeping, so here is a picture of my back after I took my competition suit off, you can see the marks it left on my back where the tan was rubbed off. I was ready for sleep, is that close enough?

I have always had a sleep issue. I don't have a problem falling asleep, but I am a light sleeper and every tiny noise or light wakes me up. Plus, I get up to use the bathroom anywhere from 3 to 5 times a night, then have a hard time falling back asleep.

Until now.

I have tried everything, I take ZMA (Zinc and Magnesium Aspartate) and Night Time Herbs (Valarian root and hops) and GABA. I have tried melatonin and every other natural sleep remedy. I drink sleepy time tea.

Roy said I need to try Inositol and he gave me the last of his. I slept. I dreamt, I woke and fell back to sleep immediately, I was rested.

I bought my own and now I sleep every night. I still take my ZMA, GABA and my nighttime herbs (because they also offer other benefits), and I love my tea as I read before bed. But a half hour before, I mix up my water and Inositol and wait for the sleepiness to come over me.

Have you heard of Dr. Atkins? The Atkins Diet?  Here is what he had to say about it:

Inositol was among the very first nutrients I used for pharmaceutical purposes. It relaxes nervous tension and encourages sounder sleep. Breast milk is one of the richest sources of Inositol and thankfully these days most  infant formulas do contain it.

There is more he has to say, a lot more, you can find it here.


Inositol is also used to treat depression, anxienty, OCDC and bi-polar disorders, in other words, it makes you feel good!

But you cannot just take any Inositol, you need to take enough. Roy gave me Uber Inositol T from Poliquin. You take 2 teaspoons 30 minutes before bed, which is 4000 mg (4 grams). I looked at many other sites, most other brands recommend anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 a teaspoon per serving! Not nearly the high dosage recommended by the Poliquin brand. 


You can purchase any brand, just keep in mind that if they recommend 1/4 teaspoon and that is 500 mg, you will need to take 2 teaspoons to get to the 4 grams. 


Sweet Dreams!

Sleep

You count your calories, you time your cardio and you chart your weights. What about sleep? Sleep is so important and most of us don't get nearly enough. It really can make or break your physique and your performance.


I am writing this after the 4th of July, I have had interrupted sleep now for three nights due to the fireworks. I have been just absolutely skittish thinking that I can sleep tonight!

I never appreciated how important sleep was until several years ago, and now, I plan my sleep as much as I plan my food, training and supplements, they all go together. 

SC used to always tell me to get more sleep, and I thought he was just being a lazy bum making up excuses for lazing around in bed on weekends, now I know he was right.

I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle where researchers from Stanford University conducted a very small study with the Varsity basketball team. The study has been published in the journal Sleep.

Basically every single one of the players showed improvement when they increased their sleep, not some of them, not most of them, but all of them. 

Collectively, they took almost a full second off their times in 282 foot sprints on a basketball court, that's equivalent to the length of a court three times- and they improved the accuracy of both their free-throw and three-point shooting by 9%

The Stanford study seems to demonstrate that athletes- elite or not - might seriously consider making sleep a part of their training programs, alongside nutrition or weight lifting, sleep experts said.

Read the entire article here, then get some extra shut eye!

Festival Of Sleep Day

I love reading and always seem to come across some interesting little tidbits related to health and fitness and I like to pass on the ones I think have some merit.

This is Thor, my son's cat, asleep on a down comforter...guess he got tired playing with the pink lacrosse ball!

I understand today (January 3) is Festival of Sleep Day !

All joking aside, sleep is vital to maintaining a healthy body weight, and to  build lean mass, in addition to proper functioning of every cell in your body.

I am miserable when I haven't had my sleep. I cannot think, I don't make sense, I am not productive at work and worst of all, I cannot lift heavy weights when I haven't had a good, long sleep! I need more than I get, but as it is, I go to bed by 9:00 pm usually, it would be really hard for me to fit in anything after work if I went to bed much earlier.

Scientist now know that sleep is essential to memory- your brain uses those hours to arrange memories so you can better recall key emotional moments. (To me, this is almost like running a de-frag on my computer!)

Other good reasons to put in the pillow time: People who skimp on sleep show elevated levels of inflammation (a risk factor for heart disease and stroke) and crave higher-calorie foods because of hormone imbalances.

"Good sleep equals good health" says Dr. Stuart Quan of Harvard Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine.

So stop watching TV, have a hot cup of chamomile tea, some ZMA to help promote natural growth hormone and go to bed early!