7 Reasons You’re Not Building Muscle

#2 You’re not getting enough rest and sleep

I’ve never understood why people sacrifice their sleep time for anything. Think about it: If you’re not rested, your body doesn’t function at its best and that means you can’t perform at your best or you can’t even enjoy anything like you would with a good night’s sleep under your belt. If you are one of those people who think they deserve a badge of honor for missing sleep, you need a serious talking to, and here it is!

The lesson:

Sleeping six to eight hours most nights is needed for muscle growth and recovery. The process of building muscle isn’t just what happens in the gym. In fact, the breaking down of muscle and the eventual repair happens when you’re at rest. I can’t stress that enough! Your resting times are when your muscles repair and build. Is cutting sleep and rest still a good idea? I thought not. If you’re not getting enough sleep, your muscles will often be over fatigued and you are just not giving them the time they need to recover. This can lead to serious injuries and definitely won’t bring about the results you’re hoping for.

Final thought:

There’s no excuse to miss out on sleep and rest. If you’re having trouble, there are non-habit forming sleep aids to consider. There are even special formulas on the market for people who train hard that will help you sleep and are designed to supposedly help the recovery and rebuilding process.