@sir_faith It's somewhere around 3-5% of the population who can run on 6 hours of sleep.
Can you make good gains with like 6-7 hours of sleep as a beginner?
- Thread starter wishwish55
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jacobhudson
New member
@msaltmyer I also wonder if people that are sleeping more have
A) more time on their hands for gym, diet etc
B) have less life stress and less cortisol
C) put more effort into their routines because if they care enough to always get 8 hours, they probably are more intense about their workout/diet etc
A) more time on their hands for gym, diet etc
B) have less life stress and less cortisol
C) put more effort into their routines because if they care enough to always get 8 hours, they probably are more intense about their workout/diet etc
@mybridges New research by Wang and colleagues (2018) shows us just how detrimental mild sleep deprivation may be for your physique.
For 8 weeks overweight participants slept 1 hour less than normal on working days. They could make up for this in the weekend with 1 hour of extra sleep on both Saturday and Sunday.
Another group of participants could sleep their regular 6 hours and 20 mins every single night.
Both groups were dieting to lose fat, eating around 1400 calories per day.
Seems like the 2 extra hours of sleep during the weekend could not make up for the consistent lack of sleep during the week.
The difference was in the fat-to-muscle loss ratios.
In the sleep deprived, a whopping 83% of total weight loss (~3 kg) was lean mass, while 17% was fat mass.
In contrast, the sound sleepers lost 81% of their weight as fat and 17% as lean mass.
Earlier research supports this stunting of fat loss and muscle preservation: sleeping a little over 5 hours per night more than cut fat loss in half [Nedeltcheva 2010].
pubmed
pubmed 2
For 8 weeks overweight participants slept 1 hour less than normal on working days. They could make up for this in the weekend with 1 hour of extra sleep on both Saturday and Sunday.
Another group of participants could sleep their regular 6 hours and 20 mins every single night.
Both groups were dieting to lose fat, eating around 1400 calories per day.
Seems like the 2 extra hours of sleep during the weekend could not make up for the consistent lack of sleep during the week.
The difference was in the fat-to-muscle loss ratios.
In the sleep deprived, a whopping 83% of total weight loss (~3 kg) was lean mass, while 17% was fat mass.
In contrast, the sound sleepers lost 81% of their weight as fat and 17% as lean mass.
Earlier research supports this stunting of fat loss and muscle preservation: sleeping a little over 5 hours per night more than cut fat loss in half [Nedeltcheva 2010].
pubmed
pubmed 2
theadmiral
New member
@zorah654 It's interesting but there's no mention of resistance training involved or the amount of protein consumed
Correct me if I'm wrong but to me it seems that the only conclusion we can draw is that lack of sleep will negatively impact non trainees with regards to fat vs muscle loss but we have no idea how that ratio changes when the trainee is actively working to preserve muscle mass during a fat loss phase
It also doesn't address the angle of building muscle and whether lack of sleep will significantly impact the recovery necessary to build muscle in a caloric surplus
I personally don't think this answers the OP's question
Correct me if I'm wrong but to me it seems that the only conclusion we can draw is that lack of sleep will negatively impact non trainees with regards to fat vs muscle loss but we have no idea how that ratio changes when the trainee is actively working to preserve muscle mass during a fat loss phase
It also doesn't address the angle of building muscle and whether lack of sleep will significantly impact the recovery necessary to build muscle in a caloric surplus
I personally don't think this answers the OP's question
@zorah654 Consistency and diet. I've gotten more results this year with 6-8 hours of sleep than most my life with 8.
I am also doing a job that burns an extra 700-1000 calories a day and don't make much of it up until the weekends.
But when you got the volume that works with you, the protein, and the right supplement, the results come with time.
Also, I take ZMA's, beetroot extract, eaa's, creatine, and 2/3 scoop of whey a day. Bought the cheapest I could find. But those are the only supplements that I have had results with. If I had to choose, I would just use creatine and ZMA's and get the rest from foods. Zinc is lost during activities, so it really helps when you are overdoing it. Creatine is just good. Beets help with bloodflow, so also a better workout and recovery. Whey and aminos to boost recovery and make sure I get more protein in.
Then figuring out how much to work out(based on your recovery) and what exercises for the results you want. I built up my shoulders quick with lateral raises, now it's ass and chest time to catch up. Last will be back, but I can do 8 pull ups and that was what's important to me.
I am also doing a job that burns an extra 700-1000 calories a day and don't make much of it up until the weekends.
But when you got the volume that works with you, the protein, and the right supplement, the results come with time.
Also, I take ZMA's, beetroot extract, eaa's, creatine, and 2/3 scoop of whey a day. Bought the cheapest I could find. But those are the only supplements that I have had results with. If I had to choose, I would just use creatine and ZMA's and get the rest from foods. Zinc is lost during activities, so it really helps when you are overdoing it. Creatine is just good. Beets help with bloodflow, so also a better workout and recovery. Whey and aminos to boost recovery and make sure I get more protein in.
Then figuring out how much to work out(based on your recovery) and what exercises for the results you want. I built up my shoulders quick with lateral raises, now it's ass and chest time to catch up. Last will be back, but I can do 8 pull ups and that was what's important to me.
davejunior
New member
@davejunior Not everyone needs 8 hours a night. That's an average.
While sleep is obviously very important, it can actually be counterproductive to get too caught up in the science, sleep hygiene, and obsessing over getting enough sleep (cause anxiety about sleep is one of the biggest causes of insomnia in the first place).
I only use 1 thing to determine if I got enough sleep nowadays: do I feel good? Do I have energy and feel alert throughout the day? If yes, I don't sweat it. If no, I take a nap lol
While sleep is obviously very important, it can actually be counterproductive to get too caught up in the science, sleep hygiene, and obsessing over getting enough sleep (cause anxiety about sleep is one of the biggest causes of insomnia in the first place).
I only use 1 thing to determine if I got enough sleep nowadays: do I feel good? Do I have energy and feel alert throughout the day? If yes, I don't sweat it. If no, I take a nap lol
@davejunior Even if I get 7 hours it’s not uninterrupted. I’m getting up to pee at least twice during the night 
athenstojerusalem
New member
@davejunior Sleep routines are powerful so if you're used to getting less, there will be an adjustment period before you can reliably get more. In my experience this also becomes more pronounced with age. Also, older people need less sleep
@wishwish55 As a beginner you will make good gains regardless (assuming diet, stimulus and etc is dialed in) you would probably make better gains with more sleep. But you should still see improvements.
wishwish55
New member
@wishwish55 I did a full body building style bulk this year, super interesting way to approach muscle gains and very effective.