Increased my sleep from 0-6 to 6-8 hours and it did not make any difference at the gym

[dearlyloved]

So I have had trouble with sleeping most of my adult life, with some ups and downs. This year it hit me really bad where I was sleeping 3-4 hours per night and sometimes with no sleep at all. This went on for about 4 months before I finally gave up and went to a psychiatrist, which put me on meds which work really well for me as the tittle suggest.

Mentally I feel so much better but physically it made no difference at the gym. I am still progressing weekly at same pace as before, no faster gains or faster recovery or whatever,

I am writing this because I have seen multiple people here saying how sleep is the best steroid and how 2 additional hours could make a huge difference, well, not for me.

During this 4 month phase I was hitting gym 5 times a week, taking all sets to at minimum 0 RIR (except squats & RDLs) and often going beyond failure and I was still recovering just fine. I had weeks where I was just absolutely exhausted and went to the gym with the idea of taking deload week earlier if I did not add reps on my first working set. I added reps every single time.

 

[dawn16]

@dearlyloved “Mentally I feel so much better” - is all I had to hear. Bodybuilding aside, your life is gonna be better overall so enjoy

 

[mbrandan]

@dearlyloved Sleep is necessary. If not for gains then for not dying of a stroke at 44. Sleep is necessary don't fool yourself. The time spent not sleeping just counts down the reverse timer on the back end.

This post sounds like an alcoholic proclaiming not drinking didn't change a thing.

You are also most likely over training.

 

[dearlyloved]

@mbrandan

Sleep is necessary. If not for gains then for not dying of a stroke at 44. Sleep is necessary don't fool yourself.

When did I say that sleep is not important? I said that more sleep does not have effect on my training, that's it.

 

[mbrandan]

@dearlyloved When did I say that you said that sleep is not important.

I'm just sharing the importance of sleeping, that's it.

 

[cristoforo]

@mbrandan

The time spent not sleeping just counts down the reverse timer on the back end.

Good quote.

 

[truehealthbalance]

@cristoforo english isnt my first language, could you explain that?

 

[cristoforo]

@truehealthbalance People often think that sleeping less is a "hack" which gives them more waking hours to spend on their life, when in reality they are decreasing their overall lifespan through chronic sleep deprivation and therefore not gaining any additional time in the long-run.

 

[kalovisor90]

@dearlyloved Sleep is undoubtedly amazing for recovery however I do think people almost always over sensationalise everything when it comes to fitness.

I blame social media and the need to get clicks for ad revenue but I digress…

As always go down a checklist of things…

How’s sleep? You’ve increased it to the recommended hours great keep that variable the same.

How’s your diet macros and micros? Use cronometer plug your diet into it are you missing any vital vitamins and minerals, don’t just rely on multi vits.

What’s your training volume like? When was the last time you dialled back the volume if you’ve been running a high volume split to allow some recovery time/we can’t always push forward sometimes it pays to go to maintenance volume to allow the body time to rest, if you’ve been running low volume start adding more sets and see where that takes you.

Do you stick to one style of training only? e.g. only doing hypertrophy, maybe it’s time for a strength mesocycle to switch up the stimulus for a month or two. Likewise If you’ve just been lifting heavy maybe it’s time to enter those higher rep sets to again switch up the stimulus.

These are all things to keep in mind when it comes to training…that being said you mentioned you’re progressing…so what’s the problem? Natural training is a slow tedious grind, but progress is progress, sure you might have thought adding sleep could have sped the process up but have you ever stopped to think maybe you’re gaining at the rate of which your genetics allow already?

 

[bananaz]

@dearlyloved If you believe you’re overtraining, then the general rule is:

1. Sleep more, or
2. Eat more, or
3. Train less

Or some combination of the 3.

 

[dawn16]

@bananaz Where does he say anything about overtraining?

 

[jontue]

@dawn16 I noticed this too. Second person talking about overtraining for no reason.

 

[bananaz]

@jontue Why else would one expect more sleep to produce more gains?

 

[jontue]

@bananaz Overtraining causes fatigue, declining performance, and potential injury. He said nothing to indicate this at all. He’s actually the opposite where he’s been making progress with low sleep.

 

[bananaz]

@jontue Fair point. But the premise was, “I slept more and didn’t see any additional gains”, then discussing that at length.

 

[mia2781]

@dearlyloved I'm glad you're getting better sleep! Even if it hasn't resulted in any visible gym gains so far, it's still a much more sustainable way of living. Well done

 

[freeinchrist1611]

@dearlyloved How much caffeine are you intaking? I have a rule no caffeine after 3pm, just ruins my sleep dude

 

[dearlyloved]

@freeinchrist1611 Zero.

 

[joshrave43]

@dearlyloved Recovery happens in short wave sleep, which occurs at the beginning of a sleep cycle, and is optimized when you follow your circadian rhythm, ie consistent sleep and wake time.

I also feel completed sleep cycles trump more sleep...if you wake up not ready to conquer the world, you most likely interrupted a sleep cycle, in SWS.

 

[distracted1]

@dearlyloved The people in here downplaying the role of sleep and it’s importance, blow my mind. Instead of reading Reddit, go read about sleep and it’s function on our bodies for a few hours. You might understand.