Are you prepared to head into the thick of things with the confidence you need to start slashing fat, while maintaining or building muscle?

Great—because I want to talk about the relationship between training, sleep and muscle growth.

In a perfect world, there is unlimited freedom, numerous training windows, and optimized recovery.

For most of you, the “perfect storm” of eat, train, eat, nap, relax, eat, train, eat, sleep – is impossible.

To make matters worse, you’re probably not doing the right things to maximize muscle growth and recovery while sleeping.

The good news is that you can make a few simple changes and get much more benefit from sleep each night.

They are:

Sleep Myths and Nighttime Secrets for Max Muscle

#1 Don’t consume caffeine in the 2^nd half of the day so you can get to bed earlier

It’s been proven that deeper benefits occur earlier in the sleep cycle—and if you don’t overdo stimulants and get to bed earlier, you’ve just maximized your chances.

#2 Get 8-10 hours of sleep… with one condition: You eat first

Because you don’t want muscle to break down while sleeping, it’s ideal to consume a some protein before bed. A whey protein shake would be great. This way, you get the maximum growth hormone secretion and rebuilding—while preventing muscle from breaking down overnight.

#3 Sleep more on heavy training days—but don’t oversleep!

Oversleeping can disrupt your overall sleep rhythm and is not recommended. However, there are times when you really push your body and may need more sleep to fully recover and take full advantage of your training. In such cases, get to bed earlier and avoid anything stimulating—from substances (caffeine, alcohol or tyrosine-rich foods)… to technology, like TV, tablets or laptops. These things can increase alertness and make it harder for you to fall asleep quickly.

Overall, proper sleep is needed for everything you want—greater muscle growth, fat loss, hormone optimization, increased energy levels, mental clarity and more.

If you start with these three steps you’ll be far ahead of most others.

Also, before we go, I’d love to hear more about your experiences with training and sleep—and where you think you can improve so that you get more muscle-building sleep each night.

Let me know in the comments below!