Sleep

Sleep is a vital part of recovery when training hard. You all should know this, it's nothing new. I like 7-8 hours of sleep a night, that's what is recommended anyway. However, a lot of people out there say they need more; what?? You really should not need more than that unless your routine is something mad.

Arnold made a really good comment in a video called "Life's 6 Rules" where one of his comments is that he only sleeps 6 hours a night and for those that slept more he had this to say, "then sleep faster I would recommend." This makes me laugh every time I hear it, but he's right. You should aim to sleep faster then you have more time to do other stuff. Now your probably thinking; how the hell do I sleep faster?? In all honesty I wouldn't call it sleeping faster, I would call it sleeping better or more effectively. Now your probably thinking I'm talking BS, but there is something that really helps this.

Magnesium supplements. Magnesium is mineral that your body uses and to put it simply, most of us are deficient in Magnesium and we need to supplement with it to correct our levels. You generally take magnesium supplements about and hour before you sleep and they make you drowsy and you sleep much deeper. This is what I mean when I say sleep more effectively. You may only sleep 6 hours then but you will sleep much deeper and you will wake up much more refreshed in the morning. Magnesium supplementation has helped me live of 6 hours of sleep during the working week and sometimes even less. This really helps me recover from tough training sessions too.

Along with Magnesium, another thing you can do to improve your sleep is aim to eat foods that increase Serotonin production in your body. You should consume these late evening, night time to help you drift off and sleep deeper. My favourites are bananas and drinking cold milk. A lot of you may say you shouldn't drink milk as its too high in calories and it makes you fat, well if that's your thinking drink semi-skimmed or skimmed milk. I don't care, I like a nice cold glass of milk, especially in summer when its hot and it contains good nutrients.

To sum up, too improve your sleep take a Magnesium supplement, eat a banana late evening and drink some milk. This will help you "sleep faster" according to Arnold but help you run of slightly less sleep than recommended and speed up your recovery from better sleep. A Magnesium supplement with many types of magnesium is always better. A lot of Magnesium supplements are known as ZMA or Zinc and Magnesium. Zinc is another mineral that your body uses; ZMA supplements will also give you a slight testosterone boosting advantage.

Remember I am not a medical professional or a nutritionist, I'm just an experienced guy who loves training and I'm passing on what I know. If you need more information, Google it, speak sports nutritionist, but don't speak to a doctor, they will most likely tell you that your Magnesium levels are "normal" and "within-range" which to be honest means nothing.

Give some Magnesium a try and I promise you will not regret it.

Good Evening! p.s watch the Arnold video below.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Life's Six Rules