Recovery, Shmovery

So, why the five hour rule?  I believe that sleep, rest and recovery are important...but...but...

There's always a "but".

I have in the last month made several life changes.  One was the diet change that I told you about recently.  The other significant one is that I have upped the intensity of my workouts and overall workout plan.  Regarding the workout plan, I now will do both a power lift and a conditioning workout on most days.  During my workout I push myself harder as well as pushing my workout partner(s) harder (which is usually reciprocated without being asked).  Heck, even the guys in the weight room who think we're a couple of crazies even tell us to keep moving when they see us slowing down!

Sooooo.......why the five hour rule!?  It's simply this.  When I was a younger man (boy) I found that I could function almost indefinitely on a steady 5 hours of sleep per night schedule.  Of course, on the weekends (specifically Sundays) I usually get a little extra, which is not a bad thing.  I have found that when I've allowed myself to sleep/stay-in-bed for excessively longer ie. 10-12 hours-ish, I tend to feel very sluggish and never seem to really "get going" that particular day.

So, here's my advice:  Find what your optimum sleep amount is and then stick to it.  How do you determine this?  Most of us, adults that is, have a good idea what this magic number is...and it's different for everyone.  The magic number is the least amount of sleep you can get and still function at your full potential in your life, workouts, job, studies, etc...  I do strongly believe that more sleep is not necessarily better.  As I mentioned earlier, I often feel worse when getting an excessive amount of sleep.  So there is a point of diminishing returns.  In other words, you can have too much of a good thing!

That being said...sleep, rest and recovery are important.  I believe that an overall healthy and active lifestyle will help you recover faster than the "average" person.  For more on this topic and a very good read see what Greg Glassman says about recovery.

Who is this Greg Glassman guy you ask?  He's "only" the founder of Crossfit!

Eat right, get out and push yourself and get the right amount of sleep...this is, at the very least, a good place to start!