The Importance of Listening to Your Body: In the Down Time

The three components of physical fitness are exercise, proper nutrition, and rest. Yet how many people do you see haunt the gym—day in and day out—without any rest? This is one of the biggest flaws of most workout programs. Remember, you don’t build muscle in the gym. You build muscle when you’re at rest.

If your goal is more LBM, then it’s really important you get adequate sleep each night. If you had a “big weekend” or were up really late the night before, you may not be able to push yourself in the gym as hard as you normally do. In these cases, take an extra day off, get some quality nutrition (I highly recommend adding whey protein to your diet), and take a day of extra rest before you head back into the gym. My partner and I make a priority of getting at least eight hours of sleep at night, and if we don’t—we can really feel the difference in our workouts the next day!

If you’re a rebel and decide to workout anyway, be especially aware of how hydrated you are. Most of us don’t drink enough water. A good rule of thumb is to take your bodyweight and divide it in half. For example, I weigh about 230 pounds, so I need to drink 115 ounces of water every day. This equates to 14 eight-ounce glasses.