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Athletic performance was assessed after each regularly scheduled swim practice. After obtaining extra sleep, athletes swam a 15-meter meter sprint 0.51 seconds faster, reacted 0.15 seconds quicker off the blocks, improved turn time by 0.10 seconds and increased kick strokes by 5.0 kicks.

The study also monitored daytime sleepiness and weekly changes in mood

 Daytime sleepiness decreased significantly with extra sleep, while mood improvements related to getting extra sleep included higher ratings of vigor and lower ratings of fatigue.

Typically, many athletes accumulate a large sleep debt by not obtaining their individual sleep requirement each night, which can have detrimental effects on cognitive function, mood, and reaction time

These negative effects can be minimized or eliminated by prioritizing sleep in general and, more specifically, obtaining extra sleep to reduce one’s sleep debt.”

Mah and colleagues reported similar results in a previous study of six players on the Stanford men’s basketball team

also has worked with the football, tennis, golf, cross country, and track and field teams at Stanford.

It is interesting to note that many of the athletes in the various sports I have worked with, including the swimmers in this study

Make sleep a part of your regular training regimen.

Extend nightly sleep for several weeks to reduce your sleep debt before competition.

Maintain a low sleep debt by obtaining a sufficient amount of nightly sleep (seven to eight hours for adults, nine or more hours for teens and young adults).

Keep a regular sleep-wake schedule, going to bed and waking up at the same times every day.

Take brief naps to obtain additional sleep during the day, especially if drowsy.

The body needs sleep and rest time to build and repair itself.

babies can sleep up to 20 hours a day

children need 10 - 12 hours of sleep every day on average.

importance of sleep is obvious when we look at how it's necessary for physical growth and health!

One thing that definitely affects sleep is a certain hormone that your body produces called melatonin

Sleep (or lack of sleep) has a direct impact on your health and energy levels

The main factors that determine wellness or illness in addition to sleep are: Nutrition Physical Activity and Stress Management

Sleep experts say the amount of sleep each person needs is largely dependent on the individual: Some people can get by with only five or six hours. The National Sleep Foundation says adults need seven to nine hours a night.

A study this summer in the journal SLEEP examined the heart conditions of 39 adults, ages 22 to 45, whose heart rates were tested twice — the morning after a 10-hour sleep and then again after five consecutive four-hour sleeps — using a portable monitor.

Many students believe that it's a "rite of passage" to stay up all night during college and that "it's kind of fun," Thacher says.

if you use all-nighters, your GPA is slightly lower on average,

"You can't do your best work when you're sleep-deprived

"It's not common knowledge, because if people understood how much of a difference (getting more sleep) could make athletically," they'd incorporate it more into their lives and not focus solely on nutrition and exercise.

How does a lack of sleep affect the body?

having lost the ability to maintain body heat and develop a fever to stave off infection

will generally be irritable and clumsy

will have problems concentrating and will begin to make mistakes on normal tasks.

Other short-term consequences include: Decreased daytime alertness. Loss of just one and half hours sleep can result in a 32% reduction in daytime alertness. Impaired memory and cognitive ability, the ability to think and process information. More than double the risk of sustaining an occupational injury.

Long-term consequences can include the following:

High blood pressure

Stroke

Mental impairment

Increased mortality risk

Sleep Debt Can Be Dangerous

Sleep deprivation in children

Nearly half of teens reported at least occasional difficulty in falling or staying asleep and almost 13% experiencing chronic and severe insomnia.

affects mood, behavior, and academic performance.

Insufficient sleep has also been associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

adults need 8 1/4 hours.

How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect the Teen-ager?

Sleep deprivation can impair memory an

inhibit creativity making it difficult for sleep deprived students to learn.

endanger their immune system and make them more suceptible to serious illnesses

Stay away from caffeine

Avoid heavy studying or computer games before bed, they can be arousing. Avoid arguing with your adolescent just before bedtime. Avoid trying to sleep with a computer or TV flickering in the room. Avoid bright light in the evening, but open blinds or turn on lights as soo

Avoid trying to sleep with a computer or TV flickering in the room.

Avoid heavy studying or computer games before bed, they can be arousing.

Note: Sleep experts consider adolescents to be between the ages of 11 and 22.

Studies show that the changes taking place in their bodies requires more sleep and they may be physically challenged to getting up early in the morning.

avoid all products containing caffeine (including soda, chocolate, etc.) after 4:00 p.m.

avoid alcohol.

avoid smoking

Keep your teen away from stimulating activities in the late evening such a heavy studying

computer games

violent or frightening television shows

calm family atmosphere surrounding bedtime.

Do not let your teenager fall asleep while watching television or videos.

establish a regular exercise routine and healthy diet.

avoid late afternoon and evening bright light,

If allowed to "sleep-in" on the weekends, your teen's body clock will be disrupted, and he or she will have a very hard time waking up on Monday morning.

avoid napping

a short nap is okay, but limit it to 30 or 45 minutes.

So don't be too quick to dismiss that apparently lazy teenager, doddering senior or dissolute employee -- there may be sleep-health issues lurking in the background.

Students, workaholics, hassled parents and diehard partiers listen up -- a single all-nighter or a week of four or five hours sleep per night impairs your mental and physical performance as if you had a blood alcohol level of about 0.1, over the legal limit of 0.08 for driving in British Columbia.

Based on the findings of this study, exercise early in the morning leads to better sleep.

Feed him high portions of low-fat, healthy foods. Muscle mass cannot be gained without the fuel provided by food. To gain weight, he will need to consume more calories than he burns. To gain half a pound of muscle per week, he will need to eat 250 more calories more per day than he has been eating, according to exercise physiologist Joseph A. Chromiak.

Add protein to his diet. Select protein sources that are relatively non-fatty, such as baked fish and poultry, advises the Harvard School of Public Health.

Provide a dark and quiet sleep environment for him, and make sure he gets eight hours of sleep every night. It is during sleep that the body repairs damaged muscle tissue and builds muscle mass.

Exercising in the morning energizes you for the day—not to mention that gratifying feeling of virtue you have knowing you’ve done something disciplined and good for you

Studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity—a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout ends. Exercising in the a.m. means you get to harness that brainpower, instead of wasting it while you’re snoozing.

Assuming you make exercise a true priority, it shouldn’t be a major problem to get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier—especially since regular exercise generally means a higher quality of sleep, which in turn means you’ll probably require less sleep.

When you exercise at about the same time every morning—especially if you wake up regularly at about the same time—you’re regulating your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms. Your body learns that you do the same thing just about every day, and it begins to prepare for waking and exercise several hours before you actually open your eyes. That’s beneficial because:  Your body’s not “confused” by wildly changing wake-up times, which means waking up is much less painful. (You may even find that you don’t need an alarm clock most days.) Hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles, etc. Your metabolism, along with all the hormones involved in activity and exercise, begin to elevate while you're sleeping. As a result, you’ll feel more alert, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake up.  Many people find that morning exercise has a tendency to regulate their appetite for the rest of the day. Not only do they eat less (since activity causes the release of endorphins, which in turn diminishes appetite), they also choose healthier portions of healthier foods.  People who consistently exercise find, sometimes to their great surprise, that the appointed time every morning evolves into something they look forward to. Besides the satisfaction of taking care of themselves, they find it’s a great time to plan their day, pray, or just think more clearly—things most of us often don’t get to do otherwise.  Exercising first thing in the morning is the most foolproof way to ensure that other things don’t overtake your fitness commitment, particularly if you have a hectic family life. (It’s so easy to wimp out in the evening, when we’re tired or faced with such tasks as rustling up dinner and helping with homework.)  More than 90% of those who exercise consistently have a morning fitness routine. If you want to exercise on a regular basis, the odds are in your favor if you squeeze your workout into the a.m.  Non-morning people can always trick themselves in the a.m. Having trouble psyching yourself up for a sunrise jog? Do what I did—tell yourself that you’ll still be so fast asleep that you won’t even remember—much less mind!  

GOALS Create mini goals. Don't just expect to put on a ton of muscle in one year without checking yourself along the way. Set weight-gain goals every 2-4 weeks and evaluate the results. If you fall short, make an adjustment for the next goal. When you stop setting goals, you stop critical thinking and stop making gains.

MAINTAIN Every 8-10 weeks, take a couple of weeks to prevent a plateau. Don't stop training, but back off a little and let your body recover. Stop trying to get stronger and don't push sets to failure. After two weeks of maintaining your previous gains, go back to 110%. Reduce your calories during this back-off phase as well. This gives your body a break from digesting and utilizing all the food you nee

FST-7 This is the advanced training technique I've used with all my athletes.

Basically, you train that bodypart heavy as you normally would on any given day, keeping the rep range at 8-12, but on the last exercise you perform the 7 sets to finish off that particular muscle, with minimal rest in between to get the best pump possible.

Alternate the first exercise between dumbbells, barbells and machines. Use them all each workout, but change the order and angle. On all chest moves, you must arch your back, throw your chest high and keep your shoulders back. This takes the shoulders out of the movemen

Low-rep flat-bench presses (fewer than eight reps) are a quick way to tear a pec. Use a full range of motion on all exercises. The only exceptions are intensity multipliers used on the last set. When you reach failure, push your muscles further with assisted negative reps or partials. Lean forward on dips to emphasize chest.

Work the angles. There are three sides to the shoulder muscles and countless angles to hit them. Sit, stand, lean; barbell, dumbbell, machine; use them all. Start the workout with a press. Hit the big compound movement while you're strongest. Don't be afraid to work your rear delts near the beginning or middle of the workout. If you always do them at the end they will never grow!

Warm up your shoulders, chest, triceps and rotator cuffs before training. The shoulders are vulnerable to injury. Try seated lateral raises to really isolate the side delts. This is my favorite move to build round shoulders!

BALANCE YOUR PROTEINS: Take in protein of all types from all sources — fast acting, slow acting, whey, casein, egg, fish and animal proteins (beef, chicken, turkey, etc.).

WHERE'S THE BEEF: Beef is great for offseason growth. In addition to the amino acids, you get tons of B vitamins, iron and testosterone-boosting fats.

JUNK IT UP: Don't be afraid to eat some junk food once or twice per week. This boosts your metabolism and gives your body a different type of fuel. Stick to the "clean junk." These are calorically dense, but not super greasy foods. Examples are pasta, burgers, steak, sweet potato fries and cheesecake.

If you want to grow, insulin spikes are your friends. You just have to time them correctly, like breakfast and postworkout. These are the times to have some fast-acting carbs that quickly replenish glycogen stores.

Weight Management.

Better Skin Tone.

Increased Energy.

Individuals that eat the wrong foods or eat at the wrong times are always complaining of tiredness.

you will feel more energetic and in due course your rate of metabolism increases as well.

Protection from Diet-Related Disease.

effect of a healthy diet in the protection from diseases may not be immediately apparent.

In fact, you may never realize what health problems you may have developed had you not followed a healthy diet

useful in the management of adult onset diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure and high cholesterol as well as other health issues.

Better Sleep Patterns.

If you eat the right size portions of healthy foods at the right time

find that you tend to sleep better in the night since the body is not busy trying to digest and excrete toxins found in junk foods.

You will begin to feel much healthier in no time!

This natural reaction is known as the stress response

But the stress response can also cause problems when it overreacts or fails to turn off and reset itself properly.

But stress doesn't always happen in response to things that are immediate or that are over quickly.

long-term events, like coping with a divorce or moving to a new neighborhood or school, can cause stress, too.

can produce a lasting, low-level stress that's hard on people.

can wear out the body's reserves, leave a person feeling depleted or overwhelmed

weaken the body's immune system

crammed schedules, not having enough time to rest and relax, and always being on the go

Pressures that are too intense or last too long, or troubles that are shouldered alone, can cause people to feel stress overload

a feeling of being constantly pressured, hassled, and hurried irritability and moodiness

stomach problems, headaches, or even chest pain

problems sleeping

sadness or depression

Everyone experiences stress a little differently.

Keep Stress Under Control

Take a stand against overscheduling.

Be realistic.

Get a good night's sleep.

Learn to relax.

Treat your body well.

Watch what you're thinking.

Solve the little problems.

Build Your Resilience

They're cool under pressure and able to handle problems as they come up.

Researchers have identified the qualities that make some people seem naturally resilient even when faced with high levels of stress.

Think of change as a challenging and normal part of life.

setbacks and problems as temporary and solvable.

you will succeed if you keep working toward your goals.

Take action to solve problems that crop up.

Build strong relationships

support system and ask for help

Participate regularly

Consume Enough Protein "I eat enough protein. I probably ate around 50 grams today." Now if this sounds like you, we are in some serious trouble. That is unless you are a 60-pound child whose major energy expenditure for the day is playing with your Tonka Trucks. Ok, down to the serious stuff here. If you don't eat optimal amounts of protein, you will never put on the muscle mass that you so much desire. You are also hindering your strength gains as well. If you are going up a weight class and you aren't eating the proper amount of protein, guess what?

have some of my athletes consume between 1.25-1.5 grams of protein per pound when trying to pack on size.

# 5 Maximize Your Carbohydrate Intake

# 6 Bump Up Your Fat Intake

Milk…It does a body good! You should have known this would be on the list. Milk is the drink of all strength champions throughout history.

I knew you would like this one. What true powerlifter wouldn't? Now again, don't get me wrong here. The point is that you should increase you lean meat consumption during a mass phase. Note I said lean meat consumption. This doesn't include bacon, ham, sausage, deli meats, beef jerky, or pepperoni sticks.

Day 3: Cardio Cardio Cardio Only Day 4: Back/Triceps/Calves Exercise 1 Dumbbell Pullover 2 warm up sets of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (increase weight between sets) Exercise 2 Close-Grip Pulldown 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 3 One-Arm Dumbbell Row 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 4 Wide Grip Cable Row 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 5 Barbell Deadlifts 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 6 Triceps Pushdown 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 7 Lying Triceps Extensions 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 8 Seated Triceps Press 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 9 Calf Press on Leg Press 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 3 rest-pause sets to failure Desired weight (10-15 sec rest between sets) Exercise 10 Seated Calf Raise 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 6-8 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets

Day 5: Delts/Traps/Abs Exercise 1 Dumbbell Shoulder Press 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 warm up set of 8-10 reps, 1 working set of 6-8 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 2 Side Lateral Raise 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight (1 min rest between sets) Exercise 3 Low Pulley Delt Raise 1 set of 6-8 reps to failure Each arm Exercise 4 Reverse Dumbbell Flyes 1 warm up set of 10-12 reps, 1 working set of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight Exercise 5 Barbell Shrugs 1 warm up set of 12-15 reps, 2 working sets of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight Exercise 6 Upright Row 1 warm up set of 12 reps, 2 working sets of 8-10 reps to failure Desired weight Superset 1 Knee Ups 3 working sets to failure Crunches 3 working sets to failure Superset 2 Cable Crunch 3 sets to failure Decline Reverse Crunch 3 sets to failure .mainheader h1 { position: relative; color: #ffffff; line-height: 115%; vertical-align:bottom}.mainheader h1 span { background: url(http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/images/2009/maingrade.png); background-repeat: repeat-x; position: absolute; display: block; width: 480px; height: 31px; } .subheader h2 span { background: none; filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/images/2009/maingrade.png', sizingMethod='scale');}.subheader h2 { position: relative; color: #ffffff; line-height: 115%; vertical-align:bottom}.subheader h2 span { background: url(http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/images/2009/maingrade.png); background-repeat: repeat-x; position: absolute; display: block; width: 445px; height: 31px; }Get A Printable Log Of Day 5. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/printlog2.php?firstname=Steve+Cook&name=Day+5%3A+Delts%2FTraps%2FAbs&num_exercises=18&Exercise[]=Exercise+1&Sets[]=0&Exercise[]=Dumbbell+Shoulder+Press%2C+1+warm+up+set+of+10-12+reps%2C+1+warm+up+set+of+8-10+reps%2C+1+working+set+of+6-8+reps+to+failure+&Sets[]=3&Exercise[]=Exercise+2&Sets[]=0&Exercise[]=Side+Lateral+Raise%2C+1+warm+up+set+of+10-12+reps%2C+1+working+set+of+8-10+reps+to+failure+&Sets[]=2&Exercise[]=Exercise+3&Sets[]=0&Exercise[]=Low+Pulley+Delt+Raise%2C+6-8+reps+to+failure+&Sets[]=1&Exercise[]=Exercise+4&Sets[]=0&Exercise[]=Reverse+Dumbbell+Flyes%2C+1+warm+up+set+of+10-12+reps%2C+1+working+set+of+8-10+reps+to+failure+&Sets[]=2&Exercise[]=Exercise+5&Sets[]=0&Exercise[]=Barbell+Shrugs%2C+1+warm+up+set+of+12-15+reps%2C+2+working+sets+of+8-10+reps+to+failure+&

Motivation is key! My Motivation comes from a deep love for weights and to see how far I can push myself everyday in the weight room. I want to be the best I can genetically be. As healthy and as strong and lean as possible. I sometimes have to remind myself not to overdo it. As I've gotten older I realized how important recovery is. Ultimately I want to be the next Steve Reeves... I want a body that is appealing to the masses. My goal is to have the perfect balance of size, shape and symmetry.

While good quality supplements can make a difference (especially when dieting) they aren't an excuse to have poor nutrition and sleep habits. By taking the right supplements for your goals and in the right amount, one can achieve results faster than without supplementing. It's important to know exactly what you are putting into your body. Follow the instructions...just because some is good doesn't mean more is better!