How Much Rest is Enough Rest?

[prosemont]

I constantly hear that if you're training hard, you need to rest, rest, rest. I know it's true, but goddamn there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to rest adequately.

In a perfect world, if you're lifting heavy and throwing in some cardio as well, how much should you rest?

7 hrs?
8 hrs?
9 hrs?

How much?

 

[victor von doom]

in a perfect world (i.e. if you have the time!) 9 hrs./day and a week off from heavy training every 8-10 weeks.

 

[thebob]

I'd like to add a question to this...Say you have 2 "off" days in a row where you're not training. If basically all I do those days is sit on my ass in front of the comp/play videogames and not really do any activity to speak of, is it okay to get less rest? Like 5-6 hours or something?

 

[victor von doom]

Originally posted by thebob
I'd like to add a question to this...Say you have 2 "off" days in a row where you're not training. If basically all I do those days is sit on my ass in front of the comp/play videogames and not really do any activity to speak of, is it okay to get less rest? Like 5-6 hours or something?

not really, because you would still be technically "sleep deprived" - however it all depends if you feel when you wake up.. are you sluggish? or do you feel well rested? Not everyone really needs 8-9 hrs of sleep.. I physically can't sleep 8-9 hrs anymore.. my body automatically wakes up after about 6.5 hrs of sleep.

 

[Need-2-B-Pimpin]

If I'm tired enough I can sleep a while...I like getting as much sleep as I can, but I'm busy enough during the week to end up with 7 hours tops.

 

[stormwriter]

I was just reading an article about sleep and recovery. It said that you should rate your sleep on a scale of one to five; one being a bad night sleep, and five being a great night sleep. If you start having a couple bad night's sleep, it says that you might be overtraining.
As i write this, it's 6:45am on Sunday morning, and i just can't sleep, from two hours of basketball and one hour of serious lifting yesterday. My body just ached all night and no sleep position was comfortable.

So, pay attention to your sleep, and adjust accordingly. I know this is more about overtraining, but it's interesting.

 

[HappyHobo]

THere are a lot of factors that determine how well you get a nights sleep. If you are sleeping on a spring bed and have a very sensitive back you might want to invest into a non spring mattress or try sleeping on the floor.
I know that i sleep better when i sleep on a firmer surface than soft.

One thing that you can do to help you sleep better is become aware of how it feels when your weight and gravity is pushing against the surface of your bed whenyou are laying and snuggle your head firmly and nicely into your pillow.