Sleep, Muscle Gain, and Fat Loss

I’ve always liked personal training. I enjoy talking about and teaching exercise and instructing workouts. I love watching people become stronger, healthier, and happier. I hate waking up early, though, and think most people who wanted to work out before six in the morning were out of their minds, especially when most of them sacrificed sleep to do so.

While a lot of factors influence your physical fitness, appearance, and health, the three biggest are exercise, nutrition, and sleep. Think of them as the three legs on your fitness bar stool. If you compromise (shorten) any one of them even a little your stool is going to be wobbly, and if you ignore (remove) any of them entirely the whole thing is going to fall over. Also, you can’t compensate for a lack of one by putting more effort into (lengthening) one or both of the others. If you want to look, feel, and perform your best you need all three.

There is no advantage to working out very early in the morning that is worth the disadvantages of losing sleep. Unless you are willing and able to regularly go to bed early enough to get seven to eight hours of sleep before working out it is not worth it. If you’re tired you won’t put as much effort into your workouts and won’t get as much benefit out of them. You’re also more likely to make mistakes when you’re tired, and during exercise mistakes can cause injuries. In the long run getting too little sleep can interfere with your ability to build muscle and lose fat because it negatively affects many hormones involved in appetite, metabolism, and muscle growth.

Sleep is important for building muscle and losing fat

When you are sleep deprived your cortisol, ghrelin, and  insulin resistance increase while your testosterone, growth hormone, and leptin decrease. This slows down  your metabolism and increases your appetite making it harder for you to lose fat or keep it off and harder for you to gain or maintain muscle mass. To avoid this (and because I hate waking up early) I discouraged clients from working out too early in the morning unless they were able to consistently get seven to eight hours of sleep first.

If you can work out early in the morning without sacrificing sleep there are benefits. You’re less likely to skip workouts in the morning than if you plan to work out in the afternoon or evening. If you work out at a gym you can avoid the crowds by going in early enough. If you work out at home and have young children early morning may be the only time you can work out uninterrupted. If you work out outside it is often cooler in the mornings, and contrary to popular but uninformed opinion cooler temperatures are better than warmer for working out.

To ensure you’re getting enough sleep on a consistent basis it helps to set a schedule and stick to it, just like your workouts. Also, just like your workouts, the quality of your sleep is as important as the quantity and there are a few things you can do to improve it. If you’re getting enough sleep you’re spending about one third of your time in bed, so it makes sense to get the most comfortable mattress, pillows, and sheets you can reasonably afford. You should also optimize your bedroom for sleep, keeping it dark, cool, and quiet. If noise or light are a problem where you live (or if you like to nap during the day) good quality earplugs and a sleep mask can help. To minimize distractions from sleep reserve your bedroom for sleep and sex, and use other rooms for work, reading, watching television, using the computer or electronic devices, etc.

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  • Ron Jan 30, 2017 @ 10:58

    Drew, since working muscles generate heat, do you think that more muscular individuals are at greater risk of heat stroke during summer when temperature is extremely high?
    How about firefighters, having to work hard in similar setup?
    Is more muscular and stronger body makes one worse at tolerating extreme conditions?
    What about extreme cold?
    Is there any benefit of exercising in extreme climate conditions?
    Thanks!

    • Drew Baye Feb 2, 2017 @ 15:05

      Hey Ron,

      The more muscular an individual is the more heat their body produces during exercise and the less efficiently they dissipate it due to having a higher ratio of volume to surface area. Ideally you should exercise in a cool environment, and avoid high temperatures. If you have to perform a job in an extreme climate you should spend time gradually acclimating yourself to it but not during your workouts.

  • JuhQman Feb 9, 2017 @ 9:03

    Hey Drew. There’s something I’ve been wondering. Is there any research on how much the body repairs itself during the day, versus during the night. What I’m getting at is if the body doesn’t really repair itself that much during daytime (or whilst awake), would it make more sense to really stock up on proteins prior to bedtime, in order to give as much raw material for the repairing as possible.

    Now I know that the time it takes for the protein to absorb in the small intestine is quite long and the body is able to store amino acids so really the question is about efficiency. Is it efficient to have a whey shake in the morning if the body doesn’t do alot of protein synthesis during the day?

    TL; DR Is there research on whether protein synthesis occurs in “higher quantities” during sleep, or is the process rather even throughout the sleep/wake cycle?

    • Drew Baye Feb 15, 2017 @ 16:41

      There is some evidence of benefit to consuming a small amount of protein before bed and after workouts, but during the rest of the day the timing probably doesn’t make as much of a difference as the average in take in the long run.

  • Yair Feb 22, 2017 @ 8:41

    hello sir,
    A q to ask: ive been doing hit for a year now (myself im a martial arts teacher) and mostly ive been doing 4/4 or 2/4 seconds lift. Since i have changed to 2/8 seconds (3 days ago), Im tired daily with the desire to eat every hour. I sleep 10 hours a night since ive changed the seconds. What is your opinion on the subject and what should I do?
    Thank you sir.

    • Drew Baye Jul 7, 2017 @ 12:05

      Hey Yair,

      I’ve had a lot of people report similar responses when slowing their reps down, because it has made the workouts a lot more demanding. You may need to reduce your workout volume and/or increase your rest days.

  • JR Sep 30, 2017 @ 20:41

    Drew,

    Would you modify workouts at all if you had a prolonged period of sleep disruption (newborn baby, night shift schedule)?

    • Drew Baye Oct 1, 2017 @ 14:27

      Yes. Both exercise volume and frequency usually needs to be decreased during periods of sleep disruption or deprivation.

  • Peter Nov 14, 2017 @ 17:06

    Hi Drew,

    In your opinion is it more advantageous, to workout in the morning or afternoon? Assuming of course that your nutrition and sleep needs are met. Thanks.

    • Drew Baye Nov 16, 2017 @ 8:59

      All else being equal it makes little difference in the long run.