[0:00] This is a skinny guy, skinny fat guy,
[0:02] and heavier guy. And here's what it
[0:03] looks like if they each gain 5 lb of
[0:05] muscle, 10 lb, 15 lb, and [music] 20 lb.
[0:09] Gaining that much muscle completely
[0:11] transforms your body no matter your
[0:13] starting point. I know because it
[0:14] happened to me. I went from this to
[0:16] this. [music] And just 12 lb in the
[0:18] right places took my wife from this to
[0:20] this. But here's the problem. Based on
[0:22] the data, uh less than 5% of people ever
[0:24] gain that much muscle naturally. Not
[0:26] because of age or genetics, it's because
[0:28] without the right plan, sure you may
[0:30] make some progress early on, but
[0:31] afterwards you get stuck spending years
[0:33] with the same physique. And more
[0:34] protein, more creatine, and more
[0:36] workouts aren't going to help you break
[0:37] through that. It's why I teamed up with
[0:40] five of the world's smartest scientists
[0:42] and coaches, experts in all different
[0:44] areas related to muscle growth, [music]
[0:45] to answer one question. What is the
[0:48] fastest way to gain 20 lb of muscle
[0:50] naturally? And at the end of this video,
[0:52] I'm going to give you a step-by-step
[0:54] plan that combines everything into one
[0:56] simple system. But before we talk about
[0:58] how to do it, we need to clear something
[1:00] up that almost nobody online is honest
[1:02] about. How long this is actually going
[1:03] to take. Cuz you'll see fitness coaches
[1:05] everywhere promising 20 lb of muscle in
[1:07] 3 months. With special sauce? Sure. But
[1:09] naturally, a muscle just doesn't work
[1:11] like that. With proper training and
[1:12] nutrition, it takes at least a year to
[1:15] put on that amount of muscle. And then
[1:16] every year after that, your gains slow
[1:18] by about half. But here is the good
[1:20] news. Your fastest gains don't actually
[1:22] come when you start lifting. They come
[1:23] when you start lifting properly. So
[1:25] let's start with training because this
[1:26] is where 90% of your muscle growth
[1:28] actually happens. [music] Take a look at
[1:29] this. 56 of the world's top natural
[1:33] bodybuilders. Guys who have naturally
[1:35] built well over 20 lb of muscle, beyond
[1:37] what most guys can achieve even with
[1:39] drugs. And a few months ago, a group of
[1:41] researchers studied their actual
[1:43] training routines to try to find out how
[1:45] they're putting on so much muscle
[1:46] naturally. Now you'd expect them to
[1:48] [music] spend hours in the gym
[1:49] annihilating their muscles with tons of
[1:51] exercises. But that's not what they
[1:52] found. On average, they only do about 12
[1:55] sets per muscle per week. So [music] for
[1:56] chest, that's four sets of bench, four
[1:58] sets of incline, and four sets of flies
[2:00] for the whole week. Now, for some
[2:01] muscles, they were doing just six sets a
[2:03] week, probably a lot less than what
[2:05] you're currently doing. And [music] the
[2:06] reason why, might surprise you. The more
[2:08] sets that you're doing, the less benefit
[2:11] you get from each extra set. That's Dr.
[2:14] Mike Zourdos, professor cited in over
[2:16] 6,000 studies, who currently runs a
[2:19] muscle growth lab out of Florida
[2:21] Atlantic University, where he and his
[2:22] [music] team recently investigated how
[2:24] much more muscle you grow by doing more
[2:27] sets in the gym. Now, most people expect
[2:29] a straight line upward. More sets, more
[2:31] growth. But, here's what they actually
[2:32] saw. From sets one to five, you're
[2:34] getting a lot of growth. From five to
[2:36] 10, you're getting some. And then, every
[2:38] time you add sets after that, we're not
[2:40] as confident that you're still getting
[2:42] more growth. And so, if [music] training
[2:44] longer and longer isn't the best
[2:45] solution, then what is? This is where it
[2:47] gets interesting. So, Mike and his team
[2:49] actually ran a second analysis. How much
[2:51] more growth do you get by taking each
[2:53] set closer to failure? The point where
[2:55] you literally can't do another rep if
[2:57] your life depended on it. When you stop
[2:58] your set at eight reps short of failure,
[3:00] which is honestly the intensity I think
[3:02] most gym-goers train at, your muscles
[3:04] still grow. But, when you push each set
[3:06] to just one or two reps short of
[3:07] failure, growth nearly doubles. And I
[3:10] can hear you already. Jeremy, I train
[3:12] hard, that's not the problem. Trust me,
[3:13] I have worked with both beginners as
[3:15] well as trained lifters who have
[3:16] plateaued, and they both failed the two
[3:18] simple tests I look for. Number one, if
[3:20] their last rep isn't moving really slow,
[3:23] they aren't pushing hard enough. And
[3:24] number two, if on their very last set of
[3:26] their exercise, they can do more reps
[3:28] than their first set, even though
[3:30] they're using the same weight, again,
[3:31] they're [music] not pushing hard enough.
[3:32] But, now you may be thinking, okay, so
[3:34] if more sets help, and training closer
[3:36] to failure helps, then why not just do
[3:38] more sets and take them all to failure?
[3:40] I always try to remind folks that there
[3:42] are downstream effects of every training
[3:44] decision that you make. What that means
[3:45] is, if you take all of your sets to
[3:47] failure, you're going to feel terrible
[3:49] after the session, then you might have
[3:50] some fatigue and soreness the next few
[3:52] days. If that lasts for a little bit
[3:53] longer, maybe you can't train again or
[3:55] train effectively and then you've
[3:57] actually decreased your frequency
[3:58] throughout the [music] week. And maybe
[3:59] that inhibits some of the total volume
[4:01] that you could do because you were so
[4:02] fatigued from it.
[4:03] >> So, if your goal is building muscle as
[4:05] fast as possible, [music]
[4:06] the key isn't trying to maximize
[4:07] everything at once. It's choosing the
[4:09] training style that allows you to train
[4:11] hard, train consistently, and avoid
[4:13] injury. And that usually comes down to
[4:15] two main approaches. The first is what I
[4:17] call the intensity method. And if you
[4:19] hate spending hours in the gym, you're
[4:21] going to love this.
[4:22] >> If somebody loves training to failure,
[4:23] then they can go and knock out all of
[4:25] their sets to failure. Perhaps they
[4:26] don't need as many total sets. Maybe
[4:28] even five sets a week per so on a muscle
[4:29] group.
[4:30] >> do five to 12 sets per muscle per week.
[4:32] So, for chest, you might do three sets
[4:34] of bench, three sets of incline, and two
[4:36] sets of cable flies. That's eight sets
[4:38] for the entire week. Your whole chest
[4:39] workout might take just over 20 minutes,
[4:41] and you might be in the gym as little as
[4:43] three or four hours a week. But
[4:45] remember, you're taking every set to
[4:47] failure. And I'm not talking, "Oh, this
[4:49] is getting hard failure." I mean, you
[4:50] physically cannot move the weight
[4:52] another inch. Your muscles are shaking,
[4:53] your face is red, and you're making
[4:55] weird noises. It is mentally tough, but
[4:57] I have personally seen many lifters
[4:59] switch to this approach and see way
[5:01] better gains with half the sets.
[5:03] Because, for the first time in their
[5:05] lives, they're training with actual
[5:06] intensity instead of just running on
[5:08] autopilot with three sets of 10. But I
[5:10] will admit, each set is a mental battle,
[5:12] which is why there's a second option.
[5:14] With the volume method, you do more
[5:16] sets, like 12 to 20 sets per muscle per
[5:18] week. But you stop two or three reps
[5:20] short of failure. So, that same chest
[5:22] workout becomes four sets of bench, four
[5:24] sets of dips, four sets of incline, and
[5:26] four sets of cable flies. Each set is
[5:28] easier, but the workouts are longer.
[5:30] Now, which approach is actually better?
[5:32] >> The difference is pretty small. We get
[5:34] hung up on looking in the weeds at what
[5:36] is the the statistical difference in
[5:38] this and but we're talking about a few
[5:40] millimeters. So, whatever somebody is
[5:42] going to enjoy and adhere to the most,
[5:44] they should do that.
[5:45] >> Now, for me personally, I do a mix of
[5:46] both. So for arms and back, I actually
[5:49] prefer fewer sets pushed all the way to
[5:51] failure. But whenever I'm short on time,
[5:52] I also use the intensity approach. But
[5:54] for muscle groups like legs, taking sets
[5:56] to failure can honestly be brutal and
[5:58] hard for me to recover from. So, I'll
[6:00] often prefer adding an extra set or two
[6:02] instead. But to find what works the best
[6:04] for you, here is an upper and lower body
[6:06] workout with the intensity approach. And
[6:08] here are those same workouts but with
[6:10] the volume approach. So try out both and
[6:12] see what style you're personally more
[6:13] likely to stick to. Regardless of which
[6:15] approach you choose, if you're training
[6:17] this hard, you have to be smart about
[6:19] how many sets you're doing in each
[6:20] workout.
[6:21] >> This is pretty recent paper from us by
[6:23] Jake Remmert, one of my PhD students
[6:25] right now who just did a fantastic job
[6:27] on this. Unlike the other
[6:28] meta-regression from Pelland where we
[6:30] want to see the number of sets per week,
[6:31] we wanted to see [music]
[6:32] where you tap out for those diminishing
[6:34] returns in sets per session. We found
[6:36] that right about 10-11 sets per session
[6:39] [music] per muscle group. So over that,
[6:42] we aren't sure if we're really getting
[6:45] more growth. And now, that could be for
[6:47] physiological reasons. It could be for
[6:49] fatigue, right? We're training in such a
[6:51] fatigue state that we're not really
[6:52] accomplishing anymore. But what that
[6:54] suggests to me is that this is where
[6:56] frequency becomes a variable that
[6:59] becomes to be important.
[7:00] >> And all this means is rather than doing
[7:02] 12 sets of chest all in one workout,
[7:04] split those sets up into at least two
[7:06] separate days per week. Based on Mike's
[7:08] analysis, that one switch has the
[7:09] potential to speed up your gains by up
[7:11] to 30%, which is why upper lower splits,
[7:14] push pull leg splits, and full body
[7:16] splits are great options to organize
[7:18] your training. Now for me personally, my
[7:19] favorite split is this 5-day upper lower
[7:22] push pull leg split. But the exact split
[7:24] matters much less than choosing one that
[7:26] actually fits your schedule and lets you
[7:27] stay consistent. And if you stick to
[7:29] what we covered so far, depending on
[7:30] your experience, you should be able to
[7:32] build 3 to 8 lb of muscle over the next
[7:34] 6 months. But you can speed up those
[7:36] gains even further by choosing the right
[7:38] exercises.
[7:39] >> that some newbies might make, especially
[7:41] with this social media age and there's
[7:42] so much information is there's a lot of
[7:44] exercises you could be doing but you
[7:46] aren't in a position where you can
[7:48] efficiently learn many many exercises.
[7:49] >> That's Steve Hall, a pro drug tested
[7:52] natural bodybuilder who has gained 45
[7:55] pounds of muscle throughout his 20-year
[7:57] lifting career. He explained how there's
[7:59] three stages when it comes to choosing
[8:01] your exercises starting with beginners.
[8:04] >> Yeah, at least for those novice lifters,
[8:05] fewer exercises, just general movement
[8:07] patterns, a press, a pull, a squat, a
[8:10] hip hinge, and then you can kind of
[8:12] build from there.
[8:12] >> In fact, with just these six core
[8:14] exercises done three times a week, you
[8:16] can build well over 10 pounds of muscle.
[8:18] But once you actually put on some muscle
[8:20] and have at least two or three years of
[8:22] consistent training under your belt, you
[8:24] might notice those same compound
[8:25] movements have limitations. This is
[8:27] where stage two comes in. This where
[8:29] most people plateau.
[8:30] >> Once you're at this point as an
[8:31] intermediate, you've probably really
[8:33] grown some of your strong, genetically
[8:35] well-endowed muscle groups cuz your body
[8:36] is just it wants to move the weight A to
[8:38] B [music]
[8:39] the most efficient way possible.
[8:41] >> squats did a great job of growing my
[8:43] glutes and inner thighs, but my quads
[8:45] barely budge. And bench press never
[8:47] really did much for my chest and often
[8:49] just bugged my shoulders. It wasn't
[8:50] until I started doing hack squats for
[8:52] quads and more machine and cable work
[8:54] for my chest [music] did these areas
[8:56] finally start responding. But I know for
[8:57] others it's a complete opposite.
[8:59] >> There are some exercises that really
[9:00] suit some body types versus others.
[9:03] >> At this stage, you need to become your
[9:05] own guinea pig and figure out what your
[9:06] body and your joints respond best to.
[9:09] And this is also a stage where you might
[9:10] add a few more specialized exercises,
[9:12] especially for muscles that tend to lag
[9:14] behind, like the rear delts, upper
[9:16] chest, or [music] lats. But here's a
[9:17] list of a few exercises for each muscle
[9:19] that I find tend to work well for most
[9:21] people. Try two or three of these out
[9:23] per muscle and pay close attention to
[9:25] which ones feel the best on your joints
[9:27] and give you the best pump and next day
[9:28] soreness. Those are likely going to be
[9:30] your winners. And so by the time you've
[9:32] reached stage three, you've figured out
[9:33] which exercises actually grow your
[9:35] muscles the best. So instead of
[9:37] constantly changing exercises, you
[9:39] simply double down on the ones that work
[9:41] and rotate them only when needed.
[9:43] >> May or may not like this question, but
[9:45] I'm just curious. If you could pick one
[9:48] exercise for every single muscle, what
[9:50] would they be?
[9:51] >> You're right, I don't love it, but I
[9:52] will I'll play ball. Delts, I'll go for
[9:55] a cross body cable lateral raise.
[9:57] Triceps, I really like skull crusher
[9:59] variations. Dumbbell skull crushers
[10:00] probably are the most sustainable for
[10:02] me. Then for biceps, I will say Bayesian
[10:06] curls are a big go-to. For chest, I I
[10:08] struggle with my chest. I will go for
[10:10] good converging machine press. Uh for
[10:14] lats, I will say any sort of shoulder
[10:16] width to slightly inside shoulder width
[10:18] lat pull down works super well for me.
[10:20] And then for my upper back, a good
[10:22] pronated grip shoulder width or slightly
[10:25] wider machine row suits me down to the
[10:27] ground. Glutes, like a a machine hip
[10:30] thrust. Can't go wrong with it. Quads,
[10:32] if you've tried a lot of hack squats,
[10:33] the Cybex one like a lot of well-trained
[10:36] lifters kind of acknowledge it as one of
[10:37] the best. It's very challenging and
[10:39] humbling. Hamstrings, a good RDL.
[10:42] >> And then last but not least, calves.
[10:44] >> That straight leg calf raise can't be
[10:47] beat.
[10:47] >> And what's exciting about this stage is
[10:48] even someone like me, I'm still
[10:50] discovering exercises that unlock new
[10:52] growth. My chest and back are good
[10:54] examples. They've grown more in the past
[10:55] couple years than they have in a long
[10:57] time, even though my body weight didn't
[10:59] change that much. But while training is
[11:01] the engine that drives muscle growth,
[11:03] your nutrition is the fuel. most
[11:05] important question you need to answer is
[11:07] how much should you eat? Take a look at
[11:08] this chart. Now let's start over here.
[11:10] Above 20% body fat for men or above 30%
[11:13] for women. If that's you, then while it
[11:15] may not look like it, you actually have
[11:17] a unique advantage.
[11:18] >> There's about five times the energy in
[11:20] the fat tissue compared to the lean
[11:21] tissue, roughly. And if your body
[11:23] believes it needs to [music] build
[11:24] muscle cuz you're giving it a resistance
[11:25] training stimulus, some more body fat
[11:28] may be metabolized to feed that.
[11:31] >> That's Dr. Eric Helms, a muscle growth
[11:33] scientist and pro natural bodybuilder.
[11:35] If you have enough body fat, he suggests
[11:37] you want to aim for a body
[11:38] recomposition, losing fat while building
[11:41] muscle.
[11:41] >> You probably don't need to be in a
[11:43] surplus. And you might be able to make
[11:45] just as good of gains, probably not
[11:47] exactly as good, but pretty close.
[11:49] You're going to get a little more bang
[11:50] for your buck visually, accepting like
[11:52] 80 to 70% of the muscle gain you could
[11:54] have got, but losing body fat in an
[11:56] appreciable rate. But the trick is you
[11:58] don't want to be in a large deficit. The
[12:00] likelihood of muscle mass loss is scales
[12:02] with the deficit side. I would probably
[12:04] cap your deficit and say losing 0.5% of
[12:06] your body weight per week.
[12:08] >> So, if you multiply your body weight by
[12:09] 0.005,
[12:11] that is how much weight you want to aim
[12:13] to lose per week. Which means you're
[12:15] eating about 250, max 500 calories less
[12:18] than your body needs per day. Many of
[12:20] our app members follow this exact
[12:21] protocol and end up seeing a complete
[12:23] transformation, even though their weight
[12:25] hasn't changed that much. I personally
[12:27] saw it with my brother-in-law's 6-month
[12:28] transformation, too. While he only lost
[12:30] about 12 lbs on the scale, he actually
[12:32] lost around 20 lbs of fat while gaining
[12:35] 7 lbs of lean mass. But if you're
[12:37] serious about maximizing growth, you
[12:39] actually don't want to use this approach
[12:40] forever.
[12:41] >> And in those scenarios, you can
[12:43] probably, until you get below that
[12:45] cutoff, that 20 or 30% respective body
[12:47] fat percentage level, just based loosely
[12:49] on the data, that's the point where you
[12:51] might go, you know what, if if muscle
[12:52] gain rather than fat loss is my
[12:54] principal goal, now I'm going to move it
[12:56] closer to maintenance or a slight
[12:57] surplus.
[12:58] >> So, if you're lean enough, this is
[12:59] actually where more calories can help
[13:01] maximize growth.
[13:02] >> There's a great study by Rossow and
[13:03] colleagues, 2002. Untrained university
[13:06] age males, they go into a hypertrophy
[13:07] oriented program and they're being being
[13:09] given either nothing, just follow your
[13:11] habitual diet, or a 2,000 calorie weight
[13:13] gain shake. They were [music] just so
[13:15] responsive to training, they gained
[13:17] almost a pound a week of lean mass and
[13:19] body mass. So, exclusive at the group
[13:21] level, lean gains over 8 weeks, almost a
[13:23] pound [music] a week, when they added
[13:25] those 2,000 calories.
[13:26] >> For context, mostly lifters can expect
[13:28] to gain 10 to 20 lb of lean mass after a
[13:31] full year of training. And just by
[13:32] pairing hard training with a large
[13:34] calorie surplus, these students were
[13:36] able to gain eight after just 2 months
[13:38] of training. But, that same approach
[13:40] isn't going to work for everyone. The
[13:41] key is scaling your calories based on
[13:44] your potential to grow.
[13:45] >> Your nutrition is permissive to growth.
[13:47] So, if you are a rank beginner, 2% gain
[13:50] in body mass per month, that's a great
[13:52] target and it should be enough to not
[13:54] hold you back. And if you are
[13:55] intermediate, somewhere closer to 1%.
[13:57] And then if you're advanced, which
[13:58] hopefully also comes with the ability to
[14:00] precisely track your nutrients, that
[14:02] might be something closer to 0.5%.
[14:04] >> And so, based on Eric's advice, here's
[14:06] the exact approach I'd recommend,
[14:07] depending on your experience level and
[14:09] how much body fat you're carrying. But,
[14:10] with your calories now figured out, how
[14:12] much protein should you eat? Considering
[14:14] protein has been put into literally
[14:16] everything nowadays, it must be a
[14:17] game-changer for growth, right? Well,
[14:19] the real answer might surprise you.
[14:21] >> So, protein overall has a very small
[14:23] effect. So, I've made a whole
[14:25] >> past video on this, and while protein
[14:26] does support muscle growth, it doesn't
[14:28] play as big of a role as people think.
[14:30] And you don't actually need very much to
[14:32] maximize its benefit.
[14:33] >> So, I still think, say 1.6 g per
[14:35] kilogram or higher as a kind of cut off
[14:37] on the low end is a good idea, or 0.7 g
[14:40] per pound if you're an American.
[14:41] >> And it's not like you won't build any
[14:42] muscle if you're not meeting that,
[14:44] right? Again, that's like the minimum
[14:46] for the maximum.
[14:47] >> Exactly. You're still making gains.
[14:48] >> I see.
[14:49] >> Even as low as 1.2 g per kilogram, which
[14:51] is like hard to not hit. So, if you
[14:53] weigh 220 lb, only consuming 120 g of
[14:56] protein per day.
[14:57] >> Honestly, someone really needs to fix
[14:59] our whole metric and imperial system,
[15:00] but here is a good summary of how much
[15:02] protein you actually need. Now, if
[15:04] protein doesn't matter as much as we
[15:05] thought, then now you may be wondering,
[15:07] is there anything else you can do with
[15:08] your diet to speed up muscle growth? And
[15:10] yes, there is. Because based on my
[15:12] experience as a coach, the biggest
[15:13] nutrition mistake people make isn't
[15:15] protein. It's what they eat or don't eat
[15:17] before their workout. You won't believe
[15:19] the number of times I've had someone
[15:20] start a workout and I asked what they
[15:21] ate before and they say something like,
[15:23] "Oh, 3 hours ago, I had a coffee and a
[15:25] granola bar."
[15:26] And what I like to do is about 1.5 to 2
[15:29] hours before my workout, I'll have a
[15:31] meal with slow-digesting carbs and
[15:33] protein. And so, for me, that's usually
[15:34] oats with Greek yogurt and protein
[15:36] powder. And then, about 30 minutes
[15:38] before training, I'll have some
[15:40] fast-digesting carbs. Now, these [music]
[15:42] get right into my bloodstream, and I can
[15:44] feel the energy almost immediately. I
[15:46] usually don't last very long, but when I
[15:47] eat like this, I can go hard for hours.
[15:50] >> But of course, no discussion about diet
[15:52] would be complete without talking about
[15:54] supplements. It's super cost-effective.
[15:56] It just has a really good track record
[15:58] of having small but pretty consistent
[16:00] positive effects on muscle growth.
[16:02] >> That's Dr. Eric Trexler, a researcher
[16:04] out of Duke University who has published
[16:06] studies on pretty much every supplement
[16:08] you can think of. And the supplement
[16:10] he's referring to is creatine, which has
[16:12] been found to boost your lean mass by as
[16:14] much as 2 to 3 lb in the first 8 to 12
[16:17] weeks. But, there's [music] two
[16:18] downsides to keep in mind about this
[16:19] number. First of all, most of that lean
[16:22] mass is simply a one-time boost from
[16:24] creatine pulling [music] water into your
[16:26] muscles to help it look fuller. So, it's
[16:28] not like you're going to continue
[16:29] getting the big boost every 8 to 12
[16:31] weeks forever. And the second downside
[16:33] is something I've personally noticed
[16:34] whenever I do take creatine.
[16:36] >> Some people do not respond to creatine.
[16:38] Some studies will suggest it's like 20
[16:40] to 30%.
[16:41] >> As for how to tell if it is working,
[16:43] >> if you were getting 10 reps with that
[16:45] weight, and you add some creatine to the
[16:48] mix, and pretty soon after adding the
[16:49] creatine, you're getting an extra two or
[16:52] three reps out like a 20 or 30% increase
[16:55] in that kind of rep range,
[16:56] >> And while Eric and I did talk about a
[16:58] handful of other supplements, I honestly
[17:00] don't think you need any to build 20 lb
[17:02] or more of muscle. I mean, look at
[17:03] people in sub-optimal conditions, like
[17:05] prisoners with no supplements and
[17:07] limited protein. They can still build
[17:09] serious muscle as long as the training
[17:12] stimulus is there. But, that's only
[17:13] going to work if it's paired with the
[17:15] final piece of the muscle-building
[17:17] puzzle.
[17:17] >> So, you stimulate the muscle to grow,
[17:19] but then don't give it the chemical
[17:21] signal that it needs to do so, it's
[17:23] eventually going to just shrink. [music]
[17:25] >> That's Dr. Andrew Spektor, a
[17:26] board-certified neurologist and sleep
[17:29] specialist at Duke University. And the
[17:31] chemical signal he's referring to comes
[17:33] from sleep.
[17:34] >> The body actually produces more growth
[17:37] hormone and testosterone when you slept
[17:40] better. So, if you want to build muscle,
[17:42] you have to get the sleep. And then the
[17:44] other side of that is if you don't sleep
[17:46] following a workout, you're not going to
[17:48] have the recovery time. And the body
[17:50] [music] has to have that rest to be able
[17:51] to rebuild and regenerate. So, if you go
[17:54] into a workout sleep deprived, or if you
[17:57] don't have recovery sleep, you're
[17:58] limiting what you can possibly achieve.
[18:00] >> And according to Andrew, it's not just
[18:02] about getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep per
[18:04] night. [music]
[18:04] >> Because if you're getting 7 hours and
[18:06] waking up and still not feeling
[18:08] refreshed, there was something wrong
[18:09] with the quality of that sleep, right? 7
[18:11] hours ought to be at least mostly
[18:13] [music] refreshing for somebody.
[18:15] >> Based on Andrew's research, there's
[18:16] three main ways many of us sabotage our
[18:18] sleep quality without us even realizing.
[18:21] >> So, the environment plays a much bigger
[18:23] role than people give it credit for. And
[18:25] so, when we say you want your room to be
[18:27] dark [music] and quiet, everybody
[18:28] intuitively knows that, but they don't
[18:30] necessarily know what dark means. And
[18:32] all these chargers around your room that
[18:34] have LED lights on them, you know, or
[18:36] your smoke detector with an LED light. I
[18:38] mean, that's actually too much light
[18:40] [music] just from the LEDs in your room.
[18:42] The goal in dark is that you can't see
[18:44] your hand in the front of your face. And
[18:45] if you can still see the room around you
[18:47] while you're trying to sleep, that's not
[18:49] the dark we're talking about. Um quiet,
[18:51] I don't have a measure, you know, it's
[18:53] hard to to measure the noise. We don't
[18:55] easily do that. Um but yeah, you do want
[18:57] it dark and quiet. [music]
[18:58] >> While most of us aren't going to install
[19:00] blackout curtains and a noise-canceling
[19:02] room, you can spend just $15 on Amazon
[19:05] for something I use every night and
[19:07] something Andrew recommends everyone
[19:09] else use as well.
[19:11] An eye mask and earplugs. These [music]
[19:13] two items alone can make 7 hours in bed
[19:15] start to feel like a restful 8 or 9
[19:17] hours, [music] especially when it's
[19:19] paired with Andrew's third tip.
[19:21] >> And people are often trying to sleep
[19:22] when it's too hot. The body needs it to
[19:24] be cold to sleep. And if you can program
[19:26] your thermostat so that it drops even
[19:28] during the night, so by 2, 3, 4 in the
[19:30] morning it's even colder, that's
[19:31] preferable because that's when you
[19:33] really need it to be cold to sustain
[19:34] sleep well.
[19:35] >> Now some nights of bad sleep are still
[19:37] bound to happen, but there is something
[19:38] you can do to prevent it from sabotaging
[19:40] your next day performance and recovery.
[19:42] >> It can be hard to get enough sleep
[19:44] overnight. And naps have been shown
[19:47] repeatedly to improve athletic
[19:49] performance. I can tell you about
[19:50] sprinting, for example, a sprinter, they
[19:52] sleep deprived a sprinter to 4 hours and
[19:54] they didn't nap. 20 minutes, that's it.
[19:56] Just 20 minutes, doesn't need to be a
[19:57] long nap. Then in another session they
[19:59] did 4 hours of sleep and that sprint
[20:02] speed decreased several percentage. Now
[20:04] 2 to 3% may not sound like a huge
[20:06] amount, but if you're competing at a
[20:08] higher level, that 2 to 3% is usually
[20:11] the difference between first and like
[20:12] eighth place, [music] right? That's the
[20:14] margin of of elite athletes.
[20:15] >> Keep in mind nothing we covered so far
[20:17] with training, nutrition, or recovery is
[20:19] magic, but it does work. I personally
[20:21] seen it with men and women of all
[20:22] different ages and body types. Because
[20:24] the biggest challenge isn't knowing what
[20:26] to do, it's actually applying it
[20:27] consistently week after week. And if you
[20:30] want someone to take care of all that
[20:32] guesswork for you, literally tell you
[20:33] exactly what workouts to do and what
[20:35] nutrition to follow based on your body
[20:37] so that all you have to do is execute,
[20:40] then you can try 2 weeks free of my
[20:41] Built with Science Plus app by scanning
[20:43] this QR code or heading to
[20:44] builtwithscience.com. After that, give
[20:46] this video a watch next for a new 3-day
[20:49] per week full body workout that can get
[20:51] you solid gains whether you're a
[20:52] beginner or intermediate. Thank you so
[20:53] much for watching. I'll see you next
[20:55] time.