The Fastest Way to Gain 20 lbs Of Muscle (Naturally)

[00:00] This is a skinny guy, skinny fat guy,

[00:02] and heavier guy. And here's what it

[00:03] looks like if they each gain 5 lb of

[00:05] muscle, 10 lb, 15 lb, and [music] 20 lb.

[00:09] Gaining that much muscle completely

[00:11] transforms your body no matter your

[00:13] starting point. I know because it

[00:14] happened to me. I went from this to

[00:16] this. [music] And just 12 lb in the

[00:18] right places took my wife from this to

[00:20] this. But here's the problem. Based on

[00:22] the data, uh less than 5% of people ever

[00:24] gain that much muscle naturally. Not

[00:26] because of age or genetics, it's because

[00:28] without the right plan, sure you may

[00:30] make some progress early on, but

[00:31] afterwards you get stuck spending years

[00:33] with the same physique. And more

[00:34] protein, more creatine, and more

[00:36] workouts aren't going to help you break

[00:37] through that. It's why I teamed up with

[00:40] five of the world's smartest scientists

[00:42] and coaches, experts in all different

[00:44] areas related to muscle growth, [music]

[00:45] to answer one question. What is the

[00:48] fastest way to gain 20 lb of muscle

[00:50] naturally? And at the end of this video,

[00:52] I'm going to give you a step-by-step

[00:54] plan that combines everything into one

[00:56] simple system. But before we talk about

[00:58] how to do it, we need to clear something

[01:00] up that almost nobody online is honest

[01:02] about. How long this is actually going

[01:03] to take. Cuz you'll see fitness coaches

[01:05] everywhere promising 20 lb of muscle in

[01:07] 3 months. With special sauce? Sure. But

[01:09] naturally, a muscle just doesn't work

[01:11] like that. With proper training and

[01:12] nutrition, it takes at least a year to

[01:15] put on that amount of muscle. And then

[01:16] every year after that, your gains slow

[01:18] by about half. But here is the good

[01:20] news. Your fastest gains don't actually

[01:22] come when you start lifting. They come

[01:23] when you start lifting properly. So

[01:25] let's start with training because this

[01:26] is where 90% of your muscle growth

[01:28] actually happens. [music] Take a look at

[01:29] this. 56 of the world's top natural

[01:33] bodybuilders. Guys who have naturally

[01:35] built well over 20 lb of muscle, beyond

[01:37] what most guys can achieve even with

[01:39] drugs. And a few months ago, a group of

[01:41] researchers studied their actual

[01:43] training routines to try to find out how

[01:45] they're putting on so much muscle

[01:46] naturally. Now you'd expect them to

[01:48] [music] spend hours in the gym

[01:49] annihilating their muscles with tons of

[01:51] exercises. But that's not what they

[01:52] found. On average, they only do about 12

[01:55] sets per muscle per week. So [music] for

[01:56] chest, that's four sets of bench, four

[01:58] sets of incline, and four sets of flies

[02:00] for the whole week. Now, for some

[02:01] muscles, they were doing just six sets a

[02:03] week, probably a lot less than what

[02:05] you're currently doing. And [music] the

[02:06] reason why, might surprise you. The more

[02:08] sets that you're doing, the less benefit

[02:11] you get from each extra set. That's Dr.

[02:14] Mike Zourdos, professor cited in over

[02:16] 6,000 studies, who currently runs a

[02:19] muscle growth lab out of Florida

[02:21] Atlantic University, where he and his

[02:22] [music] team recently investigated how

[02:24] much more muscle you grow by doing more

[02:27] sets in the gym. Now, most people expect

[02:29] a straight line upward. More sets, more

[02:31] growth. But, here's what they actually

[02:32] saw. From sets one to five, you're

[02:34] getting a lot of growth. From five to

[02:36] 10, you're getting some. And then, every

[02:38] time you add sets after that, we're not

[02:40] as confident that you're still getting

[02:42] more growth. And so, if [music] training

[02:44] longer and longer isn't the best

[02:45] solution, then what is? This is where it

[02:47] gets interesting. So, Mike and his team

[02:49] actually ran a second analysis. How much

[02:51] more growth do you get by taking each

[02:53] set closer to failure? The point where

[02:55] you literally can't do another rep if

[02:57] your life depended on it. When you stop

[02:58] your set at eight reps short of failure,

[03:00] which is honestly the intensity I think

[03:02] most gym-goers train at, your muscles

[03:04] still grow. But, when you push each set

[03:06] to just one or two reps short of

[03:07] failure, growth nearly doubles. And I

[03:10] can hear you already. Jeremy, I train

[03:12] hard, that's not the problem. Trust me,

[03:13] I have worked with both beginners as

[03:15] well as trained lifters who have

[03:16] plateaued, and they both failed the two

[03:18] simple tests I look for. Number one, if

[03:20] their last rep isn't moving really slow,

[03:23] they aren't pushing hard enough. And

[03:24] number two, if on their very last set of

[03:26] their exercise, they can do more reps

[03:28] than their first set, even though

[03:30] they're using the same weight, again,

[03:31] they're [music] not pushing hard enough.

[03:32] But, now you may be thinking, okay, so

[03:34] if more sets help, and training closer

[03:36] to failure helps, then why not just do

[03:38] more sets and take them all to failure?

[03:40] I always try to remind folks that there

[03:42] are downstream effects of every training

[03:44] decision that you make. What that means

[03:45] is, if you take all of your sets to

[03:47] failure, you're going to feel terrible

[03:49] after the session, then you might have

[03:50] some fatigue and soreness the next few

[03:52] days. If that lasts for a little bit

[03:53] longer, maybe you can't train again or

[03:55] train effectively and then you've

[03:57] actually decreased your frequency

[03:58] throughout the [music] week. And maybe

[03:59] that inhibits some of the total volume

[04:01] that you could do because you were so

[04:02] fatigued from it.

[04:03] >> So, if your goal is building muscle as

[04:05] fast as possible, [music]

[04:06] the key isn't trying to maximize

[04:07] everything at once. It's choosing the

[04:09] training style that allows you to train

[04:11] hard, train consistently, and avoid

[04:13] injury. And that usually comes down to

[04:15] two main approaches. The first is what I

[04:17] call the intensity method. And if you

[04:19] hate spending hours in the gym, you're

[04:21] going to love this.

[04:22] >> If somebody loves training to failure,

[04:23] then they can go and knock out all of

[04:25] their sets to failure. Perhaps they

[04:26] don't need as many total sets. Maybe

[04:28] even five sets a week per so on a muscle

[04:29] group.

[04:30] >> do five to 12 sets per muscle per week.

[04:32] So, for chest, you might do three sets

[04:34] of bench, three sets of incline, and two

[04:36] sets of cable flies. That's eight sets

[04:38] for the entire week. Your whole chest

[04:39] workout might take just over 20 minutes,

[04:41] and you might be in the gym as little as

[04:43] three or four hours a week. But

[04:45] remember, you're taking every set to

[04:47] failure. And I'm not talking, "Oh, this

[04:49] is getting hard failure." I mean, you

[04:50] physically cannot move the weight

[04:52] another inch. Your muscles are shaking,

[04:53] your face is red, and you're making

[04:55] weird noises. It is mentally tough, but

[04:57] I have personally seen many lifters

[04:59] switch to this approach and see way

[05:01] better gains with half the sets.

[05:03] Because, for the first time in their

[05:05] lives, they're training with actual

[05:06] intensity instead of just running on

[05:08] autopilot with three sets of 10. But I

[05:10] will admit, each set is a mental battle,

[05:12] which is why there's a second option.

[05:14] With the volume method, you do more

[05:16] sets, like 12 to 20 sets per muscle per

[05:18] week. But you stop two or three reps

[05:20] short of failure. So, that same chest

[05:22] workout becomes four sets of bench, four

[05:24] sets of dips, four sets of incline, and

[05:26] four sets of cable flies. Each set is

[05:28] easier, but the workouts are longer.

[05:30] Now, which approach is actually better?

[05:32] >> The difference is pretty small. We get

[05:34] hung up on looking in the weeds at what

[05:36] is the the statistical difference in

[05:38] this and but we're talking about a few

[05:40] millimeters. So, whatever somebody is

[05:42] going to enjoy and adhere to the most,

[05:44] they should do that.

[05:45] >> Now, for me personally, I do a mix of

[05:46] both. So for arms and back, I actually

[05:49] prefer fewer sets pushed all the way to

[05:51] failure. But whenever I'm short on time,

[05:52] I also use the intensity approach. But

[05:54] for muscle groups like legs, taking sets

[05:56] to failure can honestly be brutal and

[05:58] hard for me to recover from. So, I'll

[06:00] often prefer adding an extra set or two

[06:02] instead. But to find what works the best

[06:04] for you, here is an upper and lower body

[06:06] workout with the intensity approach. And

[06:08] here are those same workouts but with

[06:10] the volume approach. So try out both and

[06:12] see what style you're personally more

[06:13] likely to stick to. Regardless of which

[06:15] approach you choose, if you're training

[06:17] this hard, you have to be smart about

[06:19] how many sets you're doing in each

[06:20] workout.

[06:21] >> This is pretty recent paper from us by

[06:23] Jake Remmert, one of my PhD students

[06:25] right now who just did a fantastic job

[06:27] on this. Unlike the other

[06:28] meta-regression from Pelland where we

[06:30] want to see the number of sets per week,

[06:31] we wanted to see [music]

[06:32] where you tap out for those diminishing

[06:34] returns in sets per session. We found

[06:36] that right about 10-11 sets per session

[06:39] [music] per muscle group. So over that,

[06:42] we aren't sure if we're really getting

[06:45] more growth. And now, that could be for

[06:47] physiological reasons. It could be for

[06:49] fatigue, right? We're training in such a

[06:51] fatigue state that we're not really

[06:52] accomplishing anymore. But what that

[06:54] suggests to me is that this is where

[06:56] frequency becomes a variable that

[06:59] becomes to be important.

[07:00] >> And all this means is rather than doing

[07:02] 12 sets of chest all in one workout,

[07:04] split those sets up into at least two

[07:06] separate days per week. Based on Mike's

[07:08] analysis, that one switch has the

[07:09] potential to speed up your gains by up

[07:11] to 30%, which is why upper lower splits,

[07:14] push pull leg splits, and full body

[07:16] splits are great options to organize

[07:18] your training. Now for me personally, my

[07:19] favorite split is this 5-day upper lower

[07:22] push pull leg split. But the exact split

[07:24] matters much less than choosing one that

[07:26] actually fits your schedule and lets you

[07:27] stay consistent. And if you stick to

[07:29] what we covered so far, depending on

[07:30] your experience, you should be able to

[07:32] build 3 to 8 lb of muscle over the next

[07:34] 6 months. But you can speed up those

[07:36] gains even further by choosing the right

[07:38] exercises.

[07:39] >> that some newbies might make, especially

[07:41] with this social media age and there's

[07:42] so much information is there's a lot of

[07:44] exercises you could be doing but you

[07:46] aren't in a position where you can

[07:48] efficiently learn many many exercises.

[07:49] >> That's Steve Hall, a pro drug tested

[07:52] natural bodybuilder who has gained 45

[07:55] pounds of muscle throughout his 20-year

[07:57] lifting career. He explained how there's

[07:59] three stages when it comes to choosing

[08:01] your exercises starting with beginners.

[08:04] >> Yeah, at least for those novice lifters,

[08:05] fewer exercises, just general movement

[08:07] patterns, a press, a pull, a squat, a

[08:10] hip hinge, and then you can kind of

[08:12] build from there.

[08:12] >> In fact, with just these six core

[08:14] exercises done three times a week, you

[08:16] can build well over 10 pounds of muscle.

[08:18] But once you actually put on some muscle

[08:20] and have at least two or three years of

[08:22] consistent training under your belt, you

[08:24] might notice those same compound

[08:25] movements have limitations. This is

[08:27] where stage two comes in. This where

[08:29] most people plateau.

[08:30] >> Once you're at this point as an

[08:31] intermediate, you've probably really

[08:33] grown some of your strong, genetically

[08:35] well-endowed muscle groups cuz your body

[08:36] is just it wants to move the weight A to

[08:38] B [music]

[08:39] the most efficient way possible.

[08:41] >> squats did a great job of growing my

[08:43] glutes and inner thighs, but my quads

[08:45] barely budge. And bench press never

[08:47] really did much for my chest and often

[08:49] just bugged my shoulders. It wasn't

[08:50] until I started doing hack squats for

[08:52] quads and more machine and cable work

[08:54] for my chest [music] did these areas

[08:56] finally start responding. But I know for

[08:57] others it's a complete opposite.

[08:59] >> There are some exercises that really

[09:00] suit some body types versus others.

[09:03] >> At this stage, you need to become your

[09:05] own guinea pig and figure out what your

[09:06] body and your joints respond best to.

[09:09] And this is also a stage where you might

[09:10] add a few more specialized exercises,

[09:12] especially for muscles that tend to lag

[09:14] behind, like the rear delts, upper

[09:16] chest, or [music] lats. But here's a

[09:17] list of a few exercises for each muscle

[09:19] that I find tend to work well for most

[09:21] people. Try two or three of these out

[09:23] per muscle and pay close attention to

[09:25] which ones feel the best on your joints

[09:27] and give you the best pump and next day

[09:28] soreness. Those are likely going to be

[09:30] your winners. And so by the time you've

[09:32] reached stage three, you've figured out

[09:33] which exercises actually grow your

[09:35] muscles the best. So instead of

[09:37] constantly changing exercises, you

[09:39] simply double down on the ones that work

[09:41] and rotate them only when needed.

[09:43] >> May or may not like this question, but

[09:45] I'm just curious. If you could pick one

[09:48] exercise for every single muscle, what

[09:50] would they be?

[09:51] >> You're right, I don't love it, but I

[09:52] will I'll play ball. Delts, I'll go for

[09:55] a cross body cable lateral raise.

[09:57] Triceps, I really like skull crusher

[09:59] 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.