Importance of sleep and exercise!

Hey everyone! So, I'm a college student and LOVE weightlifting/body building. I workout MINIMUM 5 days a week and usually turns out to be 7 days a week. I've created this post to stress the importance of nutrition, sleep, and stress on the body while going to school.

I've gone from a very obese 230 pounds about 4 years ago to a now trim 185 pounds. I've done A LOT of trial and error and have learned pretty well how things work. During the 1-2 month breaks from school, I usually go crazy at the gym. When I get back to school, it's time to take care of business and bodybuilding isn't part of the education business for me. So here's a few tips for the average college student that love working out and weightlifting!

Light exercise:

If you workout 1-3 days a week, there isn't much need to watch your diet and sleep down to the point. Even if you're lifting HARD 3 days a week, you still wouldn't have to stress getting enough sleep or necessarily eating enough food. Chances are, everything will balance itself out over the week. Just make sure you have a well balanced diet and get an average amount of sleep (5-8 hours).

Moderate exercise:

(3-5 days/week)
This is where diet and sleep need to be a little bit more precise. If you're working out HARD, like 1 1/2 to 2 hours of heavy weights, then you NEED to make sure you're getting that sleep and enough protein in your body to heal your muscles. If you're not taking in enough calories and/or not getting enough sleep, this can start to put a mental stress on you as well as a physical stress. Your muscles won't heal as quickly because they heal the most during you REM sleep (deep sleep) and REM works in intervals, sleeping 5 hours might cut off an entire interval or two. Concentrating on school will become much harder if you're lacking any of these significant resources.

Heavy exercise:

(5-7 days/week)
If you're working out 5 to 7 days a week, it is VERY easy to wear yourself out. The more you work out, the more calories you burn. This means, the more you work out, the more you need to eat. Our body's need time and resources to heal and continue the strenuous activities. I'd recommend getting AT THE VERY LEAST 7 hours of sleep if. I've noticed through years of trial and error, if I workout this often and don't get enough sleep, concentrating on school and/or work the next day is much harder. Let's factor in food now. Without enough protein, you'll be doing more hard than good by workout out this often. I try to go off of the 1.2-2g of protein per pound of body weight number that you see on the internet so often. Make sure you get a good carbohydrate source before your workout (oatmeal, wheat bread, brown rice, etc) and a sufficient amount of healthy fats spread throughout the day. Without enough food in our body, we literally won't have the resources to concentrate and grasp complex concepts.

I'm transferring to a 4 year university next fall and figured I'd share these tips with everybody else. I don't want to see people making the same mistakes I made and go through weeks or months of being tired through out the day and not being able to pinpoint the cause. Hope this helped a little bit, I did this straight from the top of the head so it's not as good as it could be, just some advice from me to you! :)

A little bit about me...and my body!

Hey everyone, first post in this part of my blog! I've been into weightlifting since I entered high school and can't get enough of it. It's my hobby, my escape, and quite honestly my love. Bodybuilding makes me feel good, physically and mentally. I've literally learned life lessons from exercising, something that might be strange to others...I know.

I'm 20 years old now so it's been about 6 years that I've been lifting weights. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I really noticed that you are what you eat. I grew up poor and didn't live with very healthy people, I ate what was there and a lot of it. I may have been able to tell you every lift you need to know to work every part of your body, but it doesn't matter unless you're giving your body the correct fuel.

I entered high school at 5'6 180 pounds, reached 5'8 228 toward the end of my sophomore year, 210-215 pounds my junior year and ultimately left high school weighing 185 at 5'9. I played football and feel that I was given a edge on the fitness world because I understand what intensity and work ethic are in a workout. Now, I'm 5'9 (pretty sure I'm done growing) weighing 186. Difference is, I have abs and my body is starting to look very good. I took an entry level nutrition class my 2nd year of college and have blasted off ever since. I tweak my diet every so often, pretty much leaving most carbohydrates out once spring/summer come up.

I've lifted for strength and power as well as for aesthetics and looks. I back squatted 500 pounds (I weighed about 198-205 pounds) at my best when I was 18, with knee wraps and a belt. I hit 435 pounds as my deadlift personal best this last year and am hovering right around that weight still.

Over time, I want to get the "perfect body" as well as gain strength once I obtain a comfortable physique to do so. I'll be posting on here periodically about my progress as well as just some information/motivational posts. Just wanted to let you guys know a little bit about me, hoping to acquire some followers. I'm serious about this and workout 5-7 days a week, sometimes twice a day. Please feel free to ask questions and I'll provide the best possible advice that I can to you.

 Thank you for taking the time to read this, have a nice day! :)