Your muscles certainly aren’t growing—aren’t
synthesizing more protein—when they’re under
duress. Lifting Heavy Things breaks down your
muscle fibers as intended, but you need plenty of
rest to recover and get stronger from that effort.
Real growth happens when your muscles aren’t
doing anything at all, like when you’re in deep
sleep. Yes, sleep. Sleep is your best friend, the
deeper and darker the better. Get eight hours of
deep sleep every night for the best results. Turn
off the lights and sleep in pitch blackness, if you
can manage it, to maximize the sleep quality.
It can be said that maintaining good health and
making steady progress on your physical fitness
boils down to effective management of your hor-
mones. Lifting Heavy Things and Sprinting Once in
a While spur the secretion of testosterone, which
is our primary anabolic, muscle-building hormone,
as well as growth hormone, which helps maintain
muscle while burning fat. On the other end of the
spectrum is cortisol, the “fight or flight” stress hor-
mone, a catabolic hormone that breaks muscle
(and other systems) down. Both testosterone and
cortisol are essential for proper function, but most
people these days have too little testosterone and
too much cortisol coursing through their veins.
You’ve got to have a balance. And you’ve got to
get your sleep, because that’s when serum growth
hormone levels are at their highest.Understanding your body’s stress response
mechanisms and the pivotal role cortisol plays in
your health can be life-altering, particularly if you
have engaged in chronic exercise in the past. I
strongly recommend that you review Chapter 6
of The Primal Blueprint for an extensive discus-
sion about the importance of rest and the impact
of chronic exercise, and excessive life stress, on
your health.Rest cont’d 79