Articles

We know the importance of sleep when it comes to recovery, but did you know it also plays a role in body composition?

A common thing I hear amongst clients is that ‘they get enough sleep for them.’ Further questioning then indicates that this could look like 6 hours on average per night. Time and time again research has shown that humans need between 7-9 hours on average, with athletes requiring up to 9 due to the physical demands placed on their bodies.

Now, put someone in a calorie deficit who is low on sleep and it’s a sure recipe for disaster. When we’re low on sleep, we experience an increase in the hormone ghrelin and a reduction in leptin. Ghrelin is a hormone that is released from the stomach and signals to the brain that it’s time to eat. Leptin is produced by the body’s fat cells and regulates hunger through signalling to the brain that we’re satisfied/full. With a decrease in sleep comes a decrease in leptin and overall energy and...

‘Not today fatty!’

Gaining weight, getting fluffy, bulking or cultivating thickness, however you wish to phrase it, getting bigger has always been a fascination to myself and I guarantee to the majority of people clicking into this article!

The quest to be big enough to scare babies and old people, or for the ladies to look like Marge off the Simpsons episode where she is jacked beyond belief will always be something linked to the culture of strength sports.

But why is this! Well, from the outside looking in it is not hard to see that the bigger someone is the more weight they can move, there will always be some exceptions to this, but at a glance most top end strength athletes are not normal sized people. For many years this seeming link between bigger and better has perpetuated a quest for mass by ANY means (although usually by the means of excess cheesecake).

Over the last few years however, there seems to be an emerging shift to this attitude, which has followed a...