You've realized you need to grow...
But in order to grow, you must recover.
Without recovery, there is no growth.
While all of this is probably something you already know, there are ways to enhance recovery.
Hibernate contains one of the biggest servings in sleep aids.
Packing over 9g of sleep aids, it ensures you are in the best mindset for a good nights rest.
Sueno uses highly effective recovery ingredients to help speed up the recovery process.
With over 15g of ingredients, it's one of the best you can get.
There are a few categories when it comes to recovery supplements.
From slow digesting protein powders to sleep aids and testosterone optimizers, there's probably something you could make use of.
Below you'll find each of these categories.
Whether you're looking for something to help you maximize your sleep or maximize recovery with slow digesting protein, you're likely to find something that will help you.
Check them out below...
Hibernate by Huge Nutrition is a sleep aid that helps with recovery.
When it comes to building muscle, you can't do it without proper sleep.
It's far too easy to find reasons to stay up late and stare at electronic screens.
It makes it harder to get into the proper deep sleep state.
Hibernate is designed to help you get high quality sleep with 9 strong ingredients.
Every 9.3g scoop is packed with ingredients like GABA, Kanna, and much more.
The first ingredient is GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric), which helps with relaxation, reduce stress and helps achieve sleepiness much quicker.
There's also a load of high quality ingredients that range from 1g Kanna, to 500mg theanine, 1g tyrosine, 250mg mucuna pruriens, 225mg valerian root powder, 150mg 5-HTP, 150mg passion flower extract and 3mg melatonin.
Hibernate is formulated with high quality ingredients made to help you get to sleep, stay asleep and wake up like you've had the best night's of rest to help enhance your recovery and allow your body to properly regenerate.
This is one supplement that will assist with recovery and help you feeling refreshed and ready for your next workout.
Use discount code FITFREK.
This is another sleep aid by a well known company.
ASC Supplements developed Sueno to help you achieve deep sleep by using high quality ingredients.
Ranging from 4g L-Glycine, to 3g GABA, 2g inositol, 2g taurine, 1g L-tryptophan, 400mg theanine, and much more.
Sueno is made to increase sleep quality to help maximize recovery so your body can fully regenerate and recover from workouts.
It contains zinc and magnesium to help muscle growth, reduce soreness and enhance fat loss.
Zinc and magnesium are both often depleted from a lifestyle that's filled with stress but also it's depleted with high effort training.
When you have enough of these minerals, you'll also reduce the chance of low testosterone levels.
Sueno will help you fall asleep faster and get to deep sleep easily.
If there's one type of supplement that's useful, it's ZMA.
ZMA is a blend of zinc magnesium and vitamin B6.
And it's been like this for almost every ZMA supplement.
However Transparent Labs changed this.
Taking an innovative approach, they not only used zinc and magnesium, but also oyster meat powder.
This blend of these 3 ingredients are made from high quality sources for maximum bioavailability.
In fact, these sources are the best of what you can get, with magnesium glycinate chelate buffered and zinc picolinate.
And oyster meat powder is full of trace minerals, but also rich in zinc and magnesium.
Seafood is known for being beneficial for performance, which is even more exciting when you learn that oyster meat is being researched for it's potential benefits for endurance and immune system function.
Oyster meat is also a good way to not only get vitamin B12, but also vitamin A, C and D.
With 500mg oyster meat you'll surely be making the most out of your nutrition.
Use discount code FITFREK.
If you've tried sleep aids before and they didn't work for you, then Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals may have the next best thing.
Somatomax is a recovery supplement designed to help you get a proper night's rest.
It's one that's been selling for years and is not going anywhere.
However the reason why it works so well is mostly because of phenibut.
Phenibut is a strong depressant and it can create a dependency if it's used frequently.
In fact you can experience withdrawals once you discontinue use.
Because of this, it should be avoided by those who've experienced substance abuse or addiction and it certainly isn't designed for daily or long term use.
Somatomax is considered to be a hardcore, gray area type of supplement.
It'll force you to have a good night's sleep, which can happen to the best of us every once in a while.
It may have some side effects like dizziness and nausea but it does seem to work for most people as a strong sleep aid.
Containing both GABA and phenibut at full dosages, Somatomax will surely help with achieving deep sleep.
Use discount code FITFREK.
Protein is necessary for muscle growth.
But what's better than most protein is slow digesting casein protein that helps keep your body in a anabolic state as you'll go without food for at least 6-8 hours when you're sleeping.
Transparent Labs Casein protein is a high quality protein powder sourced from grass fed cows that is easy on the stomach, and it's easily digestible.
And because there is some fat content in TL Casein protein, it has some benefits that comes from grass fed cows.
Aside from the benefits, grass fed cows are generally treated better, and are not abused with hormones and steroids.
This is a great choice if you're looking for protein to help keep your body in a fed state throughout the night.
Use discount code FITFREK.
If you've considered ZMA before but didn't think it was enough, then this may be the option for you.
Sleep Aid by Transparent Labs is a all in one sleep aid that's full of premium ingredients to enhance sleep quality.
It's designed with one thing in mind and that's post workout recovery.
Using high doses of the best ingredients, from tart cherry to ZMA and glycine, it'll help put you in deep sleep fairly quickly.
It doesn't use anything that would cause withdrawals or dependency, like phenibut would for example.
Instead it uses all natural ingredients with disclosed dosages.
These are clinical dosages of highly bioavailable ingredients that work in synergy to help your body recover and replenish more efficiently.
Use discount code FITFREK.
In order to grow, recovery and rest is a must.
This includes nutrition, sleep and programming.
Overtraining and poor rest are two that can cause havoc to our bodies. Poor recovery means you won't be increasing strength, muscle or performance. You'll be compromising your immune system and wasting your time in the gym.
To avoid this, there are quite a few things you can do.
If you have your nutrition down and you're following a good program, then there's good news for you...
There's supplements that can give you an edge and help maximize rest.
Ranging from protein powders to sleep aids, you'll find something that can help your body replenish and restore much quicker.
The first supplement is a popular sleep aid and it's in almost every sleep aid.
There's a good reason for that.
Melatonin is made naturally through the body's pineal gland and it's a process that starts first with L-Trytophan then to 5-HTP (hydroxytrytophan) then aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase interacts with it to make serotonin, which is made to make N-acetylserotonin after interacting with hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase, which finally results in melatonin.
Melatonin is a hormone that creates a sedative effect on the brain, and it's naturally made when it's dark.
But it's also decreased and suppressed if there's lots of light.
This is one of the reasons why it's best to avoid electronic screens just before sleeping as blue light can inhibit melatonin production.
One of the best meta-analysis was published in 2013 with 19 studies and 1683 subjects.
Scientists concluded that melatonin helped users fall asleep much quicker while improving overall sleep duration. The longer the trial, the better the results were.
This means you don't need to worry about tolerance or building a dependency.
With dosing, 2-3mg seems to be the accepted dose but I personally find the smaller the dosage, the better.
I've taken less than a quarter of a 3mg pill and still found it very effective.
Magnesium is the second most abundant mineral in the body (first is calcium).
It's a commonly deficient mineral, especially in athletes, likely due to diet.
Magnesium is responsible for more than 300 processes in the body.
Some of these processes include:
The reason why it's included in recovery supplements is because it can improve sleep.
Magnesium helps induce relaxation as it can reduce stress and it works in synergy with melatonin, which can help you get to sleep faster.
Zinc is another high abundant mineral in the body that is involved with several processes in the body including:
It's found in several sources of food like nuts, grains, red meat, seafood, dairy products, and poultry.
Some foods like whole grain bread and legumes can interfere with zinc absorption because they have phytates, an anti nutrient.
Not having enough zinc can have a negative effect on sleep and immune system.
A meta-analysis was published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences concluded that zinc plays a crucial role in enzymatic activity and is also involved with cell signaling in the central nervous system (11).
And zinc was also found to be a modulator in the central nervous system, which is why zinc has been found to improve sleep quality in both humans and mice.
Although research is going to fully understand the mechanism of action of how zinc improves sleep, researchers have theorized it's because the mineral interacts with glutamatergic receptors and might play a role in the G protein coupled receptor 39 (GPR39) (12).
One thing most seem to agree with is that zinc is well supported with evidence to help improve sleep quality and recovery.
This ingredient is well used in sleep aids.
GABA is a neurotransmitter that has depressive properties as it's abundant in the central nervous system and it plays a role in sleep cycles (13, 14).
Supplementing with GABA has been shown in research to induce relaxation, reduce beta waves and enhance alpha waves (15).
Usually when GABA is in a recovery supplement like a sleep aid, it'll be paired with other sleep aids.
It works well on it's own but it works even better when it's used with 5-HTP by increasing sleep quality and sleep duration.
When it's both used at the same time, it'll help you sleep much quicker and longer.
You may have used theanine in several types of supplements and there's good reasons for that.
Theanine on it's own can enhance relaxation without causing drowsiness (16, 17).
In other words, it works well with various different types of ingredients from caffeine, to melatonin and more.
Theanine is an amino acid derived from glutamine and glutamate.
Whether you're training or trying to sleep, theanine can help get you in a calm state of mind, which is why it's so versatile.
L-theanine has been seen in studies to increase dopamine, critical thinking, learning and even improve memory (18).
If you have trouble falling asleep, then it'll be hard to not to mention valerian root.
Valerian root comes from a plant called valeriana officinalis, and it's traditionally consumed in tea form or eaten raw to help with relaxation.
It's a strong herb that can help you get to sleep quicker although its research is fairly limited.
There are some studies that have shown an improvement with sleep quality (19, 20).
All in all, this should be a part of a recovery aid to help improve sleep quality and duration.
There's no better time to consume casein protein than at night.
The reason for that is because casein protein takes longer to digest than whey isolate or whey concentrate.
When you sleep, you should be getting a full nights rest without interruptions, and this means, ideally, you shouldn't be able to consume protein or a meal in the middle of the night.
With casein protein powder, you can stay in a fed state for 6-8 hours without risking catabolism.
The only downside is if you're lactose intolerant or allergic to casein protein then you should avoid this type of protein.
Here I'll try to answer as many questions as I can related to recovery and sleep.
What's the difference between a recovery supplement and a sleep aid?
There isn't really a difference. A sleep aid can be considered both a recovery supplement and a sleep aid.
A recovery supplement can be taken directly after training, or really anytime.
And a sleep aid should only be taken at night, before sleep.
What Role Does Sleep Have For Bodybuilding?
The first thing about bodybuilding is that your muscles actually shrink during workouts but grow while in recovery.
Exercising with maximum effort and getting poor sleep will increase the risk of not only a comprised immune system but also higher risk of injury and more.
During sleep, your body produces an important hormone called growth hormones which only happens during deep sleep cycles.
When you're not getting enough deep sleep, you'll feel weaker the next day.
Getting the proper amount of sleep as well as quality will help improve your athleticism and overall performance in the gym and in your everyday life.
Thanks to science, we have more proof than ever that sleep is important to not only the everyday average joe but also to athletes.
We also know what ingredients are effective for improving recovery and helping our bodies replenish and restore from hard training.
Recovery supplements such as Hibernate are one of the best you can get because of the high quality formula that's packed into each serving.
The next best thing you can get is a protein supplement like Casein Protein by Transparent Labs.
Consuming casein protein will ensure a steady flow and will help keep your body in a fed state throughout the night.
If you're on a budget, Transparent Labs Sleep Aid is a good buy as well.
