In school, I was always the type that ends up reading books with a flashlight hidden between the sheets when he's supposed to be fast asleep.In today's world, that would equate to text messaging or browsing the Internet on the phone - but you get the point. Different generations, same mindset.  .   .

And this wasn't just limited to when I was really young - hark back to my high school days, and I was jumping up from bed the minute my mother left the room - to take another gander at the new machine sitting on a desk in the corner - the almighty COMPUTER of all things. This might sound strange to you today, but it was a long time ago, and personal computers were still a new concept for folks back then - as were 24/7 broadband connections. And laptops? Those were wonder machines that only the "bosses of large companies" used - not kids like us.

Naturally, this meant I didn't get enough sleep on a regular basis, and more often than not, a tired, worn out version of myself would be seen the next morning - sometimes just a few hours away from my "actual" bedtime. And so, I heard the growing boys line more often than I wanted to at that point in my life. Which is probably the case for most "growing boys" these days as well.

Now, you're probably wondering why I'm regaling you with these anecdotes from my past - and I don't blame you - but there is a reason behind it.

"Growing boys" and you have a lot in common. For one, if your training hard on a regular basis, you fall into the "growing category" as well. You are breaking your muscles down during the workout - so that they can GROW - and get STRONGER for the next challenege - which is the next workout. And if you don't sleep enough, or don't sleep well enough (note the difference that one word makes), you won't recover as well as you would if you got 8 restful hours on a regular basis. This is because your body releases growth hormone during periods of sleep - and that is what allows you to get stronger, lose fat, etc etc. If you don't sleep enough, you don't give your body a chance to release enough growth hormones. It's that simple, and I've found this out the hard way many a times.

Second, for those of you that are overweight and want to lose weight, getting enough sleep is a must. Weight gain and obesity have been directly linked to lack of sleep, so if your desperately trying to lose those extra lbs, pay more attention to how much you are sleeping.

There are many, many other very good reasons behind getting enough Z's on a regular basis and I don't intend to cover them all here - in fact, I couldn't if I wanted to. But know that getting enough sleep is IMPORTANT - so important that I devote an entire chapter to it in Fast and Furious Fitness.

And it's not just me saying this - it is what Mother Nature demands. If you look at some of the strongest animals in the wild, you'll see that they spend most of their lives RESTING - and SLEEPING. And this helps them GET stronger, and STAY stronger. Take a lion for example - it'll laze around most of the day - but you don't want to be the prey it's tracking when it does get down to business.

Still don't believe me? Well, try working out hard on a regular basis while getting less than an optimal amount of sleep every night - and you'll see what I mean immediately.

So, make sure your getting enough sleep every night. 8 hours is a good rule of thumb for most folks, but everyone is different. If 8 hours isn't ideal for you, figure out what works for you - and keep doing it.

And thats the tip for the day - back again tomorrow!

Best regards,

Rahul

PS: - Note that this advice is just as applicable to you ladies out there as well. Growing boys need their sleep, but so do you ladies!

PS#2: - The exercises and routines I mention in Fast and Furious Fitness are just as applicable to kids as they are adults - so if your looking to start your kid off on the right path, grab a copy NOW.

Fellow A (we'll call him New Bee)walks into a gym with good intentions and the best of knowlege on exercises, and a great plan. New Bee's been reading up on good stuff lately when it comes to exercise (material such as that found in Fast and Furious Fitness), and is raring to get going. Pull ups are one of the first exercises he attempts, and being he's never done them before in correct form, he's obviously having a tough time with them. He's pretty much the only one in the gym doing pull-ups (the rest are all yanking away furiously on their respective machines); so pretty soon folks start noticing what he's doing. And being that the average gym goer these days treats the gym as more of a social spot than a no-nonsense balls-to-the-wall training area, the "water cooler" talk soon starts.

"Look at that dude, what on earth is he trying to do? Why not simply use the lat pull down machine instead of trying these hard exercises??"

"Man, pull-ups are tough, and they make my back muscles feel as if they've put through a wringer. What sort of geek would spend so much time on them"

And so forth. Obviously New Bee hears what they're saying, and pretty soon, he starts to wonder if he's doing the right thing after all. Was that guy Rahul right about what he wrote in Fast and Furious Fitness? I mean how can a bunch of others be wrong on this? And pretty soon, he starts to give up on the pull-ups, and caves in to the "peer" pressure at the gym, and ends up back where he started - on the machines. His new found resolve dissolves, and he's back to square one - or in many cases, ZERO.

Now, this story might sound funny to some, maybe even comical, but it's more common than you might think. And though I'm referring to training here, rest assured that this holds true for other activities as well. Success in school, business, your profession - you name it, and I could give you a similar example.

One major reason why a lot of people fail to achieve what they set out to accomplish is that they are too worried about what others might think of their actions. They may have the best intentions in mind, but balk at action - not necessarily because it involves hard work, but because they're worried about how it would "look to others". Or, "what Jane Doe will think of me struggling on the pull-ups". Or, "how stupid will I look doing that". And so on, and so forth. The exact reasons vary from person to person, but the core thought behind them remains the same.

Most people look at me as if I'm crazy when I train. In fact, when I'm practising handstands against a tree, even the neighborhood dogs look at me with a strange expression as if to say "what the heck is he doing?". In China, folks used to look at me as if I was plumb nuts when I told them I'd get my workout in no matter what the weather was like. And in all of these cases, I continued my own merry way, and did exactly what I wanted to do. And, the results speak for themselves.

So don't worry about what others think of your training. They may not think much of what you are doing, but does that really matter? What matters is that YOU know you are doing the right thing, getting the right form of advice, and training the right way. YOU know that you are doing the right exercises. And YOU know what kind of results to expect from doing things the right way. And in the end, that's what really counts, doesn't it?

Anyway, enough for now. If you train today, make it a GREAT one, and pay no heed to what the "naysayers" say!

Best regards,

Rahul

PS: I speak more about training success and the factors that influence one's training in Fast and Furious Fitness. Grab a copy pronto HERE.