Often over looked, recovery is critical to success. The body adapts and grows only through recovery. Their are many aspects to proper recovery, but I believe the most critical is sleep. And the best way to ensure you get quality rest is to establish a sleep cycle. If you have had the pleasure of raising children, you know how important established sleep cycles can be.

Try not to deviate more than 30 minutes in regards to sleep or wake time. For best results you should aim for 7:30 to 9:00 hours of quality sleep. Pity, you might have to give up a show or two. How bad do you want success? For many of us, a sleep cycle is an abrasive new concept. Extremely difficult to execute and mentally exhausting. After a few weeks of consistency you will feel the power of this restorative act. Don't under estimate it's importance.

Execute other recovery techniques if time and resources are available. Massage (all types), hot and cold showers, meditation, light activities to promote circulation, relaxing music, acupuncture and many others. Of course, healthy eating is also a part of the recovery process that I will discuss later. All promote cell recovery, expulsion of free radicals, and critically, the metabolic process.

Do you have a sleep cycle? Was it a challenge?