Athletes need at least eight hours of sleep nightly for muscle growth and recovery. Sleeping less than seven hours raises injury risk by 1.7 times. Most athletes can't handle the minimal sleep that elite performers like Kobe Bryant managed.
Do not sacrifice sleep to train more. This might be a little bit controversial, I get it. Like, training's great. I'm not telling you to not train. I think it is very necessary and very important. However, you need at least 8 hours of sleep. Studies are showing that you are 1.7 times more likely to get injured if you are getting less than 7 hours of sleep consistently every single night. If you can't go to bed until 10:30 or 11 and you're waking up at 4:30 to go get an extra training session in something's got to give. And sometimes I get athletes arguing with me saying, well, well, Kobe, he didn't get very much sleep and he would train 8 hours a day. That's great, guys. You're not Kobe, okay? Your body is growing. Your muscles need sleep in order to be able to grow and to recover. So please take this advice and prioritize sleep, and then you can prioritize your training. Because if you're prioritizing training over sleep and not sleeping enough, and then you're actually just sabotaging yourself and your training anyway.
