Every so often I'll get an e-mail from someone who claims he or she has applied each of those key factors for many weeks and still say they have trouble trying to gain weight and build muscle fast. One of the lesser known but very important factors to build muscle fast in record time is something that most people just plain don't get enough of these days: sleep.

I read an article recently saying that the average person gets less than 7 hours of sleep per night. Whether you are a hardgainer of not, getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night is absolutely critical, preferably 8 or more.

Here is a simplified form of how your muscles grow and why sleep is so important:

First, when you lift weights, what you're doing is actually tearing the muscle tissue in a healthy way. After you eat your body uses certain nutrients to repair your muscle tissue. What you need to remember though, is that the protein and your body won't start repairing your muscle tissue until you are at rest for a extended period of time, such as sleep. That means, if you don't get enough sleep, your body doesn't have enough time to recover your muscles fully, and when you begin your next workout you won't be 100% recovered, which means you won't get maximum results from your workouts.

In addition, when you are following a hardcore muscle mass building workout program, it is HIGHLY suggested to get an extra hour of sleep each night for the last month of your program. If your schedule does not permit you to get enough sleep every night, the next best thing to do is to do your best to take as many naps as you can throughout the day.

Remember, if your goal is to gain weight and build muscle fast, it is always better to rest throughout the day as much as possible. That means if you can walk rather then run, do so. If you can sit rather then stand, do so, and so on. The more rest you give your body in-between workouts, the more you give it time to properly repair itself, and the better results you will get.