Morning Training v Evening Training

T

tocamjapan

New Member
I'm currently doing a morning/evening split, and I've noticed that my morning workouts are markedly more difficult than my evening's.

I wake up and within 20 minutes, I hit the weights, but I often feel like my nervous system hasn't woken up. My first exercise, trap-bar squats feel like I am trying to lift my car, and I get no pump from my morning workouts compared to my evening sessions.

Seeing that I hit the weights, eat, shower and then hit the road, I don't have a lot of time to "wake-up". Are there any tricks that can quickly kickstart the nervous system or my body for my early morning sessions?

Cheers
 
Whenever I have had to hit the gym early because I can't go later in the day I too find it much harder and feel my energy level is lower. I always thought it was just because I wasn't used to it. I think if I had to train early on a regular basis I would have to get up an hour earlier so I had that extra hour to "wake-up" a bit. The only trick I can think of is a cup of coffee!
 
I should have stipulated, no caffeine or ephedrine for me. I do drink half my postworkout shake before and during my workout in the morning though.
 
Why no caffeine?

There is a few issues with lifting first thing in the morning. Usually the joints are not warmed up as they would be after a days activity prior to the session. This can be aided by spending some time warming up the body, longer than is needed in the evening. Can be additional cardio, or done as a series of light weight sets prior to the main movements. Currently i do 3-6 movements before i get to my main movements (im not training like the sample setup of HST).

One other factor is that the CNS is relatively depressed first thing, mainly becuase you have just woken up. Carbs help, but they dont really provide a pickup like caffeine does. Or even 500mg of tyrosine will help with this (i generally do 100mg caffeine, 500mg tyrosine and my whey/carb drink - its enough to bring my CNS up a touch, but not excessive stimulation. If I use that level of caffeine and tyrosine later in the day, I get no effect from it)

These two things make a major difference in 6.30am performance
smile.gif
 
If you have a choice between morning and evening, I suggest you go for evening workouts. I did morning workouts for a long time, but then switched to evening workouts because it just takes too bloody long to wake up enough to perform my best during the time I have in the morning.

As a result of this switch, I have noticed that my muscles and joints do not get nearly as sore after workouts, and my back performs much, much better on squats, deads and floor rows.

I read somewhere that something like 90% of back injuries occur before 10:00AM simply due to stifness after sleep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top