Glen Eames Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Is training first thing in the morning good for my out of shape self? It seems like it takes a while for my body to wake up, get going and loosen up to a point where it could handle a workout. I'm not trying to make excuses here, I don't mind getting up early and exerting myself. I was just wondering if the body has enough time to get functional properly, especially to take advantage of the foundation programming. I have zero time after work to train, and evenings are impossible. I am usually up at 5 and walking out the door shortly after 6 for work. I've been waking up at 4 to get in a quick workout but I feel like I'm setting myself up for injury. Wish I had more time but not at this point in my life and I don't want to miss anymore workouts. I know professional athletes do it all the time, but I am anything but. Does anyone else on here train first thing in the morning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Douglas Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I train GST first thing on waking. I have about 250ml of choc milk shaken with a couple tablespoons of whey isolate and a couple teaspoons of instant coffee and go straight into general warmup. The caffeine kicks in and has me well and truly going by the time i get to work sets.Provided it suits you and you don't drag your feet too much it is a wonderful way to start the day 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikkel Ravn Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I wish I could, but I move like a slug in the morning + I tend to be a warmup hero, so my sessions get a little long, which is no good in the morning (gotta be out the door at 7.15, and I've got three kids that are just as morning sluggish as me). I love the idea, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Macdonald Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I train at 5 am for foundation four days a week, no injuries, no trouble warming up quickly. The tricky part is to be awake and not waste any time. I don't drink any caffeine most of the time, but I've started taking a very small amount of coffee and only before my workouts to help get me going. On every other day I'm coffee free to make sure I have a good response to it without building up a resistance. Which then would requiring more and more for the same effect (which would disrupt my sleep, and make it harder to get up, which was what I was trying to avoid in the first place). I also use a light alarm clock, I cannot state emphatically enough just how fantastic these things are for waking up early. I strongly suggest you give them a try, they're amazing. The difference between waking up with a light alarm and a regular alarm is like... night and day. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=light%20alarm%20clock&sprefix=light+alarm%2Caps%2C204&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alight%20alarm%20clock (I have one from Philips) The basic difference is that it allows your body to gradually wake up and come out of your sleep cycle naturally. If you're in a deep sleep cycle and your alarm blasts you out of it, it will take you a much longer time to really wake up and get your brain in gear, even if the amount of total sleep is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Svensson Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I train GST first thing on waking. I have about 250ml of choc milk shaken with a couple tablespoons of whey isolate and a couple teaspoons of instant coffee and go straight into general warmup. The caffeine kicks in and has me well and truly going by the time i get to work sets.Provided it suits you and you don't drag your feet too much it is a wonderful way to start the dayAre you sure about this? I thought it took about an hour until the effects of caffeine can be felt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Douglas Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Are you sure about this? I thought it took about an hour until the effects of caffeine can be felt?I am sure that it is a wonderful way to start the day. As to the caffeine, I love coffee. I have noticed a difference between my training with and without coffee, mostly re the pace I keep up and going directly between PE/IM's. If it isn't actually having a physiological effect, then I will continue to happily accept my placebo because it makes my chocolate milk delicious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Svensson Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I am sure that it is a wonderful way to start the day. As to the caffeine, I love coffee. I have noticed a difference between my training with and without coffee, mostly re the pace I keep up and going directly between PE/IM's. If it isn't actually having an effect, then I will continue to happily accept my placebo because it makes my chocolate milk delicious.Fair enough I recently started introducing caffeine (coffee) for my workouts but I always wait an hour inbetween (cuz that's what I have been told). But if it's working for you then all is good 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Macdonald Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Are you sure about this? I thought it took about an hour until the effects of caffeine can be felt? Personally I feel it almost instantly, but maybe that's just because I keep my resistance really low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Abernethy Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I say yes to early morning training - but make sure the amount you normally sleep doesn't suffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Long Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I can't do morning strength training I feel like I need the days activities to be warmed up for it but I do find a morning run a great way to wake up and get the day going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Slocum Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 In the past, some of my most productive strength training was done in the morning. It can be hard to drag yourself out of bed for a heavy conditioning session, but afterwards the rest of the day feels like you're going downhill. As to the caffeine, I love coffee. I have noticed a difference between my training with and without coffee, mostly re the pace I keep up and going directly between PE/IM's. If it isn't actually having a physiological effect, then I will continue to happily accept my placebo because it makes my chocolate milk delicious.It's not a placebo. gohei's figure is not quite correct - it takes about an hour for levels of caffeine in the blood to peak. The onset of the effects, especially on a mostly empty stomach, can be as fast as 30 minutes. So what you feel while warming up might be a placebo, but by the time you've gotten to your 2nd or 3rd exercise you're definitely feeling the real thing. Caffeine is probably the most effective supplement you can take to improve your workouts. Incidentally, a great way to wake up feeling energized is to set your alarm for ~45 minutes before you want to wake up. When it goes off, make a quick cup of coffee, drink it, and go back to sleep. You'll wake up 30-40 minutes later, ready to literally jump out of bed and get going. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Kallio Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 If you are like me and your body temperature tends to be low in the mornings a hot drink might be what's waking you up. Or it could be the jolt of sugar - that gets adsorbed fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Slocum Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 If you are like me and your body temperature tends to be low in the mornings a hot drink might be what's waking you up. Or it could be the jolt of sugar - that gets adsorbed fast. Yeah that's a good point. The initial jolt might just be the sugar from the chocolate milk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Macdonald Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 In the past, some of my most productive strength training was done in the morning. It can be hard to drag yourself out of bed for a heavy conditioning session, but afterwards the rest of the day feels like you're going downhill. A million times this, can I 'like' something twice? Do something first thing in the morning that's hard, the hardest thing you'll do all day. After that everything that comes your way seems easy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Smrek Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 4 in morning and foundation? brrrr you are my hero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Sørlie Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Isn't saying "and then my day was just downhill from then" something negative? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Slocum Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Isn't saying "and then my day was just downhill from then" something negative?Yes, but that's a different idiom. "Things went downhill from there" means that things got worse and worse over time. "Feels like going downhill" means that it feels easy - going downhill is generally easier because you have gravity helping you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Sørlie Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yeah, I know, just being me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Tseng Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 isn't training right after you wake up pretty bad because of all the fluid that is in the spine when you wake up? especially with all the spinal movement you have to perform Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keilani Gutierrez Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 isn't training right after you wake up pretty bad because of all the fluid that is in the spine when you wake up? especially with all the spinal movement you have to performI love doing Camel's/Cat's and anything that moves my spine(gently and thoroughly) to wake it up. I'm one that twists and moves quite a bit when I sleep so some mornings i'll feel better than others ~ especially depending if I rode my bike the day before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Svensson Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 It's not a placebo. gohei's figure is not quite correct - it takes about an hour for levels of caffeine in the blood to peak. The onset of the effects, especially on a mostly empty stomach, can be as fast as 30 minutes. So what you feel while warming up might be a placebo, but by the time you've gotten to your 2nd or 3rd exercise you're definitely feeling the real thing. Caffeine is probably the most effective supplement you can take to improve your workouts. Incidentally, a great way to wake up feeling energized is to set your alarm for ~45 minutes before you want to wake up. When it goes off, make a quick cup of coffee, drink it, and go back to sleep. You'll wake up 30-40 minutes later, ready to literally jump out of bed and get going. Yeah that's probably right, and I did not know that about caffeine on an empty stomach. I have never tried the wake up, coffee, sleep thing though but it would be fun to try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Douglas Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I have heard good things about napping immediately after a strong coffee, reports of euphoria and such. I'll play with it sometime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marios Roussos Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 When I rowed in university, we would all wake up at around 5 am, have coffee, bike 10 km to the olympic basin, then row hard for an hour and a half (6am to 7:30am). By october, there would be ice on the edge of the water and we'd have to wear special gloves over the oars to keep our hands from freezing. We'd then have to bike back home, shower, eat, and get to class for 8:30 am. The rest of the day *definitely* felt like going downhill. The only issue was trying to stay awake in class or in the library, that and suffering through the boring evening training sessions on the rowing ergometer. Those are some of my fondest memories 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Köhntopp Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 are there people who are not effected from caffein? If so i am one of those.i can drink 1-2-3 cups of coffee or similiar things, but i never feel any response to it...it's not a problem per se, because i don't like the taste of coffee, but if i need it like the last day while having end presentations to make at university i wished it could work for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Douglas Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 For me the caffeine boost is minor but a happy side effect of a drink i enjoy anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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