I have a couple of questions that I am sure you may be able to provide some insight in to for me. I know there is literature on these things, and apologies if these have been asked before
I start university again next month, which I do in the evenings after work Mon-Fri (8.30-10pm) - My usual workout time. This means that I will soon have to consider 5am-6.30am (Or whenever the kids wakeup, usually sometime between 6.15 and 6.45) workouts. I set my alarm at 4.30am, I sleep downstairs so I don’t wake the wife and kids, get changed, chug my overnight oats and have a coffee - but I struggle with two things.
Having my oats only 15-20 minutes before starting my workout, they just come back up on my working sets (I have tried just banana shakes, soylent, toast… all the same story eating so close to working out). How would you handle nutrition for really early workouts so you had some energy, without it just sitting in your stomach?
I am just incredibly ‘stiff’ at 5am and everything just feels horrible, I’m sure it isn’t a mental thing as I am motivated but my body doesn’t feel so good for heavy compound movements that early. I know you are all proponents of just warming up doing the movements you are planning to do, but would you recommend anything extra/different in this instance?
Which leads me to my next question:
I workout in my home garage gym, which hits very cold temperature in the winter to be working out in, sometimes negatives. Again, similar to my early morning workouts - No matter if it is evening or morning, working out in that cold while physically shivering is just awful. I do put heating on, but a big horribly (non) insulated garage gym it just doesn’t do much. Would you recommend anything different warmup wise here? if so, what? Or just some more sets of my main movements to warmup with? I usually have three layers on and just do some jumping jacks or something to phyisically warm me up, but the bar is so cold to touch it feels like it burns, so I also spend some time rubbing the bar down to warm it up.
In my head these sound like daft questions, but they affect my training so thought I would ask. I do also find that finishing my workouts 10pm onwards can drastically affect my sleep, so learning how to better transition to early morning workouts may be beneficial for me anyway.
Thanks again for all of the advice the BBM crew gives,
Having my oats only 15-20 minutes before starting my workout, they just come back up on my working sets (I have tried just banana shakes, soylent, toast… all the same story eating so close to working out). How would you handle nutrition for really early workouts so you had some energy, without it just sitting in your stomach?
What were you putting in your banana shakes? I’d opt for something on the simpler-carb end of the spectrum, low fiber/low fat, and – just as a personal preference – I’d probably avoid dairy here too. When i’ve been in this situation before, it would usually be a banana, either with whey mixed in a minimal amount of water, OR just leave the shake for post-workout if it’s going to make you feel sick.
I am just incredibly ‘stiff’ at 5am and everything just feels horrible, I’m sure it isn’t a mental thing as I am motivated but my body doesn’t feel so good for heavy compound movements that early. I know you are all proponents of just warming up doing the movements you are planning to do, but would you recommend anything extra/different in this instance?
How are you warming up? This is a good situation where you can just set a timer and do a set of 3-5 reps with the empty bar every 45 seconds - 1 min, until you feel good and ready.
I workout in my home garage gym, which hits very cold temperature in the winter to be working out in, sometimes negatives. Again, similar to my early morning workouts - No matter if it is evening or morning, working out in that cold while physically shivering is just awful. I do put heating on, but a big horribly (non) insulated garage gym it just doesn’t do much. Would you recommend anything different warmup wise here? if so, what? Or just some more sets of my main movements to warmup with? I usually have three layers on and just do some jumping jacks or something to phyisically warm me up, but the bar is so cold to touch it feels like it burns, so I also spend some time rubbing the bar down to warm it up.
This sounds pretty rough, dude.
But yeah - I’d use the same warmup approach as above. I’d definitely put some music on if you can, to help distract your mind from the silence and rattling of cold steel, and just try to keep moving. You may need to restrict your rest periods to avoid getting too cold between sets, too.
For the cold bar: In the winter I put an oil-filled space heater right under the bar, on a timer so the bar is toasty and the room is luke-cool. You could also keep the bar in your house.
Your garage is in the teens? That’s hard to imagine training in. Hopefully why comments can help!!
My garage gets down in the low 40’s at times when the outside temperature is in the 20’s. It’s almost impossible to lift effectively in that for me. Not sure what kind of heater you are using in there, but those little 110v heaters are worthless in a garage space. I installed a 240v circuit in my garage, along with a forced-air garage heater. The heater itself was about $140. The circuit breaker, conduit and outlet was another $75 or so. It will take my garage from 45 to 65 degrees in about 25 minutes, and hold it there very easily. Well worth the investment if you can swing it!!!
My little 110v heater does just fine in my 1 car garage gym. I leave it on an hour before going out, and it will typically heat the garage up 15 to 20 degrees. About 30 minutes into my lifting session, it will heat up another 20 degrees or so. I’ve had days with outside temp in the 20s and got my garage into the 60s. Having an insulated garage door helps.
Hi Austin, thank you for taking the time to reply. That is all awesome, in preparation for the busy winter season.
Usually a banana, some unsweetened almond milk, cinnamon and whey or peanut butter. I’ll try something like a low fibre bagel with Jam - I’ll do some research, and it may just be a bit of a trial and error thing.
Before discovering BBM I would spend 10 minutes doing dynamic stretches, swinging my legs around, band pull aparts, shoulder dislocations and whatnot. When it is especially cold, or early in the morning, I would jump around like a fool for 1-2 minutes, maybe do some jump rope, pushups/pullups. The usual ‘getting blood to the muscle’ warmups that are all over youtube/muscle mags.
Now I just warmups for the lifts I am doing, so 20x10+,60x10,80x5,100x5,120x3-5,140x1-2 (In kg) for my squat, similar for deadlift and 20,40,60… for press/bench. I’ll try just doing emom warmups with the bar next time I am in the gym early.
I’ll also try keeping my rests a bit shorter, as long as I am hitting my prescribed volume at the right RPE, I don’t think the slight difference in weight will make too much of a difference between 150-180 second rest times instead of 240 second+