Training morning or evening

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi guys can I get your advice on training times? I’ve always trained in the evening but am thinking of starting early morning training (like 6:30am) so I have more time in the evening to spend with wife and other hobbies etc. Do you recommend one time over the other or does it not make much difference? I’ve always preferred evening due to having eaten all day, not feeling groggy from just waking etc. My plan would be get up at 6:00, have some food and coffee and be in the gym for 6:30.

Thanks in advance

2

In general, people tend to perform better later in the day (assuming a normal sleep schedule). Jordan often cites the “8 hours after you wake” figure, though I haven’t seen that evidence myself.

BUT, you can certainly adapt to training in the morning, and if your quality of life (in terms of spending time with family) would improve enough to outweigh any potential minor performance decrement, well, it might be worth it to you.

3

Honestly I lift a lot better and feel better when my workout is early in the morning. I feel like I have no power or motivation when it’s later.

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4

Thanks both for the reply - will try it out to see how it goes.

Would 30mins after waking be sufficient to ''wake up" properly? I’ve read around that the vertebrae in the back are more susceptible to injury shortly after waking - any truth to this or is it nonsense?

Thanks again

5

Funny it’s the opposite for me. There’s just something about being dehydrated from the night or being in a fasted state that makes me completely unable to lift weights in the morning. For myself, I feel that I need to have had at least two meals (breakfast, lunch) before being able to workout properly.

6

You’re asking if maximal arousal (cognitively) occurs 30 min after waking? Nope- it’s gonna take longer than that, but you still need to train sooo…

As far as the mechanical damage= pain reference we have going on here for the low back…I think that’s something we’ve really tried to stamp out and I would not consider it at all.

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7

If you’re not already getting up that early, training in the morning will pretty quickly drive you to going to bed earlier in the evening. I know it has for me, but I wake up at 0315 and I am done training by 0630.

I know the biggest benefit I derive from early monring training is the ability to be consistent. I could never manage to devote the attention and energy to training I manage now if I had to do it after the rest of the worries of the day have built up. Like the man says, what are you gonna do, not train?

1 Like