Excessive fatigue after morning workout

aubyshortcake

Hello! I've always struggled to push myself to do a workout after work, so on Monday I decided to try in the morning. I got up about 10 to 20 minutes earlier, nothing crazy, and did a 30 minute workout (21 day fix) after having my coffee, so i had been up at least 45 minutes by then. After the workout I had eggs with grits and a couple hours later a granola bar.

After the workout I felt really good and energized, but about 2 hours later at work I got the most intense exhaustion. I had another coffee and it did nothing. I couldn't think straight or keep my eyes open, and on my lunch break I had to try to take a nap in my car.

Is this normal?? I've done morning workouts in the past and don't remember this happening, but it's been a while and I've gotten out of shape.

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

ninerbuff

Go to bed earlier and see what happens.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

tomcustombuilder

Sometimes when you change your exercise habits it can have that effect so if that schedule works better try it a few more times and maybe eat before training, just a banana or something or have carbs the night before.

cmriverside

How many carbs/sugars were in the granola bar? Too many carbs can cause an insulin spike then crash.

When I was overweight I was also insulin resistant...and treats like those could make napping seem like the only solution. Try having some cottage cheese or something more protein-packed.

cwolfman13

This could be so many things...

If I started working out in the morning it would mean I would have to be up earlier than I'm accustomed to...this would definitely lead to me being more fatigued during the day, at least initially until I adjusted to the schedule...I would probably also have to go to bed a bit earlier.

Could possibly be a diet issue...a workout fasted often feels different than a workout later in the day after you've eaten meals, snacks, etc, especially if you're not accustomed to fasted workouts.

Personally for me, a hard workout leaves me pretty done. I lift on Wednesday evenings, Friday evenings, and Sunday mornings...I'm usually pretty shot a few hours later and it's not particularly unusual for me to have a mid-afternoon nap on Sunday. Wednesday and Friday is no biggie because I come home, have dinner, watch some T.V. and then go to bed and sleep like a rock.

When I was into endurance cycling and training I experimented with morning training rides and it was a no go...for one, my training rides just weren't as productive and two, my days weren't as productive at work because I would feel exhausted by mid afternoon. I'm just not a morning training person...I do enjoy movement in the morning, but the most I do is a walk with my dog with a travel mug of coffee while I watch the sunrise and it's more of a mental health thing than anything else.

tomcustombuilder

cwolfman13 wrote: »

This could be so many things...

If I started working out in the morning it would mean I would have to be up earlier than I'm accustomed to...this would definitely lead to me being more fatigued during the day, at least initially until I adjusted to the schedule...I would probably also have to go to bed a bit earlier.

Could possibly be a diet issue...a workout fasted often feels different than a workout later in the day after you've eaten meals, snacks, etc, especially if you're not accustomed to fasted workouts.

Personally for me, a hard workout leaves me pretty done. I lift on Wednesday evenings, Friday evenings, and Sunday mornings...I'm usually pretty shot a few hours later and it's not particularly unusual for me to have a mid-afternoon nap on Sunday. Wednesday and Friday is no biggie because I come home, have dinner, watch some T.V. and then go to bed and sleep like a rock.

When I was into endurance cycling and training I experimented with morning training rides and it was a no go...for one, my training rides just weren't as productive and two, my days weren't as productive at work because I would feel exhausted by mid afternoon. I'm just not a morning training person...I do enjoy movement in the morning, but the most I do is a walk with my dog with a travel mug of coffee while I watch the sunrise and it's more of a mental health thing than anything else.

Yep same. Plus early training and it's really easy to end up burning fewer daily calorie because of NEAT reduction the rest of the day. Late afternoon training then your day is pretty much over so NEAT doesn't suffer. People underestimate the importance of NEAT burn and think their exercise program is more important for fatloss.

Some people feel more energized with early training so that can happen however I'm betting they are less active as the day goes on