Time of Day

lad5144

Hello all!

I am brand new to this group! I have done strong lifts for a period before but had to stop for various reasons. At the time I was doing it usually late morning/early-mid afternoon because I was in college and had more schedule flexibility.

Now I work 9-5 and have really gotten into morning workouts (cardio like running or elliptical and maybe some abwork). I love having them done and out of the way and they wake me up and get me in a good mood for the day! I sometimes eat something small (i.e. an apple) and I ALWAYS eat breakfast afterwards. I have found that even if I don't eat anything before hand I feel pretty good and it doesnt seem to effect my workout, which I was surprised about since I am a huge breakfast person and sometimes wake up hungry.

However, I am worried that the morning isn't a good time to do SL 5x5 based on what I've been reading online. What do you all think? Anyone do SL early morning?

I read that there is a greater risk of back injury in the morning (although I have done yoga, running, Jillian Michaels DVDS involving jumping and bodyweight training, competitive swimming all in the morning throughout my life and never had a problem). Has anyone experienced this?

I also read that because you have not eaten all night and are more dehydrated in the morning your muscles are less able to perform and you can end up with muscle wastage instead of growth.

Has anyone had success doing SL first thing in the morning? I really am reluctant to leave it to the end of the day because I know there will be days I won't be able to make it and I like the consistency/routine of doing it in the morning. If I can't do it in the morning I may not do it at all, since stressing too much over doing it after work won't be good for my health or body composition either.

Thoughts?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!

tameko2

re: injuries - I suspect that has to do more with warmups than anything. In the morning you are a LOT colder and stiffer, so you should plan to warm up a lot more than you would in the afternoon or evening.

As far as training fasted - nah, there's a whole school of (unproven) thought that training fasted is BETTER, *but* you do need to plan to eat immediately afterwards, and that same school of thought (its leangains, for the record) recommends you do a scoop of BCAAs before training. So you may want to try that, or go without it first and then try it and compare how it feels.

BCAA supplementation is otherwise unnecessary - you get plenty from regular food. I don't know that there is a lot of discussion around it, but I know that the'training fasted' group tends to use it so I'd recommend you at least consider it.

lad5144

The sources I read said the injuries had to do with spinal fluid collecting in your spinal cord overnight and making your back more prone to injury first thing in the morning, so that's more what I'm worried about.

I was thinking, as far as food goes, that I could have a protein shake before and/or after, as i recently found a great-tasting protein poweder that I can drink with just almond milk so it only totals in at around 160 calories per shake. So I was thinking I could have one of those before working out, or have an apple/banana pre-workout and a protein shake post workout.

I also read that cortisol levels are highest upon waking, and that lifting will only raise them higher, which hurts your muscles' ability to grow/not eat themselves.

I'm confused.

tameko2

There have been studies that actually show slightly better muscle growth while fasted, but in the end it needs to come down to how YOU perform best:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/moving-to-morning-training-qa.html

Also:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/pre-vs-post-workout-nutrition-qa.html

tl;dr - eat some protein and carbs before or right after lifting, depending on how you perform on and empty vs full stomach, I haven't heard either of the things you mention from any of the sources I read and consider reputable, so I think you're probably ok to go, but base it on how you FEEL - if you struggle, feel sick, tired, sore a lot, whatever, try evening lifting for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference.

lad5144

Okay, yea I am definitely going to try it out in the morning at least.

Thanks for the links I am going to read them now!