First thing in the morning is a great time to things done. Most of the world is still comfortably warm in their bed, the roads are clear and the notifications haven’t started to ping yet. The calm of the morning is a time many of us love to take advantage of to get our workout done. Whether your schedule is forcing you into the pre-daylight hours or it’s your choice. Here are some considerations to help make the most of your morning workout.
Fasted cardio in the morning is a great opportunity to move blood and cycle waste products from the previous days training through your system. When you first wake up you haven’t eaten anything yet, so getting out and getting the blood pumping without having to divert a significant supply to digesting food allows you to send the maximal volume to your muscles.
This can help to pump out residual lactic acid from previous workouts as well as teach your body to be more effective at using your existing stores of glycogen and fat as your fuel for training.
On the other hand this isn’t the best time for heavy weight training. Since you’ve been lying in bed all night you’re generally going to be more stiff upon rising. It’s going to take you longer to get warmed up and flowing to simply get to the state you’d be in mid-way through the morning. Anabolic hormones also rise slowly in the morning and don’t reach their highest levels until about 3 hours after waking. So if you’re going to train with heavy weights, it’s best to adjust your schedule so that you can get into the gym a little later and after a morning meal.
The same goes for high intensity training. If you’re going to be slamming the pedal to the metal you’ll want to hold off until late morning or early afternoon if you have the option. The energy demands are so high for true intense training that you’ll often find yourself unable to refuel without naps and you’ll be crashing by mid-afternoon.
If early AM training is more a necessity than a choice there are a few options to help you out. First off get to bed early. Athletes need at least 8.5 hours of sleep. If you’re consistently doing high intensity training and/or tough weight training you are an athlete, it’s time to get the rest of your life in order to reflect that fact.
Next focus on consistent hydration. It’s a 48 hour game, so what you did two days ago is going to control what you’re working with come training time. A small glass of 10-12 ounces of water in the morning should be plenty to get you moving and you can of course drink water through the course of your workout. Just make sure you’re not playing the catch up game.
The night before training try to get in plenty of carbohydrates as well. I’m always going to recommend lower inflammatory options like sweet potatoes, squash and white rice. But find what works for you and make sure you get some fuel stocked in your system so your body doesn’t have to break down muscle to supply your energy in the next days workout.
During your workout something like a BCAA supplement is great. These can keep the necessary components for gluconeogenesis in your bloodstream until you can get some real food in to take over. Gluconeogenesis is the body’s process of creating glucose for energy by breaking down amino acids. These amino acids will come from broken down muscle mass in the absence of appropriate blood sugar or available amino acids.
Post workout you’ll want to have an appropriate shake of protein and carbohydrates if your training is tough and follow that up with meal of protein, carbohydrates and fat about 60-90 minutes later once your digestive system is ready to handle food. If your training is light and your goals are more for health than performance you can trade the shake for clean water and simply wait for the meal to get plenty of nutrients to recover fully.
The mornings are great for moderate cardio. Get out the door to run before brushing your teeth, or hop on a rower with some easy tunes and let the body work. If you’re doing anything harder than this consider changing your schedule. If you can’t, make sure you get plenty of sleep and nutrition the night before, hydrate well daily, and implement an intra-workout drink that can stave of the catabolic effects of gluconeogenesis.
Phase Based Nutrition
Different training elicits different physiological responses and cause different levels of muscle breakdown. Depending...
