Trying to fit in some light conditioning to add active recovery to my powerlifting routine. as most of you can relate, a demanding girlfriend, job, dog, general lifestyle make it hard to fit in any extra additional time. so im looking to wake up alittle earlier and bang out something simple. how long after breakfast should i start? thanks!
Alright dude
Personally if it’s ‘light conditioning’ I’d go fasted of maybe after some BCAA. If under 30 mins fasted is OK in my opinion. All that ‘fasted training will eat up all your muscle’ bullshit should be put into context - 30 - 40 mins in the AM (if overall diet is in order) will improve conditioning and help drop some fat if done smart (German Volume Training would not be a good idea if you get my drift)
KB swings, skipping, shadow boxing, body weight circuits, brisk walking with a weighted vest. Much depends on your current condition, body weight and goals. Push -ups, pull ups and BW squats for time is a good one for example. Throw 100 rope jumps at the end of each round then hey presto.
I personally train 30-40 mins fasted every morning at 5.30.am (weights x 3 and conditioning x 3-4) and as my overall diet is spot on (pretty high carb/cal as I’m a Nak Muay Thai) the only thing burnt AM is glycogen and fat - I’ve noticed so lost in size or strength. I train 60-90 minutes MT in the evenings after work as well.
What’s your current diet, weight, goals and condition?
Moog
thanks for the reply @moogweasel , currently i’m on a bulk following a powerlifting hypertrophy program. my diet is pretty standard (5-7x meals a day, oatmeal, chicken, blah blah haha), macros are at about 3.2k training days/2.8-3k non training. right now im about 218lbs at 6’2". i swapped to powerlifting a few months ago wanting to increase strength, before that i’d been doing alot of super/triple setting routines combined with tons of HIIT training similar to your conditioning. kept me in amazing shape allowing me to eat 3.5-4k cals a day. since ive dialed it back now to focus on brute strength, im just trying to now fit in when to do my conditioning consistently.
Hey again
Ahh your a pretty big fella then ;0) I’m 174lbs at 8%bf so a slight chap to put some context into my previous post. Getting up at 5.am can be a bitch but you soon get used to it - I actually quite enjoy some quiet time from 5 - 5.45.am where I can drink coffee, check email before hitting the weights/conditioning. My AM sessions are in my garage gym (I live in Bangkok so it;s always warm/hot as fuck) I find 45 minutes to be enough time between waking and hitting heavy iron (apparently not good to compress the spine straight after waking up) and it sets me up for the day…
If life gets in the way of an evening session (I am a single parent with a 2 year old so often it does) - you’ve still got a session in the AM.
Good luck and keep up the good work brother
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I agree with @moogweasel I would definitely considering going fasted right out of bed.
Honestly though if your is strength I would keep the conditioning super low impact. You can’t beat and airdyne bike or concept 2 rower for this. You can go for for 30-45 minutes of easy work or you can do some intervals.
Row Interval Ideas
500 meter repeats x 6-10 sets, rest = work
250 meter repeats x 15-20 sets, rest = work
Airdyne Interval Ideas
30 seconds at 85%, 30 seconds 50% x 30-40 sets, try to maintain same RPMs and increase over time
60 seconds at 80-85%, 30 seconds at 50% x 15-20 sets, try to maintain same RPMs and increase overtime