I have trained my entire life in the PM hours. Today, due to changes in my training partner’s work shift. We now have to hit the iron at 6 am. I woke up today at 5:30 and had a bowl of cereal. I did not want to eat a lot considering the intense workout I was about to embark on. .
However, during my training, I felt light headed the entire time. I also felt like I lacked muscle endurance and energy. I was on the verge of puking multiple times. It did not help that this was the earliest I had ever trained and we had deadlifts today!
I am used to eating a full meal an hour and a half before training, so I have never trained on an almost empty stomach. Immediately after my workout I downed a 700 calorie drink.
Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks in advance!
I feel weaker in morning workouts than I do in PM workouts. I would change your pre-workout meal to some oatmeal, coffee and protien. Either a shake, or whole food. You need some protein in your body, some good carbs, and something with a stimulant to get you going. Just my 0.02
I would say you make yourself a shake. I train shortly after waking up, and if I eat anything solid, it tends to want to come back up again (if you catch my drift).
For breakfast I make a water-based shake with a mixture of fruits, oats, flaxseeds, and protein powder. Add some ice, mix it well, and drink.
If you felt light headed, it’s because your glycogen reserves were down and the oats you had for breakfast were still in your stomach (they’re very slow carbs), which is also the reason you wanted to throw up.
You need to get fast acting carbs and protein into your system at least 30mins before your workout. That’s my experience, anyway.
If you can afford it, then maybe a breakfast of Surge would be good. I don’t know, as I’ve never tried it, but I know other people around here do that.
Working mornings means you have to get bed sooner at night, if your switching from nights to mornings chances are you havent given your body enough time to get used to getting to sleep earlier, REM sleep. 8:30pm is the latest im up at night, I only get 7 quality hours os sleep most nights, if I go to bed earlier and dont watch any TV I can get an extra hour possibly, this makes a huge difference in my morning workouts.
Read the article preparing for the ultimate workout by Poliquin. I find low carb high tyrosine containing protein meal to be more energizing than traditional breakfasts. Also I found just having a preworkout shake like Surge to just rip through my body to fast.
I had the same problem, so i started to sip on 1 scoop of Surge throughout my work out and then have the other scoop after and it seems to work very well i would suggest that.
Why do you make the comment of “be careful when lifting within the first hour of waking”? I am actually feeling great today… I took your guys advice and added some simple high glycemic carbs as well as a protein shake before hitting the gym and I had a killer leg workout!
I’m in bed by 9:00pm and wake up at 4:00am.
Here is my routine for early workout M,W,F
4:00am I bring a cup of coffee with me to the basement
Start off with a general full body warmup
Then if a heavy day I do a warm up set, say deadlift 155x3, 185x3, then go to my target weight or bench 135x3, 185x3 then to my target weight same for squat and military…
On light and moderate days I just go to the target weight and start.
The only problem is when the dog needs to take a piss really throws off the momentum.
Right after workout I eat 3/4 cup of oatmeal a banana and protein shake.
then repeat shake at 7:30am
Because i workout in the basement I cannot do snatch and push press so I do a 2pm second workout on monday and friday with o-lifts to supplement my tbt I am on.
The amount of energy I have for the rest of the day is huge, and I don’t have to worry about getting my workout in if somethnig throws my day off.
hope this helps in some small way
if thats your first morning workout, just keep doing what you’re doing and your body will adjust and tell you what you need to eat before you lift… i did the same thing about 2 years ago and after a couple weeks you will be able to get the same intensity of workouts as lifting in the pm, maybe even better ones since you have just got a lot of rest…the nauseau and dizzyness is your body adjusting
David Barr (I think) once made a random comment about early morning training and the need to approach it with caution in regards to spinal health. I never got an answer back but when I asked him to expand but maybe other here know what he was talking about.
In regards to Pre Work Out (I train about 6:30 in the morning. I have some Spike about 6:00, A 50g carb (high GI) 50g protein at about 6:10 and then an egg and wholemeal bread sandwhich in the car on the way to the gym )about 6:20. I find this gives me a nice shot of stimulants and high GI carbs to kick off the start of the workout and then I am getting the lower GI carbs from the bread kicking in a bit later.
I know it is not the best option available, but it works for me.
[quote]helga wrote:
David Barr (I think) once made a random comment about early morning training and the need to approach it with caution in regards to spinal health. [/quote]
IIRC it has to do with the accumulation of fluid in the discs and the subsequent expansion thereof.
Hmmm, I will have to do some research. I am not too worried as I have never had any back problems. Also, there are some old timers in my gym that have only ever trained first thing in the AM and they go all out… but def. worth some research.