View Full Version : Early AM Training
Big Wides
08-25-11, 8:13 am
How many of you out there train early in the AM? What types of training methods do you do and how do you prep for it?
Most likely I'm going to start training around 5AM, so I'm looking for all the insights I can get.
Aggression
08-25-11, 8:58 am
I've never done the early morning workouts. Shit, I had a hard enough time waking up early just to do cardio. If I know I have the option to train later, after work, then I'll all but refuse to get out of bed before I have to. But you gotta do what you gotta do. I know someone here wakes up early to hit it before work, but I can't remember who ...
Big Wides
08-25-11, 10:33 am
Tell me about it, I'm either thinking of doing AM training or lumping the split to cover Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday with taking Tues-Thursday off
Chase "BIG COUNTRY" Browning
08-25-11, 11:14 am
You'd be amazed at what morning cardio or training can do for your metabolism.
talk with Nixor about it, he does that shit a lot.
tatersalad
08-25-11, 11:18 am
I prefer to work out early. Get me rolling for the day, and I can sleep at night. One of those things you have to work at, early mornings mean early bed times or sleep suffers....
good luck with it!
ts
talk with Nixor about it, he does that shit a lot.
Word.
I've been lifting around 5:30am most days. I basically was tired of dealing with the massive amounts of complete idiots taking up every piece of equipment imaginable. Also, Chicago this summer has been the land of swamp ass, and no one likes that.
My routine has pretty much been...
-4:45: Wake up, and down 50g whey with some kind of carb
-5:15: Take NOX3 and Cuts before heading out to the gym
-5:30: Take Rage before walking into the gym to put my bags and crap away
As for my training, it's mainly been instinctive. It's also kind of helped that I have taken a little break from powerlifting, so I'm not tied to any sort of program, and be faced with an "Oh shit I have to hit some high percentage of my max" situation. If I want to go heavy, I will (actually set a bench PR a few weeks ago), but if I'm not quite feeling it, I'll drop the weights and hit a shit ton of reps, supersets, drop sets, all that stuff.
Myself I'm up around 3 am heading to the kitchen to have my oats and eggs. Once that is finished, I finish getting ready. Just before I'm ready to head out the door, I fire down a shot of Rage then I'm good to go.
Beach91
08-25-11, 12:09 pm
Plan ahead is my best advice. all summer i have trainer from 4-6 or 7 am during the week just because work has been busy, as well as life.
i prepack all my meals the nite before and even lay out all my gym and work clothes, so that everything is setup and time isnt wasted. its tough getting used to at first, but after awhile your body will get into the rythm of training earlier and adjust to your scheduling.
My pretraining meal is small, and easily digestible, either a shake or egg whites and an easy to digest carb. then i hop in the car and drink my preworkout on the way to the gym
plus, if you take a preworkout such as Rage, it helps with your entire workday after.
It would be nice to have an Animal cooler bag for all the prepacked meals, but thats a whole different thread topic
Big Wides
08-25-11, 1:49 pm
You'd be amazed at what morning cardio or training can do for your metabolism.
yeah i'm not trying to fire up my metabolism at all and switching to AM training is so I can adapt to taking class at night, in fact that's the part that worries me is the amount of food I am going to have to eat to keep the weight on.
Big Wides
08-25-11, 1:50 pm
Word.
I've been lifting around 5:30am most days. I basically was tired of dealing with the massive amounts of complete idiots taking up every piece of equipment imaginable. Also, Chicago this summer has been the land of swamp ass, and no one likes that.
My routine has pretty much been...
-4:45: Wake up, and down 50g whey with some kind of carb
-5:15: Take NOX3 and Cuts before heading out to the gym
-5:30: Take Rage before walking into the gym to put my bags and crap away
As for my training, it's mainly been instinctive. It's also kind of helped that I have taken a little break from powerlifting, so I'm not tied to any sort of program, and be faced with an "Oh shit I have to hit some high percentage of my max" situation. If I want to go heavy, I will (actually set a bench PR a few weeks ago), but if I'm not quite feeling it, I'll drop the weights and hit a shit ton of reps, supersets, drop sets, all that stuff.
thank you, this was helpful
BigBlueBear
08-25-11, 11:46 pm
I work out in my am, which is to say around 3pm. Night shift... it's a bitch.
It basically looks like this right now (cutting) -
4am - Whey / Casein shake for last meal (so important to have something with casein when working out early)
630 am - Sleep
2pm - Wake up, Oats and some raisins to get some fuel back in the body
245pm - Rage
3pm - Down in my basement grunting like a silverback at all the iron before me
Yes... you see no protein in my morning grub. During workout I use Carb Max and some EAA stack to flood with some free forms. After that it's more whey / casein for my post along with a tablespoon of honey. I try to go with the quickest carbs I can for my intra / post so I can push the protein into the system since I'm not taking in any between my waking up and working out.
I can't say it's the best system, but it works for me personally on the cut. One way or another, if you're working out this early in the day you seriously need to flood your body with some quick carbs.
pushin weight
08-26-11, 6:51 am
Ive been training at 5am every since i went on 12 hour shifts, if im off work ill go later in the day, ususally as soon as i get my blood flowing im good to go but getting up that early sucks....
I hit the gym at 5:30am most days.
I get up at 4, have 1 scoop of whey and a little natty pb, to break the fast. Then at 430 its pump and 2 NSC, while I pack both my gym and work bag. At 5, its time for rage, then out the door...
I'm currently running 5/3/1.
This wednesday I plan on dieting down and hitting the gym for afternoon cardio.
Maccabee
08-27-11, 9:36 pm
The thing that helped me most is taking a little longer time to warm up. In the AM I was not as alert or energized. To fix that I just did more warm ups.
I've been lifting early in the morning for about a year now. Here's my breakdown:
3:45am - Wakeup
4am - Bowl of Kashi
4:15am - 1 Scoop Whey
4:30am - Animal Pump
4:45am - Animal Rage
5am - Gym
As for lifting methods, nothing special or different than lifting in the afternoon or evening.
Hope this helps.