Bodybuilding morning workouts

About 15 to 25 percent of men and women who lead athletic lifestyles prefer to work out in the morning. The reasons for this are different for everyone. But usually such a workout is done before work and ends no later than eight or nine o’clock in the morning.

It has long been established that if you are not a professional athlete, clinging to any advantage over your competitors, then the time of day for training is not fundamentally important. That is, it has virtually no effect on the results in gaining muscle mass and increasing strength or burning subcutaneous fat. The main thing is that the athlete exercises at about the same hours. Nevertheless, training in the morning has its own aesthetic advantages, as well as peculiarities that are desirable to consider.

We will talk about them today. And in conclusion, we will present some recommendations to improve the effectiveness and safety of your morning workout.

Peculiarities of training in the morning

First of all, it should be said that a person’s increased performance appears only two to three hours after sleep. In other words, you should not take up the barbell or sit on the trainer immediately after waking up. This is equally ineffective and unsafe.

Next, we’ll break down the key features (and some aesthetic benefits) of morning workouts point by point.

1. Eating before going to the gym

You should understand that your blood sugar levels drop a lot overnight, which means your body will have little energy right after you wake up and before you eat. And if you come to the workout on an empty stomach, you will quickly face a lack of stamina and a manifestation of fatigue. The lack of energy will make you reduce the intensity or volume of your workout and will most likely affect your technique (exercise technique).

Therefore, it is a good idea to eat before your morning workout. If the athlete has a couple of hours of free time after waking up and before going to the gym – good. You can make yourself a full breakfast – 1/3 quality protein and 2/3 slow carbohydrates. Running late? Don’t worry, you can even make a good snack in 10-20 minutes: take protein + gainer and eat a banana (in that case 50% of carbs should be fast and 50% slow, because a large amount of complex carbs won’t have time to be digested).

2. Attention to warming up or warming down

You have a less elastic body in the morning and, as a result, a higher risk of injury. Therefore, you need to warm up thoroughly before your morning workout. Increase your warm-up by about one and a half to two times in comparison with your evening workout to protect your joints, muscles, and bones.

Just perform the warm-up with caution. There are no special recommendations about it.

3. Increased intensity in the morning workout

It’s clear: if you eat well and stretch out before your workout in the morning, you can noticeably increase the intensity (or volume) of your workout compared to your evening workout, when your body is already tired as a result of the work done during the day.

4. A rational approach to working weights

It is not desirable to lift large weights in the morning. Why? Because in the first few hours after sleep your joints and ligaments will be out of condition. And the warm-up will not help here. In other words, the maximum load in the morning is associated with a real risk of injury.

What do we mean by maximum load? Not so much intensity or volume of the workout, as heavy weights that you are able to lift no more than 5-6 times per approach. Girls and women in the sport only indirectly relate to this point, because they rarely work with heavy weights in general.

5. An empty hall and freedom of choice

The empty gym (and as a rule it is empty in the morning) has its own aesthetic advantages. In particular, the athlete can safely perform supersets or work in a circular technique, without fear of disturbing or hindering anyone. In addition, beginners do not have to be ashamed of their poor physical shape. And the absence of queues can not but rejoice.

In general, when the gym is at your complete disposal, it is more often a plus than a minus.

Recommendations for morning workouts

These are exactly the recommendations, and it is worth treating them accordingly. For the most part, they are aimed at reducing the discomfort of a morning workout or increasing your safety during your workout. It’s good if you listen to what they say, but if you don’t, that’s okay. At worst, you’ll have to put up with some discomfort.

Plan your breakfast in advance

Usually it’s not a full breakfast, but a quick energy snack. But in any case it is better to plan your morning meal in advance.

What should it be? First of all, not too dense. Energy should be enough for an intense workout, but breakfast should not cause a feeling of heaviness in the stomach. Second, not too late. Eat no later than an hour and a half before training. Otherwise your body will not have time to assimilate nutrients, even if they are fast proteins and carbohydrates. Then you will have to work out to no avail.

It is good to start day with a protein shake enriched with BCAA (essential amino acids – valine, isoleucine, leucine), or other healthy drink. So, a properly prepared natural smoothie can supply you with energy just as well as a sports meal.

Potential ingredients for a pre-workout meal:

• Greek yogurt;
• Berries and nuts;
• Chia seeds;
• Almond milk;
• Whey protein;
• BCAA amino acids.

Which foods to choose for breakfast before a workout is up to you. We are all different people with our own preferences and tolerances. Some people just can’t stand fast-absorbing whey protein, even though it’s the best option for a snack before a morning workout.

Get ready for your morning workout before you go to bed

Pack your bag in advance when it’s convenient, not in a hurry. The precious minutes you save this way can be spent in the morning on more useful activities, from breakfast to warming up.

Note: Being more punctual and consistent in and out of the gym is helped by having a workout partner. Plus, a friendly rivalry can have a positive effect on both athletes’ results.

Go to bed earlier

A person’s sleep both affects and is affected by circadian rhythms. Getting up at the same time, eating strictly scheduled meals, even working out at the same hours all have a positive effect on recovery and energy efficiency. If you go to the gym regularly for morning workouts, it (the body) will begin to prepare for them in advance, approaching the next workout in optimal shape.

Go to bed 30-45 minutes earlier than usual the day before your workout, so that you can carve out time for getting ready and warming up, and most importantly, keep your usual schedule of healthy sleep. Studies show that training in the morning has a positive effect on sleep quality, so you should have no problems falling asleep. As a last resort, you can take melatonin (it is available under different brand names and is freely available in pharmacies).

Do your favorite and (or) comfortable exercises

Morning workout is not the time or place to experiment. There is a high probability that your body, which is not 100% awake (even with a thorough warm-up) will not cope with extreme loads. Accordingly, by torturing it, you will only increase the risk of getting overtrained or injured. This is especially important for beginners in bodybuilding.

In addition, a person is more inclined to get out of bed and run to the gym if there is a physical workout ahead of him that brings him pleasure.

The benefits of morning workout for weight loss

Finally, we want to share with you the results of two recent studies that allow us to draw interesting conclusions about the effectiveness of morning exercise on weight loss.

The first study involved nine guys of athletic build: age 20 to 30 years old, average height and weight, percentage of fat 10-12%. And its purpose was to determine the degree of fat burning in 24 hours (when exercising in the morning).

The test subjects were divided into three work groups, each of which exercised according to their own schedule:

• Group one – 100 minutes of physical activity before breakfast (one session);
• Second group – 100 minutes of physical activity after breakfast (one session);
• Group Three – 50 minutes of physical activity before breakfast and 50 minutes of physical activity after lunch (two sessions).

The subjects in each of the three groups exercised at 65% of their aerobic capacity and received a macronutrient ratio of 15% protein, 25% fat and 60% carbohydrates (in equal amounts at breakfast, lunch and dinner) with their meals.

In the end, the scientists found that the first group made the most progress in fat burning; the second group was slightly worse, but still at a high level. The third group was the obvious outsider. Thus, it can be argued that for young guys and middle-aged men, a morning workout with a full breakfast after exercise is one of the best, if not the best, options for losing weight.

The second study involved 20 participants (young, healthy women), who were divided into two work groups:

• The first group – exercise in the morning on an empty stomach;
• The second group – training in the morning after a meal.

The aim of the experiment was to determine the degree of fat burning in 4 weeks (with morning training). The workout was an hour-long cardio exercises and was conducted three times a week. The diet of the female athletes was standardized. They were all on about the same caloric deficit.

Note: Girls from the first group did not exercise on an empty stomach at all, they drank a shake consisting of 40 grams of carbohydrates and 20 grams of protein before training.

What was the result? The researchers found that morning workouts were effective for losing weight in any case. First, both groups showed significant reductions in body weight (≈2-3%), waist volume (≈2-3%), and fat percentage (≈1%). Second, there was no statistically significant difference in the results between them.

The conclusion from all this is simple: if you exercise in the morning and aim to burn fat, with the right approach to nutrition and training, you can certainly accomplish your goal. And the timing of breakfast, either before or after exercise, has no significant effect on the quality of your workout.

In conclusion

Working out in the morning is equally as good for gaining muscle mass + increasing strength as it is for losing weight + burning fat. However, your bodybuilding results don’t just depend on the effectiveness of a workout. They are also affected for better or for worse by nutrition and rest. Besides, various sports pharmacology can positively influence your training progress: from anabolic steroids to peptide hormones. The main thing is to know how to use the specific active substances and for what purposes they are designed.