Morning workout?

[Roamer]

I think that I have read that doing a workout in the morning in dangerous
and dumb.

I work 4 10 hour shifts mostly Weds. thru Sat. 11am-9pm.
On work days I have been getting up at 6am and doing my workout about
8-9am.

My job involves some desk work and some walking. Would it be better
for me to do my workout after I get home at about 9:30pm than at
8am? On the days that I get home at 9:30pm I usually go to bed about
10:30pm.

I am more of a morning person.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Where did you read that morning training was dangerous/dumb?

[Roamer]

Where did you read that morning training was dangerous/dumb?

I thought I read it while going through the archives of this forum. But
from your response I must not have.

I will do some digging and get back with the details. But I think it
might have to do with the discs being super hydrated in the morning
and that the spine should not be excessively stress till a couple hours after
getting out of bed.

[PapaBear59]

I am still fairly new at this but the way I see it you lift when you can. Because of all of my obligations I am up at 4:00am and lifting by 5:00. It is after 10:00 now and I just walked in the door. If I did not do it then it would never happen.

[confuzzl3don3]

I have heard that some people say working out in the morning is 'dangerous' because your CNS is not yet 'awake' and so you are more likely to injure yourself, blah blah. Sounded stupid to me.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi Roamer,

I train in the morning, before going to work. I'm in the gym around 7.30am, and in the office before 9.30am.
It's not ideal, but I have still been able to make (very) slow progress, which in my book is still better than no progress.
Waking up ery early is a pain, and some mornings might be worse than others, but I dont' think I'm putting myself in danger.

IPB

[Bif]

Where did you read that morning training was dangerous/dumb?

Permit me to chime in Mark, if I may.

OP, I must be the stupidest guy on the planet; I workout at 4:30am. Having a home setup permits such lunacy. I guess I'm lucky the guys in the white suits and butterfly nets haven't caught on to me yet.

Seriously guy, workout in the morning -- it does a body good. You will be surprised how easily your body adjusts to heavy weights a few minutes outta bed. When you think of it, you've just slept a bunch of hours; when would be a better time to engage in physical activity?

Now go move some iron...

[rhymer]

I think he's been reading the stuff about how you have a deficit of spinal fluid or something like that right after you wake up and your back might explode. Although if you read the fine print, this sounds like the anti-stretching hysteria - ie., by the time you get to the gym, stretch, do a thorough skill specific warm-up, etc., there likely isn't a problem.

OTOH, if you roll out of bed and run to the home gym in your unheated garage and start immediately attempting limit deadlifts, you've got plenty of problems, and spinal lubrication probably isn't even at the top of the list.

Drink a cup of coffee, eat something (you can call it "peri-workout nutrition" if that makes you feel better), drive to the gym, and make sure you warm yourself up. You should be fine.

That said, it's interesting to experiment with working out at different times of the day. Different stuff happens, if you're paying attention.

[David Lee]

I never have to wait for a curl monkey to finish with the squat rack at 5:00 a.m.

[Milk]

I work out first thing in the morning.....after a little food of course. I usually start by 5-530 am. I havent had anything but minor set backs, which are considered normal. Like a strained hamstring or a pulled muscle here and there.

Im currently doing the TX Method with some good weight and I've never felt in any more danger doing this in the morning than in the evening. I dont think any setbacks would have been prevented had I lifted in the evening either. But maybe because according to what you read what Im doing is dumb, meaning i am also?

If you're worried about the "dangers" of weightlifting at any specific time perhaps you should find something "safe" to do in the gym. I hear doing step aerobics while listening to some George Michael is pretty safe.