Strengths of the Morning Workout
The biggest benefit to me is that it’s predictable. I can always get up early, get it done and not worry about interruptions or changes in my schedule interfering. I can’t tell you how often I get emails from people who say, “I had stuff come up and didn’t get a chance to do my workout last night. What should I do now? Skip it? Be a day behind?”. I never have that problem!
Weaknesses of an Early Workout
The biggest drawbacks to an early workout are that it’s not fun giving up that extra 1 hour of sleep in the wee hours of the morning, and it’s basically impossible to eat a “pre-workout meal” 1 hour prior to working out. I spent my very first 2 rounds working out on a totally empty stomach, and then transitioned to working out on just a scoop of whey mixed in water for round 3 and 4. I decided it didn’t make too much difference to my performance, so I went back to working out on an empty stomach for the past couple rounds. Right now I like to use Energize for my pre workout (when I feel I need it), some Hydrate, and then BCAAs. I feel the BCAAs help give my muscles some needed building blocks during my workout since there is nothing in the tank for my muscles to pull from.
Working out with little-to-no pre-workout food has mixed reviews. Some say it will lead to poorer performance since your body is running on empty and doesn’t have the energy to push as hard. Others say that you will lose more body fat by working out on an empty stomach. From personal experience, I can say that although it seemed hard at first, I adjusted to the early morning workouts and now feel like I can work out just as hard on an empty (or near empty) stomach in the morning as I can in the mid-afternoon with a good “pre-workout” lunch. And as for whether or not working out on an empty stomach helped me lose more body fat, I can’t know for sure, but I definitely had great results and lost a lot of body fat in my P90X round 1 while working out on an empty stomach!
Another thing I really like about working out early in the morning is that my metabolism stays revved up all morning. I’ve done some experimenting in the past with my heart rate monitor, and when I would do an Insanity or Asylum workout in the morning, not only do I burn over 1,000 calories on the workout itself, I continue to burn calories at a high rate the rest of the morning even though I’m at work doing nothing! I typically will burn well over another 1,000 calories before lunch just because I’m revved up from the morning workout! My HR stays slightly elevated for a few hours after my workout — at about 70 or so (my resting HR when totally relaxed is about 50 or less). What a great bonus for calorie burning!
Finally, I just like to know that as I sit down to breakfast, I’ve already taken care of my workout and don’t have to spend the rest of my day thinking about where and when I’m going to get it done. It’s already done … I’ve already conquered it! And now I can focus on conquering the rest of my day!
I often get questions from people who workout very late in the day (after they get their kids to bed or whatever), and they have all sorts of difficulties about taking pre-workouts (since it keeps them up at night) or whether or not to use a recovery drink since they will be going to bed right afterward. I ask them why not just workout in the morning? They reply that they can’t get up an hour earlier because that will mean they don’t get the minimum amount of sleep they need. (you see the error in their reasoning, don’t you??)
If they simply went to bed earlier, instead of working out late at night, they COULD wake up earlier, do an early morning workout, and save themselves all sorts of time and difficulties. They wouldn’t have the PWO and recovery drink problems. They would sleep BETTER because they could wind down in the evening and go to sleep restfully instead of trying to go to bed right after an intense workout. They wouldn’t have to shower twice (after the evening workout and then again when getting ready in the morning). There are so many benefits to just going to bed at the end of your day so that you can wake up an hour earlier and knock it out!!
One more statistic for you = studies have shown that people who work out first thing in the morning are MORE LIKELY to still be working out 1 year later! I’m obviously proof of that! I’ve been consistently working out well over 4 year now! I believe it’s because people who work out first thing in the morning have made it a priority and there is less chance of schedule interferences. Make your workouts a priority, whatever time of day you do them!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
