It is often believed that the morning before breakfast is the best time to exercise for weight loss. Indeed, low levels of insulin in the blood enhance the effect of fat-burning hormones (primarily adrenaline). However, this mode is more suitable for professionals than for beginners.
On the other hand, strength training in the gym is best done in the afternoon or evening, since glycogen reserves (the main fuel for muscles) are higher in this case. Despite this, you can also exercise in the morning, as long as you follow a few basic rules.
What time of day (morning or evening) is best to exercise? Beginner's Guide - Week 2
Is it possible to train late in the evening?
Unfortunately, late evening is the worst time for both strength training and weight loss. In particular, fat-burning training will be ineffective due to the presence of sugar in the blood (glucose levels decrease only 4-5 hours after the last meal).
In turn, strength training in the gym in the evening can cause problems with sleep due to overstimulation of the central nervous system - especially in the case of heavy barbell exercises and caffeinated pre-workouts.
If you have no other choice and can only go to the gym in the evening, plan a large meal 2 hours before your evening workout, so that only a light dinner is left after it. Also carefully study the composition of sports nutrition, making sure that it does not contain caffeine or other stimulants.
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Morning workouts on an empty stomach are better for weight loss, but before strength training for muscle growth, it is recommended to take a portion of a gainer in the morning. Training late in the evening is the worst option - the presence of glucose in the blood will block fat burning, and general fatigue during the day will not allow you to carry out strength training with maximum impact.
To be or not to be morning exercises
Have you ever noticed how many people are in a bad mood in the morning? Doctors believe that one of the reasons for this condition is hypokinesia. In other words, in the absence of physical activity. Nothing surprising. Trained muscles send a sufficient number of impulses to the brain, thanks to which it actively tunes into a working mood.
People who refuse morning exercises often suffer from nervous excitability and experience chronic fatigue. They complain of lack of energy and vigor in the morning. And only by noon do such people notice an increase in activity.
Why do you need charging?
The human body is not able to fully wake up when the alarm clock rings. And even at the moment when you have already risen from bed, all internal organs and systems still continue to “rest”.
During sleep, blood circulation slows down, metabolism slows down, and mental activity decreases. That is why, when waking up, a person feels slightly lethargic. He has decreased performance, both physical and mental. In the morning, the speed of reactions is significantly worse.
This condition can last (depending on individual characteristics) from 1 to 3 hours. To fully wake up and shake off such “inhibition”, it is necessary to develop joints and muscles. In other words, you just need to exercise.
What is the benefit of charging?
Since childhood, our parents have told us about the need to do exercises. Only a few meekly listened to such recommendations. And most people, before starting to do morning exercises, strive to understand what is so valuable that it brings.
Physical activity in the morning provides the following.
Invigorates
The human body wakes up much faster and more actively if even a small exercise has been done. After physical exercise, blood circulation is activated. All organs and tissues begin to be actively saturated with oxygen. You feel a surge of energy and your well-being improves. The brain, having received its portion of oxygen, is actively involved in the work process.
Improves physical fitness
Regular exercise leads to strengthening muscle tissue. Physical education has a positive effect on the condition of the spine and joints. Even simple and short-term gymnastics serves as an excellent prevention of the development of many diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Morning exercise stimulates metabolism. Thanks to this, a person gradually acquires beautiful forms. Some muscles are pumped up, slimness appears, and the stomach is tightened.
Improves mood
Why exercise when you can cheer yourself up with a cup of coffee? Alas. This is wrong. A flavored drink will not provide the energy and positivity that morning exercises will give.
Exercise involves a set of simple exercises that are aimed at warming up the muscles and working out the joints. Morning physical exercise does not contain any excessive stress. And therefore it does not cause a feeling of fatigue or pain.
Strengthens willpower
Having decided to do exercises, you need to force yourself to get up 10-15 minutes earlier. At first, with the right attitude and appropriate motivation, you will easily overcome this barrier.
But over time, around 20-21 days, serious difficulties may begin. Positive results at this time are still little noticeable. Therefore, obsessive thoughts begin to appear: “Why do I need this exercise, it still doesn’t give anything. It’s better to sleep an extra 10-15 minutes.” It is precisely at this moment that it is important not to succumb to such thoughts and overcome yourself. This “exercise” will greatly improve your willpower.
Improves health
Morning exercises have a complex effect on the body. It activates blood circulation and speeds up metabolism. Thanks to improved blood flow, all internal organs receive sufficient nutrition and begin to function much more actively.
The benefits of morning exercises include the following effects:
- strengthening the heart muscle;
- improving the functioning of the respiratory system;
- increasing muscle elasticity;
- normalization of the condition of blood vessels, increasing their patency;
- posture alignment;
- increased concentration;
- increased joint mobility;
- stimulation of brain function;
- increasing endurance;
- normalization of the vestibular apparatus.
Take care of breakfast in the evening
Prepare yourself breakfast the night before. Just like clothes, you don't want to think about breakfast at five in the morning. Make yourself a smoothie or protein shake the night before and put it in the refrigerator. This is a simple solution that, of course, will not save you a lot of time, but it will definitely help you mentally focus on the upcoming workout or run and tune in to it. Free yourself from the need to solve several problems at a time when you have not yet fully woken up.
Workout in the gym in the morning
Question:
Due to certain circumstances, I will have to move my training process from the evening to the morning. I’m not really fussing about this, but I’m still wondering if this is fraught with something? I surfed the Internet to find at least some sane information regarding morning workouts in the gym (what to do, what not to do, what to do with nutrition, supplements, volume, etc.). Any recommendations?
Answer:
When it comes to morning training (namely resistance training), we need to pay attention to a few things. The first is eating; there are various variations at this point. In the morning, the level of glucose in the blood is low, so not all people can “squeeze the maximum” out of themselves.
So taking something internally (ideally some carbs with protein) before training is a good idea (I will note that there are studies that have shown that if you take carbs/protein before a workout, it will be more anabolic than if you exercise on an empty stomach). However, there are also those people who feel good during training even without morning food.
But let's say you're the kind of person who still needs to eat in order to get a good workout done. Here another problem comes up that people are not doing well during training if they still have food in their stomach. At the same time, there are those who can eat well, go to exercise and feel great. Sometimes it depends on the type of training: if you trained with low reps and long rest, then it is one thing, but if you trained in a metabolic style with short rest between sets, then it is different.
You should know that it doesn't take a large amount of food to raise your blood sugar to normal levels, and I don't recommend overeating before exercise. A little protein, carbohydrates and that's all, nothing more is required. But what if you are unable to cope with even a small amount of food? Then let's think about the liquid form of food. A glass of skim (or low fat) milk or a carbohydrate/protein mixture will deliver carbohydrates and amino acids into your system without being a weight in your belly during exercise.
This concerns the first nuance. Now, as for the training process itself. Research has shown that the best time for people to perform optimally is after three hours of waking up, which gives your body time to warm up from sleep. But this approach can be problematic for people who exercise directly in the morning. Imagine if you train at 7 am, then you need to wake up at 4 am. Not an option. So how to “wake up” the body?
A hot shower is one of the ways to warm up, a kind of passive warming up of the body. But realizing that you need to do a more significant warm-up, since the workout takes place in the morning, and not in the afternoon or evening when you are already warmed up. This means you may want to use a cardio session before your main workout and you will likely need more warm-up sets before your work sets. Of course, you can take some stimulants, there will be nothing wrong with that.
Features of training in the morning
For people who are unable to find an hour or two after work, early morning workouts have become an excellent solution to the issue of physical activity.
But who has thought about how our body works in the morning, and whether such exercises will be effective?
Let us reveal several features that need to be taken into account when planning the training process in the first half of the day:
- After sleep, the elasticity of muscles, ligaments and joints is reduced. Which makes sense, since you haven't moved for hours.
- Internal processes do not proceed as quickly as during the day. The nervous system is not prepared, and the secretion of hormones, as well as the reaction rate, are inhibited, in contrast to evening activity.
- Blood flow is worse, blood viscosity is higher. This means that the risk of injury and stress on the cardiovascular system increases.
- Blood sugar levels are very low after a long fast. And this can lead to poor health: dizziness, nausea and general weakness.
Exercises for morning workout
What exercises are suitable for a morning workout? This can be almost any sport, except for strength training (too high a load on the body in the early hours). For example, beginners and those who have difficulty waking up in the morning will benefit from a simple but effective exercise:
- Stretching. We start the workout by stretching in an upward direction. We assume a vertical position, with our feet shoulder-width apart. We fold our hands into a lock. Turn your palms outward. Slowly, we raise our limbs up. We seem to be trying to reach the ceiling. Keep your back as straight as possible.
- Steps in place. A leisurely “walk” will help prepare the body for other, more active movements. We walk in place slowly, alternately focusing on our heels and then on our toes.
- Bends and squats. These are extremely simple but effective exercises that work several muscle groups at once. Let's stand up straight. We place our feet shoulder-width apart. We put our hands on the waist. Slowly, we lean forward. Then we return to the starting position. We do a squat and get up again. Repeat the required number of times.
Interesting fact. We select a set of exercises for morning training taking into account your actual physical form.
Set multiple alarms
Most of us already do this. This trick works great when you need to wake up early. If you set your alarm 15 to 30 minutes before the time you need to get up, it's likely that you might feel more rested. At 4:30, when you first hear your alarm, you'll want to go back to sleep... and you will! Then, when you wake up at five, it will feel like it's about 5:30 (especially if you didn't look at the clock when the first alarm went off). The only thing to keep in mind is that you should not ignore the second alarm to get more sleep.
Sleep seven to nine hours
This rule may seem too simple to you, but if you don't want to feel sluggish in the morning, bedtime is critical. You should go to bed 7-9 hours before you need to wake up. At first, if you sleep less, the difference may not seem that big, but if you sleep six hours three days in a row, and then eight hours three days in a row, you will feel the difference. Getting eight hours of sleep will make it much easier to get out of bed in the morning, and you'll also feel more energetic throughout the day.
Strength training in the morning. Pros and cons
Among the undeniable advantages: strength training in the morning is an empty gym. Well, or practically empty.
There are no queues for the exercise equipment, unlike during the evening rush hour. You can easily diversify your workout with supersets or trisets when you need several equipment at once. Or reduce the rest between sets, making the workout more intense and energy-consuming. This helps you burn more calories if you have a goal to lose weight.
In terms of biorhythms, each person's activity level will be different at different times. If you feel energetic and fresh in the first half of the day, then training in the morning will be the best solution. At the end of the working day, there may not be enough energy for strength training. For “owls”, everything will happen exactly the opposite.
The increased load on the cardiorespiratory system and insufficient stimulation of the central nervous system (CNS) will be a clear argument against exercising in the morning. Especially for those who want to gain muscle mass.
In addition, in the evening a person, as a rule, is no longer in a hurry, so the likelihood of an accurately executed training plan increases. And in the morning, because of the rush, you can throw away the “extra” or unloved exercise.
In defense of morning physical activity, your daily routine will play a key role in the impact of exercise on your body. It all depends on adaptation and following the recommendations listed above.
Morning exercises: basic rules and recommended exercises
There is another common misconception. Some people are sure that it is not necessary to do exercises in the morning. You can practice physical activity in the afternoon and even in the evening. If we are talking about morning exercises, then all experts agree on one thing: it should be done in the morning, after waking up. After all, the main goal of such gymnastics is to charge a person with vivacity and energy for the whole day.
5 important recommendations
To maximize the benefits of morning exercises, you must follow the following rules.
Duration of gymnastics
For those who are just starting to introduce morning exercises into their lives, it is recommended to plan 10-minute exercise. Over time, you can increase the time to 15 minutes. When the body fully adapts to the stress (after approximately 3-6 months), begin to increase the charging time to half an hour.
Preparing to charge
You should not start gymnastics immediately after getting out of bed. The body still continues to sleep. Such loads will cause discomfort. Initially, you need to cheer up a little. To do this, it is recommended to wash your face and brush your teeth.
Be sure to drink a glass of water. The fluid entering the body will thin the blood. Thanks to this, it will be possible to normalize the load on the heart and blood vessels. But you shouldn’t have a snack before exercise. Perform all exercises on an empty stomach.
Add emotions
Exercise should not only invigorate, but also improve your mood. Therefore, turn on your favorite music, saturate the air with aromatic oils (just don’t overdo it) and do gymnastics. After physical education, be sure to praise yourself, celebrate all your achievements and don’t forget about encouragement.
To ensure that charging brings significant benefits to the body, first ventilate the room. This can be done while you wash your face. The influx of fresh air will saturate the body with more oxygen.
Regularity of classes
If you do exercises from time to time, then you should not hope for positive results. Only daily exercise will bring benefits. Moreover, the first results will become noticeable after 5-6 weeks of regular training.
At this time, people usually note a decrease in stress levels, a positive attitude, and a decrease in excitability and irritability. Practitioners of morning exercises claim that by the 5-6th week, performance increases, discipline and perseverance increase. People become stronger and practically do not catch colds.
