Early morning workouts COLD!

[pierinifitness]

i remember in my olden days I would be at the gym (near my office) at 6:00 am sharp Monday through Friday.  I had some great workouts and it made for a great work day all rested and relaxed.  I was in my late 40's at the time.  I know Michael is an early morning workout dude before going to work.

Then, I got into the Olympic lifts, changed training venue and gravitated towards early afternoon workouts.  I found I did better with this time zone lifting heavier loads.

Fast forward to being a mid-range sexagenarian, I haven't done early morning workouts in a long time but am slowly testing the waters with early morning challenges done cold.  I've done a single set max reps of pull-ups and bar dips cold and found the rep count was comparable to what the counts would be if done later in the day.  And I didn't have a problem doing them cold (i.e., no warm-up) but concentrated on near-perfect form, steady pace and controlled, perhaps more so than if done later in the day.

About a week or two ago I did an Asian Squat hold for 1:00 right out of bed and surprised myself.  That was only possible because I had been practicing the Asian Squat for about one month.

Today I dived into the deep waters and did 100 burpees at 5:03 am upon awakening.  Of course I took a morning leak and brushed my teeth so I had no morning breath to gag me as I was sucking air.  Much to my surprise, I banged out those 100 burpees in a time faster than recent efforts (I'm currently out of burpees shape.)  The first burpee was very ugly and probably the first 10 was a showcase of a rodeo cowboy wannabe doing burpees but I survived the entire 100 burpees done cold and surprised the heck out of myself. 

I may be onto something; we'll see.  With the killer hot AZ temperatures in the summer time, I'm going to have to get my stuff done very early in the morning if I want outdoor workouts which I prefer.  The burpees workout I did this morning was indoors.

What time of the day do you train and is it generally indoors or outdoors?

[brothersteve]

Before dinner is best for me and has been since high school days. Always indoors for me. Too hot at that time in summer and winter here in upstate NY is cold snowy and windy all at once. Currently, it is 28 degrees F with 15 mph wind and snowing lightly with about 5 inches on ground.

[trog]

I find immediately after work is best for me. One job I had, was 10:00-18:00, so I would be at the gym when it opened at 7:00. Trouble was, I was nodding off at my desk by 11:00 and so I had to stop. I go to the gym on Saturday mornings, as it fits in best with chores, but I find I can't be an intense as after work, and I tend to spend the rest of the day in a haze.

[mr potatohead]

Jan 24, 2021 11:55:13 GMT trog said:

I find immediately after work is best for me. One job I had, was 10:00-18:00, so I would be at the gym when it opened at 7:00. Trouble was, I was nodding off at my desk by 11:00 and so I had to stop. I go to the gym on Saturday mornings, as it fits in best with chores, but I find I can't be an intense as after work, and I tend to spend the rest of the day in a haze.

Interesting.
So, you do 6 days on and one day off?

How do you use the time of each and how long is it?

Have you considered not exercising on Sat and take the two rest days to see what happens the following Mon afternoon? 

I like to spread mine out throughout the day, so really don't know what total time is. Usually start with hanging, stretching and twisting.

[Michael]

I train in the morning but never straight out of bed. I always do some joint mobility, the McGill Big 3 plus, and some things to warm up my shoulders. So I usually start my main session within a half-hour or so of waking up. I mostly train in my basement. Training in the morning and in my basement makes it convenient and it doesn't interfere with my life. I like training in private mostly because I can do whatever I want without being disturbed.

[ddh]

I like to train in the afternoon about 1 or 2 o’clock, I tried early morning training in the past, but I had a hard time adjusting to it. When I was working before I retired, I would go right after work about 3.30 and hit my workout, the only thing I do training wise, in the morning, is going for my 4 mile walk, if you want to call it training, now since the gyms are closed, I train in my dude room in our condo, I have a doorway pull up bar, a set of parallets 12 inches high, a 45 lb and 15 lb kettlebell, a 12 to 32 kg adjustable kettlebell, and a 14 inch step stool as well as a stationary bike. It does the job for now.

[trog]

Jan 24, 2021 12:07:47 GMT mr potatohead said:

Jan 24, 2021 11:55:13 GMT trog said:

I find immediately after work is best for me. One job I had, was 10:00-18:00, so I would be at the gym when it opened at 7:00. Trouble was, I was nodding off at my desk by 11:00 and so I had to stop. I go to the gym on Saturday mornings, as it fits in best with chores, but I find I can't be an intense as after work, and I tend to spend the rest of the day in a haze.

Interesting.
So, you do 6 days on and one day off?

How do you use the time of each and how long is it?

Have you considered not exercising on Sat and take the two rest days to see what happens the following Mon afternoon? 

I like to spread mine out throughout the day, so really don't know what total time is. Usually start with hanging, stretching and twisting.

When things were normal (no covid), after work I would lift on Mondays and Wednesdays, and do dance class Tuesdays and Thursday. I lift on Saturday mornings, but not as heavy. Gym sessions are usually 75 mins and dance classes 60 mins. Now that PM Bozo has closed everything, I'm lifting at home Mon to Thurs when I get home from work and Saturday mornings too. I'm very lucky to have weights and a pullup bar at home, although I'm not doing many pullups at the mo - it's too damn cold in the shed, so I'm using dumbbells in the kitchen. I'm incorporating a bit of ballet bare too, in case the studios ever reopen.

There are some online ballet classes, but these are on Instagram which I can't get to work on the PC and I don't have a mobile phone or tablet. Besides, you can't travel very far in the kitchen, so online classes don't really work.

Friday and Sunday are my rest days. On Sundays in the summer, I will often ride my bike along the canals around Birmingham. Canal tow paths are great for riding - quiet, no cars and flat (water doesn't like running uphill). We've got more canals than Venice. Most are a bit muddy at the moment, but they have laid hard gravel on the main canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, which is 14 miles. A fairly decent distance.

[Dave Reslo]

When I worked in a pub I'd usually wake up about 11 and most meaningful exercise happened at about 5 or 6. When my back was really bad it honestly didn't feel "ready to go" until about 10pm. In the past I've started every day with 100 squats and I like to do my high-rep wrist curls during the morning commute and that's no problem, I think there's supposed to be some explanation about fluids in the body that help protect your spine.

[Michael]

Jan 25, 2021 20:39:53 GMT Dave Reslo said:

When I worked in a pub I'd usually wake up about 11 and most meaningful exercise happened at about 5 or 6. When my back was really bad it honestly didn't feel "ready to go" until about 10pm. In the past I've started every day with 100 squats and I like to do my high-rep wrist curls during the morning commute and that's no problem, I think there's supposed to be some explanation about fluids in the body that help protect your spine.

TR knows more about this than myself. But Stuart McGill said something like, You're taller in the morning because Your discs suck up water while You're sleeping. I believe it takes an hour for Your discs to get back to normal. I do the McGill exercises as my warmup. 

[MBS]

The only movement I’ll do cold is hanging from the bar. 

[mr potatohead]

Jan 26, 2021 0:58:50 GMT MBS said:

The only movement I’ll do cold is hanging from the bar. 

Me too.

[macky]

Chi kung exercises at any hour of the day or night.  Usually 20 minutes for a set of Baduanjin.  Maybe a single exercise straight out of bed but not always. 

Overcoming isometrics lately again.  Couldn't get them out of the system as it turns out.  Late afternoon-early evening, some seated (Monks) some standing (furniture lifter strap). Can do some with 30-30-30 but I believe at my time of life that's not really productive (for me), so it's a perceived 70% steady effort for anywhere from 40 to 90 seconds, and for two "sets". 

Absolutely nothing to failure. 

Not interested in quantifying results, there's plenty of feedback the following day on how I'm doing, during normal daily chores etc. The chi kung is primarily for lung power (I'm asthmatic) and the iso's are for muscle tone, deportment, mobility (along with the chi kung drills) etc.     

If I'm feeling good, I'm good.   

Will knock a single chi kung exercise (e.g. lift the sky) out, for reps,  or a single isometric as I pass a doorway or bench, or sitting at the juke box on the desk, any time of the day.  Or night. 

Have sometimes woken up at 2am, got out of bed and done a great set of Baduanjin chi kung.  Back to sleep after, no worries. 

[Deuce Gunner]

Jan 28, 2021 5:58:15 GMT macky said:

Chi kung exercises at any hour of the day or night.  Usually 20 minutes for a set of Baduanjin.  Maybe a single exercise straight out of bed but not always. 

Overcoming isometrics lately again.  Couldn't get them out of the system as it turns out.  Late afternoon-early evening, some seated (Monks) some standing (furniture lifter strap). Can do some with 30-30-30 but I believe at my time of life that's not really productive (for me), so it's a perceived 70% steady effort for anywhere from 40 to 90 seconds, and for two "sets". 

Absolutely nothing to failure. 

Not interested in quantifying results, there's plenty of feedback the following day on how I'm doing, during normal daily chores etc. The chi kung is primarily for lung power (I'm asthmatic) and the iso's are for muscle tone, deportment, mobility (along with the chi kung drills) etc.     

If I'm feeling good, I'm good.   

Will knock a single chi kung exercise (e.g. lift the sky) out, for reps,  or a single isometric as I pass a doorway or bench, or sitting at the juke box on the desk, any time of the day.  Or night. 

Have sometimes woken up at 2am, got out of bed and done a great set of Baduanjin chi kung.  Back to sleep after, no worries. 

That sums things up as well as I've ever heard.

[brown43]

I previously did my cardio or strength training around 5 pm.

I couple of years a go, I started getting up at 3 am, and did the cardio or the strength training before commuting to work


JB

[Michael]

Jan 31, 2021 19:44:55 GMT brown43 said:

I previously did my cardio or strength training around 5 pm.

I couple of years a go, I started getting up at 3 am, and did the cardio or the strength training before commuting to work


JB

Did You notice any differences from doing either in the morning or evening?