How to Lift Early in the Morning?

Training Bodybuilding
41

[quote]tveddy wrote:
You can talk about being self sufficient, but at some point you’re going to have bills to pay. The whole idea is to find one thing you’re good at and never do it for free. You do this because its more efficient to do that one thing and pay for other things to be done by those who are better at them. Which ideally would give you more time than struggling with things that you suck at, which therefore waste your workout time. philosophize that.[/quote]

People who really want something make it happen.

Granted, not many are like that, and yes you’re right, for THEM, they should work at what they’re good at and pay someone else to do the things they’re not good at.

However, if like me you thrive on creativity/‘entrepreneurism’/being hands on…picking things up really quickly, then why not live a more self sustaining lifestyle? Especially if you really enjoy it?

I’ve thoroughly studied engineering from school, am a plumber, a mason, a carpenter, an electrician, an artist etc…done all that and still doing it and I love it all.

I’m also a keen gardener, and keep plenty animals.

Have paid for my house, live out the countryside with plenty land. Almost finished the super insulation amongst other things, once house is complete (PV solar panels, solar heating etc), I’ll get goats and chickens, and carry on growing vegetation.

Bills - tax, tv, phone, internet, miscellaneous products etc…wow, if one can do all of the above, do you not think it’s possible to scrape by a spare ~$600 or so a month (especially considering your new lifestyle affords you plenty extra time)?

Why is that unthinkable? You’ve got to think outside the box, or at least realise that there are half way points.

How on earth did humanity survive until this century LOL

42

First off, I’m making an arguement for the sake of being bored on a saturday…

I grew up on a farm and I can garden and mechanic and do all sorts of manual labor that some people would call skilled. But I’ve found one thing that I’m good at (that i enjoy) and when I’m done with my training, I’ll be making enough to pay others to do things that I dont enjoy doing. Its all about efficiency, not capability.

43

One other thing I would point out about lifting in the early mornings, WHAT THIS THREAD IS ACTUALLY ABOUT, is that you want to make sure to have carbs that are going to be absorbed quickly. Fruits and sweet potatoes are a better choice than oatmeal etc.

44

[quote]tveddy wrote:
First off, I’m making an arguement for the sake of being bored on a saturday…

I grew up on a farm and I can garden and mechanic and do all sorts of manual labor that some people would call skilled. But I’ve found one thing that I’m good at (that i enjoy) and when I’m done with my training, I’ll be making enough to pay others to do things that I dont enjoy doing. Its all about efficiency, not capability. [/quote]

Sorry I get a bit carried away on this subject (lol), I’m that used to people being negative about it when it’s my passion

//End hijack from this beautiful thread :slight_smile:

45

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
One other thing I would point out about lifting in the early mornings, WHAT THIS THREAD IS ACTUALLY ABOUT, is that you want to make sure to have carbs that are going to be absorbed quickly. Fruits and sweet potatoes are a better choice than oatmeal etc.[/quote]

I prefer jam(or jelly as you know it) on toast and a coffee.

tweet

46

I’m up at 4:30 every weekday morning to workout before getting the little one up and getting us both out the door for work and school. It took a little getting used to, but I now actually prefer working out first thing in the morning. It’s a lot easier to get your head in the game when everyone else is still asleep (no distractions if you’re like me and workout at home) and before the stress of a busy work day starts to drag you down.
I’ve got a programmable coffee pot with auto shut off that I set to be done brewing by 3:00 am and is just warm enough to be enjoyable, yet cool enough to slam. Do a quick set of thirty jumping jacks and twenty standing high jumps (to warm up the cns, I believe CT or another coach here suggested this for early morning crews) and a recently added shoulder warm up routine, then get to business. It’s all a matter of priorities.

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tweet tweet

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Hi buddies!!

Well this morning was the morning that I had planned it to happen. So, I woke up at 5:10 and I thought to myself “no chance in hell, Im going back to sleep”. But then I layed there for 10 minutes thinking “well even if I do go back to sleep it will be a shitty broken up sleep”. So, I got up and walked down to the gym, and Im happy to report it was a great 8/10 work-out. For more details on this mornings workout please visit my training log “the Bird Cage”.

Yeah buddies!!!

tweet tweet

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Oh and here is the link if your interested…

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I hear Australia has a pretty big Croatian community.

51

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
One other thing I would point out about lifting in the early mornings, WHAT THIS THREAD IS ACTUALLY ABOUT, is that you want to make sure to have carbs that are going to be absorbed quickly. Fruits and sweet potatoes are a better choice than oatmeal etc.[/quote]

Maybe it’s just me, but I find eating a huge carb meal before bed the night before advantageous over a big breakfast when you lift in the morning. Of course it’s probably not the best strategy for minimizing bodyfat increases while bulking

52

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
One other thing I would point out about lifting in the early mornings, WHAT THIS THREAD IS ACTUALLY ABOUT, is that you want to make sure to have carbs that are going to be absorbed quickly. Fruits and sweet potatoes are a better choice than oatmeal etc.[/quote]

Maybe it’s just me, but I find eating a huge carb meal before bed the night before advantageous over a big breakfast when you lift in the morning. Of course it’s probably not the best strategy for minimizing bodyfat increases while bulking[/quote]

Sounds very feasible. Along the same lines my sleep is always 10x better with a good carb meal before bed (preferably mostly complex)…could never follow the whole carb cut off thing.

That could explain why your workouts are better in the morning (good drive) because the carbs before bed put you in a deeper sleep? Sleep is really broken and light when I don’t eat enough carbs before bed

53

I’ve tried eating a lot before bed, not eating a lot before bed etc and nothing seems to get me able to workout effectively in the morning.

54

[quote]therajraj wrote:

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
One other thing I would point out about lifting in the early mornings, WHAT THIS THREAD IS ACTUALLY ABOUT, is that you want to make sure to have carbs that are going to be absorbed quickly. Fruits and sweet potatoes are a better choice than oatmeal etc.[/quote]

Maybe it’s just me, but I find eating a huge carb meal before bed the night before advantageous over a big breakfast when you lift in the morning. Of course it’s probably not the best strategy for minimizing bodyfat increases while bulking[/quote]

I never said a big breakfast, I said one that can be utilized quickly by your body. I would actually keep it on the medium to smaller side, and then have a big meal after your done lifting.

I do agree with having a good size meal the night before as well, just experiment and see if it works well for you personally.

55

I’ll probably get shunned, but I’m an AD’er. My bedtime meal usually consists of a 4 oz. heavy cream, casein protein shake, 4 caps of fish oil and a Tbsp of EVOO. My pre-workout meal is 10 grams of BCAAs. Follow up the workout immediately with whey protein shake then hit the shower and finally a breakfast of 6 whole eggs, 6 oz steak, 4 caps of fish oil and a Tbsp of EVOO no less than an hour later. I have yet to see a lack of energy or focus during my workouts.

56

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Sounds very feasible. Along the same lines my sleep is always 10x better with a good carb meal before bed (preferably mostly complex)…could never follow the whole carb cut off thing.
[/quote]

I was the same way when I kept my meals P+F and P+C with a cut off at 6 or 7pm. I had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the night. After switching to the AD, I find my energy levels are steady around the clock, and I don’t need that carb heavy meal to put me in a coma late at night. My last meal of the day is always cottage cheese and some almonds, then I have bacon and eggs in the morning and go lift an hour later.

57

[quote]Quick Ben wrote:

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Sounds very feasible. Along the same lines my sleep is always 10x better with a good carb meal before bed (preferably mostly complex)…could never follow the whole carb cut off thing.
[/quote]

I was the same way when I kept my meals P+F and P+C with a cut off at 6 or 7pm. I had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the night. After switching to the AD, I find my energy levels are steady around the clock, and I don’t need that carb heavy meal to put me in a coma late at night. My last meal of the day is always cottage cheese and some almonds, then I have bacon and eggs in the morning and go lift an hour later.[/quote]

Maybe saying a “good” carb meal was the wrong thing really, because if I get in around 20-30g, it’s all good…and that’s probably the same amount you’d get in with almonds/cottage cheese (assuming the portions were big enough).

I’ve been on the AD for a very long time in the past (in past 3 years or so) and gravitated away from it for the very reason that I needed more carbs on a more consistent basis. I used to be extremely strict with it on the low carb days, in fact, probably lower than 30g/day (was crazy with tracking my diet lol) which is VERY low considering the incidental carbs there are in so many foods. It was that diet, and the carb cut off diet that made me realise how bad my sleep was getting (probably from being really strict with carbs…i.e. absolutely zero before bed). I believe people would be surprised to find that even on the AD and low carb days, they are eating more carbs than they thought they were.

But that’s just me ^. Everyone’s different.

58

[quote]its_just_me wrote:

[quote]Quick Ben wrote:

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Sounds very feasible. Along the same lines my sleep is always 10x better with a good carb meal before bed (preferably mostly complex)…could never follow the whole carb cut off thing.
[/quote]

I was the same way when I kept my meals P+F and P+C with a cut off at 6 or 7pm. I had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep throughout the night. After switching to the AD, I find my energy levels are steady around the clock, and I don’t need that carb heavy meal to put me in a coma late at night. My last meal of the day is always cottage cheese and some almonds, then I have bacon and eggs in the morning and go lift an hour later.[/quote]

Maybe saying a “good” carb meal was the wrong thing really, because if I get in around 20-30g, it’s all good…and that’s probably the same amount you’d get in with almonds/cottage cheese (assuming the portions were big enough).

I’ve been on the AD for a very long time in the past (in past 3 years or so) and gravitated away from it for the very reason that I needed more carbs on a more consistent basis. I used to be extremely strict with it on the low carb days, in fact, probably lower than 30g/day (was crazy with tracking my diet lol) which is VERY low considering the incidental carbs there are in so many foods. It was that diet, and the carb cut off diet that made me realise how bad my sleep was getting (probably from being really strict with carbs…i.e. absolutely zero before bed). I believe people would be surprised to find that even on the AD and low carb days, they are eating more carbs than they thought they were.

But that’s just me ^. Everyone’s different.[/quote]

I find that, having been fat adapted for a long time now, I can do 40 and even 50g of carbs on weekdays with no ill effect. I also push my carb up day pretty high in terms of carbs and protein. It’s working well for me at this time, but I’m not making any recommendations for anyone else. Personally, I don’t track my diet all that close unless I’m dieting down. I know I’m getting between 3500-4000 cal daily, with at least 300g of protein. I find it funny how some people act like they are training for the olympics when most of us are training simply for body composition. lol I guess that’s the internet for ya.