I’m thinking about switcthing to morning workouts.
I have a question for those of you train first thing in the morning:
Do you train on an empty stomach?
If you do eat pre-workout what do you eat?
I eat a full meal (oatmeal, eggs, protein shake, etc…), then drive straight to the gym. Doesn’t bother me a bit, but I guess you’d have to experiment to see if a full stomach made you too sluggish to train well.
What is your goal? Are you building muscle or losing fat?
either way you may want to consider at least 20gs of BCAA so you don’t lose muscle.
fasted cardio can aid in weight loss
bcaa + stim supps + creatine pre /peri, Surge like beverage peri and post. Have great workouts
Weight training on an empty stomach first thing in the morning is a bad idea.
Cardio may be okay, but treat your body right by giving it fuel prior to weight training.
I’ve never had problems with emtpy stomach morning workouts as long as I was keeping them short.
Once in a while I did tabatas in the morning and my performance really sucked. My best results (mentally and performance-wise) when training in the morning that came with clustered training and Bill Starr’s 5x5.
Besides, I wouldn’t shoot for PRs in the morning: the CNS just hasn’t totally booted up right after waking up. And I would warm up thoroughly.
And don’t forget your post-workout meal/shake. While you can certainly get away without it during the day on a non-empty stomach (although it would be a waste of the training you’d just put in), you’ll literally collaps a few hours after your morning workout. I’m talking from experience.
I eat my full meal and drink some coffee. The coffee seems to combat that full/tired/bloated feeling.
I prefer to train mid-afternoon. This from one “Dirty” to the other. lol 
Gerdy
its nice once in awhile for me. workout, go home take a nap, goto work… i feel fresh all day.
i would most def eat a good meal before working out in the morning. all ill say is that you should give yourself at least 3 hours after you wake up until you actually start to lift. your cns takes time to fully wake up from its slumber.
I’d refer you to check out Gus’s PC. I know he was getting up pretty damn early to get his workouts in for awhile, so you can take what is useful from there and give it a try and see how it works.
I work out early mornings and I do it exclusively on an empty stomach. That’s just the way I’ve always done it. In fact I really don’t like the feeling of training on a full stomach. I do eat a big breakfast immediately following my workout. I’ve never noticed any problems with my central nervous system from working out right after waking up in the morning but I’ve always been what you would call a morning person.
I personally cannot train on an empty stomach… not with any decent intensity… i need to eat a minimum of 70g carb, 50g prot meal before workout… and may have an apple during, if early morning workout, plus post workout drink too 50-100g carb, 25-50g pro.
Joe
I would definitely wait about an hour and a half before hitting the weights right after waking up. As zeus was saying, the CNS isn’t quite ready. I believe the vertebral column stores water overnight and training while it still has water stored in it would be a bad thing.
Yeah, I really can’t see any point in lifting (not cardio) on an empty stomach. If you’ve already had at least 8 hours without food, your body and metabolism should need a kick in the ass before a workout.
Some of the best early morning routines I ever did started with a circuit of 10 exercises(let’s get blood flowing to all the muscles) followed by 20 minutes on a ski machine. Then off to clean up, have breakfast and start the work day. I am a believer in early mornings, on an empty stomach.
My morning routine:
4:30-get up, make a shake with 20g whey, 15g dextrose, 15g BCAA’s.
4:45-make a workout shake with 20g whey, 15g dextrose, 50g BCAA’s
5:00-get to the gym and get on a treadmill and walk a hill at a 13 setting and abou 3.5 speedfor 15-20 min. (didn’t used to do this but I’ve found it helps “wakes up” the CNS and muscles)
6:15ish-get home have another shake with 40g whey, 30g dextrose, 15g BCAA’s
7:15 Regular breakfast.
I used to eat a breakfast before the workout, but I don’t feel good at the gym with solid food in me. I don’t have the time to let it digest, so the shakes are better for me since it’s almost instant nutrition.
It may take a little getting used to, and you will probably find you can’t lift quite as much. It’s not a huge difference though, especially if you get your body going with the treadmill. It’s also a great way to get your cardio in. It’s definitely made a body comp difference.
cueball
The Russians say strength is greatest between 11am and 2pm and between 6pm to 9pm. This is when their weightlifters scored highest in the bench press and in static hold exercises. So working out after dinner might be better than working out early in the morning if heavy lifting doesn’t keep you from going to sleep.