Morning Exercise

[Jay76]

Anyone train late nights or early mornings to get their workouts in?

I work both shifts so find it hard to get onto a normal workout routine or even sleep routine.

I read "Low Back Disorders" by Stuart, Ph.D. McGill ...he suggests not doing any type of bending over for a at least an hour after waking up to truley help one from hurting thier backs.

Mentions also how the back is best suited for endurance more than limti strength, so Clubbells are great :))

I find my grip strength is nothing in the morning, but ready to rip something apart in the evening..

Jay :shock:

[JasonE]

I read "Low Back Disorders" by Stuart, Ph.D. McGill ...he suggests not doing any type of bending over for a at least an hour after waking up to truley help one from hurting thier backs.

I wonder about this, it seems a bit over-protective. I think if you have a sedentary lifestyle with recurring back issues this may be appropriate. But if you are reasonably active and work into the back gradually, such as with Warrior Wellness, Super Joints, or some other mobility drills, you should be fine.

Otherwise, I'd be in some real trouble. :lol:

[James Boelter]

Yes, far too overprotective. Backs should be able to 'go' at short notice; any insistence that you have to 'wait' until your body has been up is the wrong kind of coddling.

That's not to say that you shouldn't do some kind of brief warmup - joint circles, back arches, vibration drills, etc., to warm up the tissues and the synovial fluid in the joint capsules are all a good idea. But it shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes, 5 at the outside, to go from sleep mode to 'Good To Go'. In fact, part of Pavel Tsatsouline and Tom Kurz' flexibility programs involve doing joint circles and dynamic leg raises as soon as possible upon rising in the morning - to 'reset' the muscle's maximum length for the day, and to train the body to remain that way all the time.

[JClayton]

I find my grip strength is nothing in the morning, but ready to rip something apart in the evening..


Interesting....I had never thought about my grip strength at different times of the day. I probably should have, though, as this brings to mind an article that I just read in the NSCA journal (2004, 18(1), 149-154) that measured swimming ability in the morning vs. the evening.

The researchers found that maximal power was 7% greater in the evening, and technical ability from 3%-5% greater as well, depending on the parameter measured. Their hypothesis is that a greater rate of glycolysis is sustained in the evening.

They suggest that if a swimmer needs to reach maximal performance on a specific morning, they should perform power and technical training in the previous mornings, to "swamp their diurnal influences." They also suggest that a thorough warm-up is very important for performance in the morning.

Regards,