Most people today are just going through the motions during their workouts and then wonder why they don’t make any true gains. Granted, there are times when you need to pull back a bit, but there are also times when you need to go hard. This article is geared toward the latter.
In order to experience any form of success with weight training – whether it be to improve body composition (i.e. a decrease in body fat and an increase in lean body mass) or to increase strength, speed, power and ultimately performance – you must have effective workouts. And just like any race, the start is crucial!
Pre-exercise preparation, including the often neglected warm-up, can make or break your workout. It is the most misunderstood aspect of training. Traditional warm-ups are seriously flawed. Quite frankly, most people shoot themselves in the foot before they even begin.
I have spent years researching this subject, and in my journey, I’ve discovered some of the most effective, cutting edge techniques from many of the world’s leading experts. Ready to get the results you deserve for your hard effort in the gym? Great, then let’s begin.
Best Time To Train
In order to experience the ultimate workout, you need to schedule your training at the most appropriate time. Let’s review the evidence.
Supercharging Hormones and Lubricating Joints
Research on circadian rhythms (i.e. your body’s internal clock) indicate that the summation of several important anabolic hormones peak at 3 and 11 hours upon awakening. What does that mean in plain English? Well, according to science, if you wake up at 6:00 am, you are at your strongest at 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. And, according to Olympic strength coach, Charles Poliquin, your joints – specifically, the synovial fluid that lubricates your joints – require about 3 hours to reach an optimal level of warmth, which will help improve performance while decreasing the likelihood of injury.
Wake Up to Lose Weight
Today’s lifestyle is quite busy and hectic. Many people have a tendency to jeopardize their workouts later in the day because other priorities get in the way. For these individuals, working out first thing in the morning and getting it out of the way may be the best option. Actually, some authorities believe that training first thing in the morning on an empty stomach will facilitate weight loss. Greg Landry is an exercise physiologist who highly recommends exercise in the morning for the following reasons:
90% of people exercise consistently in the morning
elevates metabolism and makes you feel energized all day long
helps to regulate appetite
makes it easier to wake up – hormones and metabolism elevate while you sleep to prepare your body for exercise
mental acuity is increased for 4-10 hours after exercise
Ride the Cortisol Tide
Holistic health practitioner and neuromuscular therapist, Paul Chek, believes that people should ride their natural cortisol tides and train in the morning when possible.
“My experience with training athletes, as well as with my own training, has been that people naturally train better when their cortisol levels are high. Since cortisol levels rise with the sun, reaching peak blood levels around 9-11 a.m. and then progressively set with the sun, most of you will find that you get your best performances in this timeframe.
If your schedule doesn’t permit you to train at this time, at least you can set your schedule so that your hardest workouts are on weekends or your days off from work, allowing you to train with your natural cortisol tides.
For those of you who currently wake up in the morning feeling tired – even after sleeping eight hours – training in the evening after work may well be disrupting your sleep and recovery cycles.
This is because performing any exercise that is more intense than you could perform on a full stomach triggers the release of cortisol, telling your body that it is some time between sunrise and about noon.
There’s a good reason why we’re built this way. For thousands of years, if not millions, we did our hunting and gathering from sunrise until just before noon. When you elevate your cortisol levels at night by hitting the gym after work, you literally wind yourself up! Since cortisol lasts for hours in the body before it is used up or neutralized by the liver, it will stop you from getting a deep, restorative sleep.” -Paul Chek
Morning or Night Person
According to the opinion of Dr. Ann de Wees Allen, a Board Certified Doctor of Naturopathy, the best time to train depends on whether you are a morning or night person. It’s really that simple. She believes that we respond better during certain periods of the day and those are the times that we should train. This reflects our circadian rhythm – something that we are born with and cannot change.
Subsequently, there will be times during the day that we are the strongest. This does not happen by chance. You must recognize those times and use them to your advantage – it will have a big impact on your performance. Does it mean that you can’t workout at other times? No! But, it is a good idea to train at the same time each workout if possible – your body will naturally adjust to that time and prepare itself for activity. If you are forced to change your workout time, though, to accommodate your schedule, then allow 3 weeks for your body to get used to the new time (especially if you are unaccustomed to training first thing in the morning). It usually takes about 3 weeks to form a habit.
Never First Hour
Dr. Stuart McGill, a spinal biomechanist and professor at the University of Waterloo, warns people not to perform demanding exercises first thing in the morning. Since discs are hydrophilic, they tend to soak up water and swell overnight, and it’s much easier to herniate a swollen, water-filled spine! Therefore, McGill recommends to wait at least one hour after awakening to exercise. That is the critical period since your tissue is superhydrated at that point resulting in an 18% loss of strength in the spine and risk of injury is heightened!
Not After Sex
Here is something you may not want to hear. I’ll let the following abstract break the news. You ready? Sit tight; this may be painful.
Alterations in grip strength during male sexual arousal.
Jiao C, Turman B, Weerakoon P, Knight P.
Int J Impot Res. 2005 Oct 27
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Although it is known that alterations in grip strength occur under a number of conditions, little is known about relationships between grip strength and sexual arousal. This relationship was investigated in 30 healthy heterosexual males, who viewed both erotic and nonerotic videos. A questionnaire was used to assess the extent of sexual arousal. The grip strengths of both hands were measured with a five-position (P1-P5) dynamometer, before and after watching the videos. After watching the erotic video, there was a statistically significant reduction in grip strength for the P2 position, with nonsignificant overall reductions in grip strength for all other positions tested. No such effect was observed in control tests. The results indicate that during sexual arousal, the neural system is likely to reduce the output to muscles not directly related to sexual function, presumably to enhance the physiological responses of sexual arousal.
Take-Home Message: Sexual arousal is great anytime of the day EXCEPT right before training!
Ultimate Workout Tip #1
Most of the evidence seems to point toward training in the morning ideally three hours after awakening. This will allow you to consume a meal to help “break” the catabolic “fast” and provide energy. Three hours should be plenty of time to digest your meal and lubricate the joints while saving your spine from potential injury.
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High Protein and Fat Breakfast
I’m about to hit you with a bold statement: carbohydrates induce sleep … and what do most people start their day with? You guessed it, a high carb breakfast (and diet for that matter!) If you want to crash mid-morning – or half way through your workout – then go ahead and consume the typical North American breakfast. If, on the other hand, you plan to experience the ultimate workout, then do the exact opposite!
A high protein and fat meal will help stabilize blood sugar levels and keep you awake, alert and coherent throughout the morning. The best way to accomplish this according to Poliquin is to follow a meat and nuts breakfast.
“When people ask me for the best single dietary tip for optimal leanness, energy and sustained mental focus, I invariably tell them to try the rotating meat and nuts breakfast. Clients ranging from NHL and NFL stars to corporate executives, rave about the increased mental acuity and focused energy they derive from this food combination. The meat allows for a slow and steady rise in blood sugar. The nuts provide a great source of healthy smart fats that allow the blood sugar to remain stable for an extended period of time. ((Multiple studies on employee productivity or on children’s attention patterns have demonstrated that a high protein breakfast does not only impact energy and productivity levels of morning till noon, but extends into the late afternoon.” -Charles Poliquin
Ultimate Workout Tip #2
Start the day with a meat and nuts breakfast
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