Morning training guidelines

What do you think of early morning training on an empty stomach?  Some people say this is best for fat loss. Also, some people train this way because Testosterone levels are higher in the morning. What do you think?

I think that when discussing elevated T-levels in the morning that you may be majoring in minor issues.  There are theoretical pro’s for training in the morning –

1.      higher T-levels due to overnight fasting

2.      less muscle glycogen so increased fat utilization

I say theoretical because I cannot say for sure  this will happen in your body.  Now there pro’s make a good argument for a specific type or types of responses, but before everyone rushes to change their training time, I want to stress that often the con’s are overlooked. These include:

1.      lower body temperature

2.      lower neural arousal

And these are not theoretical!  The following are examples of when I recommend early AM training :

1.      when your habits are such that if it is not done first it might not get done at all.  Busy people with high demand occupations fit into this category, especially those with high focus on success in their work commitments

2.      those who are used to it or swear that they feel best training at this time

3.      when the training intensity is low and your aim is expend calories, burn fat

Otherwise, I prefer to train athletes at what some suggest are the peak training windows in the day – 3 hours after waking (e.g. up at 6am, train at 9 am) and 9-10 hrs after waking (e.g. up at 6 am, train at 3 or 4 pm) – or both, if you are an athlete involved in double day training.

© Ian King and King Sports International, Inc. This article is not to be reproduced in part of whole in any format without written permission of the author.

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