Was up at Xtreme Couture in Toronto working with a fighter named Claude Patrick who is making his UFC debut in June…
Claude’s got great skills, he’s a sponge and he’s intensely interested in learning everything he can do improve his game, so keep your eyes out for him.hen you see him with his arm raised in the center of the octagon, you can tell your buddies, “Yeah, I heard of him a LONG time ago…” :)
On to today’s article…
I recently received a question wondering if it was OK to train first thing in the morning.
There are 2 things to consider: the central nervous system (CNS) and your spine.
If you’re training for maximal strength or power, you do not want to workout first thing in the AM.
This is because it takes a while for your CNS to wake up and operate at full capacity (it seems to have learned about the snooze button).
So your workouts won’t be as productive.
I suggest waiting at least an hour, or better yet, train when you feel you have the most energy.
I’m at my peak around Noon and have my best workouts then.
The second consideration is your back.
When you sleep, the intervertebral discs in your spine fill up with fluid because gravity isn’t weighing down on them.
Then, if you go and do a heavy exercise with a weight on your shoulders (Squats) or heavy weights in your hands (Deadlifts, Overhead presses), higher than normal stresses are be placed on the outer ring of the discs called the annulus.
Over time, this could lead to injury, ESPECIALLY if you have poor exercise technique and/or poor core stability.
So wait at least an hour before training to save your back, maybe a bit longer if you’ve got back pain.
Then when you do go for your workout, it’s a good idea to hit the treadmill for a brisk walk for 5 minutes (or just go outside) to normalize the pressure in the discs and gently mobilize your spine.
This will ensure you don’t have one of those embarrassing moments in the gym where you can’t walk around because you just threw your back out!
If you do have back pain, learn more about how I eliminated my pain here:
— http://www.BulletproofBack.com
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Leave A Reply (3 comments So Far)
Marios
Hi Eric. Thanks for the information. Unfortunately I don’t have any other time to workout (I am following your Ultimate MMA Strenght and Conditioning Program) cause I train mma twice a week and I am married and I have a 3 year old princess. I workout at 5 am twice a week so that I can spend the afternoons with my girls. I wake up at 4 am to take my thyroxine(I had thyroid cancer so I had my thyroid removed), sleep again till 5am. I have a scoop of NO Explode at 5 am and at 5:15 I have a little porridge with milk so that I don’t workout with a completely empty stomach. At 5:30 I begin the Dynamic Warmup and around 5:45 I begin working out. At first it was a bit draining, but I guess my body got used to it. I always go outside to to normalize the pressure in the discs and gently mobilize my spine as you suggest in your article.I would like to ask if there is any way that I can prevent back injury, or am I heading for disaster?
Eric Reply:
September 27th, 2011 at 9:35 am
If that’s what you gotta do, that’s what you gotta do.
If you use good technique and follow my guidelines, you should be fine!
Marios Reply:
September 27th, 2011 at 9:53 am
thanks for the reply