Best time-of-day to workout

Cyclingman1 · Post by **Cyclingman1** » June 27th, 2012, 6:15 am

I wonder what the experiences are of others regarding the best time of day for (indoor) rowing work outs. I'm not talking about just slogging through some miles at a moderate pace. Obviously most any time of day will due. I'm talking about workouts where a significant percentage of one's' power and endurance are required. I don't want to prejudice the responses with my experiences. Just curious at to what others notice and do.

JimG

jvincent · Post by **jvincent** » June 27th, 2012, 12:50 pm

I can tell you it is NOT 6AM in the morning when you have been awake for all of 10 minutes.

I find my best rows are later in the morning, after breakfast but before lunch. I've usually been up and about for a while and then start the row.

Cyclingman1 · Post by **Cyclingman1** » June 27th, 2012, 12:52 pm

I have researched some of what the experts say. They say that for most, mid afternoon is when the body is fully operational and is capable of higher work loads than early in the day.

David Pomerantz · Post by **David Pomerantz** » June 27th, 2012, 2:07 pm

Too stiff in the early morning for peak performance. I do pretty well after a work day in late afternoon.

Dave

Carl Watts · Post by **Carl Watts** » June 27th, 2012, 4:29 pm

Apparently you should be awake for 3 to 4 hours before anything really intense.

Having said that it is more about the amount and quality of sleep the night before and other factors. I did my current 2Km PB at 10am in the morning.

hjs · Post by **hjs** » June 28th, 2012, 7:00 am

I hate working out in the morning, erg races are often in the morning, it takes me a lot to warm up well and I always feel I leave the bit of performance due to that. Afternoon evening suits me a lot better.

Cyclingman1 · Post by **Cyclingman1** » June 28th, 2012, 8:08 am

The arguments for early mornng workouts are that distractions will not arise to interfere or that is the only time available. It that is the case, so be it.

I've noticed that what is achievable in the afternoon or late morning on the rower cannot be done early in the morning. Pulling the same pace early in the morning seems like an ordeal if even achievable. Working out when one's body is saying "No," is a sure fire way of tiring oneself out unnecessarily due to trying to over-compensate.

I've a few times tried to row early and given up after a couple of thousand meters. But in the evening the same day felt great easily surpassing the morning's results.

Many erg events do start in the morning. But if one has an early row time, giving one's self several hours to wake up by walking and staying busy can offset the early time. Those events don't start at 6 or 7 AM.

Bob S. · Post by **Bob S.** » June 28th, 2012, 2:14 pm

Cyclingman1 wrote:
Many erg events do start in the morning. But if one has an early row time, giving one's self several hours to wake up by walking and staying busy can offset the early time. Those events don't start at 6 or 7 AM.

Recent WIRCs have started at 9AM. The one satellite regatta with which I am familiar starts at 8:15. Generally the senior citizen events are the earliest, juniors are about midday, followed by the collegians, and winding up with the open events.

Bob S.

evamophead · Post by **evamophead** » July 3rd, 2012, 2:55 pm

My experience is that my usual rowing workouts are early in the morning because that's when they are and that's when they've always been and I've never had any control over that. I tend towards chubbiness so I've been trying to get more working out into my day most of my life and I also tend towards laziness so mornings work best for me in the no excuses way also. I've run very slow marathons which always start in the morning and now I'm bicylling rather slow metric century rides which also start early.

Erging specific experience: Last year I went to a CRASH-B qualifier the week before we had a 2k erg test at our club. The qualifier was an all-day event and I got my personal best 7:58 sometime in the afternoon - I wasn't expecting it. A week later, first thing in the morning on a wonky stomach with only a bananna 8:00 on our ergs that are kept in a tent and not taken care of at all set up on a basketball court - couldn't be a different situation, but pretty much the same outcome. I puked shortly after that one, felt much better and went on to the rest of our regularly scheduled practice.

I'm not so sure that time of day makes much of a difference, I think it's got a lot to do with your mental set. Though if almost everything you do starts early in the morning, it's probably helpful to train then.

Cyclingman1 · Post by **Cyclingman1** » July 3rd, 2012, 4:24 pm

One of the key points in the original post was intensity. It is hard to judge intensity among rowers. A 7:58 2K for say a 35 yr old heavy man is a good bit different from a 70 yr light weight man. Also, fitness comes into play. One has to be reasonably fit for intensity to come into play. It may well be that some row every bit as well in the AM as the PM or even better. Maybe for some it is mental. Thanks for the input.

truth1ness · Post by **truth1ness** » September 11th, 2012, 3:37 am

Healthwise it's good to avoid rowing the first 30 mintes (ideally 1 hour) when you wake up. Spinal discs have been shown to expand while sleeping and so the spine is stiffest and most likely to bulge/herniate in that first 30-60 minutes. 80% of that expansion goes away after spending that time upright. So basically don't jump out of bed and onto your erg.

Quatroux · Post by **Quatroux** » September 11th, 2012, 9:31 am

I do some SS work before I eat breakfast in the morning. I tolerate it well and have no issues training in this manner. Some low heart rate training (basebuilding) advocates in the running world advocate exercising on an empty stomach (ex: 12-24 hour fast) to help accelerate glycogen depletion. They claim multiple benefits. Here are some sources:
http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/20 ... ternative/
http://www.marathonguide.com/training/a ... lOnFat.cfm

For intervals, I like to do them at different times of the day. I think there is a benefit to varying the times of day that you exercise. I’m just now dipping my toe into erg sprints after a year+ focused on building endurance for the HM and FM. I feel a much stronger need to focus on what I eat and when I eat than I did when all my work was 100% SS. I don’t have a winning formula yet as I'm still new to most of this.

Javoar · Post by **Javoar** » September 17th, 2012, 7:37 pm

Rowing for just a month and I can say that I felt better rowing in the morning, but I did stronger in the evening.

Despite the fact its like I have to pull extra in the evening, there are rewards

Probably because the body is well fed at that time: breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack.
Nothing special, but still food its energy.

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