Concept2 Forum

Hi there,

I am going back to the Erg after a winter/spring of compounded illnesses. Blech. So I am looking at this as 1- a way to concentrate on correct form and 2- changing my workout schedule to the morning before work.

How do people Erg in the morning? Any hints?

I am all over the place in terms a time/HR/SR and it's making me nutty. I can do a nice steady row in the afternoon. I need to switch to the morning because there are fewer distractions at 6:30AM - So many things come up in the afternoon/evening that I end up not being consistent.

But boy is it hard!

Hey, I'm in the same boat(or Erg ) as you.
95% or more of my workouts are done around 6 in the morning on an empty stomach and I have no problems with that. Only exemption is when I'm chasing new PB's, this is usually put to the weekends and later on the day.
What I do and works for me:
-Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep and blocking as much blue artificial light as possible during the evening before bedtime.
-Limiting feeding window to 6-8 hours
-Alarm set to 0530. I get up immediately and drink 1-2 big glasses( around half a liter or more) of purified water
-Go back in bed or sit back in a chair and rest(not sleeping) for 30 minutes
-Start working out, drinking water only. I was worried that I would loose muscles when doing this, so I tried a period where I drank BCAA's/EAA's instead of water but did not see any difference so skipped it..

I just have a strong coffee, warm up and get on with the session.

Once I've started I find that I don't notice what time of day it is so the session gets done.

I'm sure you'll be the same once you're used to it.

Good luck!

Circadium rhythm suggests your best efforts will be later in the day but I do think things are largely in your head. Yes, there may be some sort of optimisation of physiological processes but the mind is a powerful thing! I am a VERY early riser these days and so find my optimum time of day for efforts has been brought forward to lunchtime. Tips for early morning sessions? Just be mindful that sessions with the very highest RPE may be compromised just a little. Anything else...well, erg on!

CON: Body temp low on waking. Bad time to stetch cool, short muscle fiber. Being forced to walk or even drive to a public gym prior to workout is an accidental plus not to be had from jumping out of bed and on to erg. Simple morning activities like feeding pets and children can help start you up. Obviously not for the 4AM crowd, unfortunately.

CON: Vertebral discs are engorged with shock-absorbing fluid during sleep. Sounds like a good things but there is reported association with occurrence of slipped or herniated discs in the AM.

CON: Cortisol level high AM; testosterone high PM. PM preferable for anabolic processes (bulking/strength).

PRO: AM fine for low impact and moderate intensity exercise.


I tried being a doorbuster at the YMCA gym but as a retiree, I find the hours between 10AM and 2PM produce what I comedically refer to as my best performance.

Mornings serve me well for getting thru plenty of UT2/UT1 metres on steady 30 minute rows and with these in the bank I can then usually find time for intervals or more demanding efforts early evening if time allows - works if I'm at home where we have our own machine but not when away and need to use a gym.

My philosophy (which a lot of my fellow OTW guys agree with) is that mornings are for two things: steady state and extremely short, fast intervals. I know that they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum of intensity but I've found in my experience that UT1/ UT2 is very doable in the morning as it is fairly low intensity and while it may be boring, it is not mentally hard. The short intense intervals are also manageable for me in the mornings because they are over so quickly that it barely even registers how hard you're working until you're done.

Races are often early, horrible

For me, if I don't erg in the morning, more-or-less first thing in the morning, it doesn't happen. I don't really dread it, but I've gotten into the habit of staying up late watching YouTube vids and that makes it too hard to get up early enough to erg before the work day begins. Works much better if I'm asleep by, say, 9 PM and awake at about 4 AM. About a half hour of prep time (old guy meds, hydration, computer on, songs on, shoes on, etc.) then an hour of erging. Had been doing fairly well with working a HM in on Sunday mornings, but have fallen off the wagon lately. Hope to get back on...

Except for HM mornings, I usually erg on an empty stomach, then eat 4-5 eggs and a bit of sausage shortly after the erg session. Maybe a half glass of milk. Hey, I'm gettin' hungry!

For some reason I enjoy PM walks. Nearly always on a convenient mountain trail loop.

I guess my only advise is that routine is your (my?) friend. When I get into a routine I have a better chance of staying with it.

Good luck to you.

First thing in the morning I'm way too tight to row. I tried doing it once (and only once!) years ago and was super sore the next day.

I do much better if I exercise in the afternoon or evening.

Good Luck

I can do mornings in summer, but in winter when it's dark and cold I find it very hard to get up to get to the gym at 6am.

I make sure I'm well hydrated - no alcohol night before, big glass of water before bed, same on waking up. Don't do PBs but a good 10K steady row at 2:00 pace is perfectly fine.

jackarabit wrote:CON: Body temp low on waking. Bad time to stetch cool, short muscle fiber. Being forced to walk or even drive to a public gym prior to workout is an accidental plus not to be had from jumping out of bed and on to erg. Simple morning activities like feeding pets and children can help start you up. Obviously not for the 4AM crowd, unfortunately.

CON: Vertebral discs are engorged with shock-absorbing fluid during sleep. Sounds like a good things but there is reported association with occurrence of slipped or herniated discs in the AM.

CON: Cortisol level high AM; testosterone high PM. PM preferable for anabolic processes (bulking/strength).

PRO: AM fine for low impact and moderate intensity exercise.


I tried being a doorbuster at the YMCA gym but as a retiree, I find the hours between 10AM and 2PM produce what I comedically refer to as my best performance.

good post

Thanks for the ideas.

I suppose I could pull it off if I had time to have a snack/coffee - but then I am losing a bit more sleep. House full of teens/young adults means late nights.

The bit about the vertebral discs was interesting. It makes sense. My lumbar region is so sensitive in the morning that I am afraid of my back going out. It's like I can't coordinate all the support muscles.

Late afternoon session was good and positive. So maybe I just have to readjust and make it an afternoon priority.

But.... I get so much done at work after I have a session in the morning!

I started rowing in the morning, get up at 6 AM and do a custom 15 minute workout. Which leaves me with about 15 minutes of cooling down before hitting showers and be on my way to work. Getting up earlier, means I don't get enough sleep as I turn in at around 1 at night. Daddy needs his time as well, so when I want to spend time with the kids and the wife, and have some time to myself, it means staying up late.

Doing a 30 minute workout suits me better, but means I get into bathroom rush hour in the morning. Resulting in not catching trains on time, be late at work, be late from work...

So I nowadays try a new regime, 15 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at night straight after work when the family is finishing up dinner I get home, onto my erg and do a 30 minute workout. Have dinner after the cool-down and spend time with the kids, going over their day, helping preparing for tests etc.

I found that exercising in the AM energizes me through the day. Sometimes work is extremely boring, some energy helps. Fit body leads to fit mind kinda stuff. Meanwhile, workout 3-4 hours ahead of bedtime allows me to wind down for the evening, lower adrenaline levels and gives me a better sleep. So all in all this new regime seems to work out pretty well.
Best of all, even when my nights are busy, I do work out daily. Which is good, because when I don't work out daily and start having 'good' reasons not to work out. Busy at work and nights out, I'm more likely to make up excuses continously.

Kind ERGards,
Three Axis

Clever Daddy! Bit of fasted fat-burning AM and stealth workout evenings with time to wind down the metabolic rate before bedtime. ERGcellent solution to finding the time