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Trainer of Champions - May 2004 |
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Written by Charles Glass
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Thursday, 26 April 2007 |
I'm a student and my schedule is pretty flexible, so I'm wondering what's the best time of day to train? I have heard that the most growth hormone is released around nine or ten in the morning, so is that what you would recommend?
This is an easy one. Whatever time of day is the most convenient for you, and when you have the most energy- that is the very best time for you to train. Let me handle the whole growth hormone secretion issue first. It's true our bodies release the most growth hormone in the morning hours. That has been confirmed numerous times. However, what has never been proven is a direct link between performing your weight training at this time and any superior results that should follow as opposed to training at other times of day. So, to me, it doesn't make any sense to schedule your workouts around a phenomenon that may or may not even have any impact on your results.
That said, having trained literally thousands of clients over the years, I have observed how energy levels tend to fluctuate over the course of the day due to the body's natural circadian rhythm based on the rise and fall of the sun (blame your caveman ancestors for that one). Most of us are at our peak energy levels in the first few hours after waking up. We all tend to get a little sleepy in the late afternoon, then perk up a bit more around dinnertime before we start mentally and physically winding down as we get close to our normal bedtime. So, for most of the population, training within the first four or five hours upon arising seems to be optimal. There are always exceptions. Some of us are natural "night owls" and feel most alert and energetic when others are getting tired and losing focus. But in general, morning time seems to also work very well for the simple fact that you are getting your training out of the way first thing, before work, or in your case, classes, start to drain your energy.
It's far more beneficial for those with physical jobs to train before their workday begins, if at all possible. Often, you see these types dragging around the gym at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. like zombies, and you can tell their jobs have sapped any possible intensity from their training. Those who are used to training in the early evening "rush hour" at the gym often have a tough, yet very brief, period of acclimation to morning training when it just doesn't feel right. But after a week or two, their body clocks get used to physically performing at an earlier hour. In most cases, the person wonders why they ever trained later in the day, as their morning workouts take on new focus and intensity.
Since you have an option, I'd suggest doing your weight training in the early morning. That way you can proceed to the rest of your day energized and without having to be constantly pondering your workout later on. If, however, you are one of those rare night owls who perform better in just about every way in the evening, by all means train then. I have known several bodybuilders who got their best workouts late at night. Heck, since 24-hour gyms came into vogue about 20 years ago, it's not uncommon to see someone pumping iron with zeal at 2 a.m. when the rest of the city is fast asleep. As I said before, whenever it's most convenient for you and you have the highest mental and physical energy levels is the best time to hit the gym, regardless of what the clock says.
What's your opinion on unilateral training? I just read that the "bilateral deficit" holds a lot of us back from gaining muscle, because a muscle can always contract more intensely one limb at a time. That makes sense, because when I do alternate dumbbell curls, I can use 60s, but if I curl both dumbbells at once, all I can handle are 50s. Would it be smart to do everything one arm or leg at a time?
As with a lot of theories and scientific discoveries, the whole concept of the bilateral deficit has some merit to it. However, to suddenly jump to the conclusion that this is the most critical factor in how you train is premature, to say the least. Should you include unilateral training (using one limb) in your routines? Certainly. Should you suddenly make this the exclusive manner of performing all your exercises? Certainly not. To say all exercises done bilaterally are less efficient than unilateral exercises is just not true and I can easily back that up.
Let's look at the classic mass-building movements for a moment. All of them are done with two limbs at a time: squats, deadlifts, bench presses, barbell rows, military presses, dips and chin-ups. This powerful and highly effective group of exercises is productive because they allow you to use the heaviest weights possible. They are called compound movements because they involve several major muscle groups at once. Trying to do most of them one limb at a time would be both impractical and quite awkward, mainly due to the difficulty involved in trying to keep your balance. Even a man who could squat 500 pounds would have a seriously hard time trying to balance on one leg and squat with half that amount. Of course, he could simply use a Smith machine, but anecdotal evidence from thousands upon thousands of bodybuilders has shown that barbell squats are more effective at stimulating gains.
As far as the accusation that bilateral movements are somehow holding us back from our true development potential, that makes me chuckle. Why? Simply for the fact that over a few decades, I have personally watched a few thousand men and women transform their bodies with these "inferior" exercises. Now, with that said, I do believe certain exercises lend themselves quite well to unilateral training. Dumbbell rows, dumbbell lateral raises and curls, triceps kickbacks and standing leg curls are a few that come to mind. Also, the various rowing and pulling machines made by Hammer Strength for back training are perfect candidates for using one limb at a time. However, with most of their other machines, such as those for chest and shoulder pressing, most lifters perform better when using both arms at once, even though the two limbs are moving independently rather than joined by a barbell.
To make a sweeping generalization, I'd say you are better off doing compound exercises like squats and presses with two arms at once and you should save the unilateral training for isolation movements like lateral raises and curls. In closing, I'd like to add that every couple of months a study is published that supposedly proves one set per body part is superior to multiple sets, or vice versa, or that slow or fast rep speeds yield the best results. Take all of these with a grain of salt and don't go thinking everything you've been doing that has been working for you was wrong. Real-world results always speak louder than the results of a study or two. I have seen more training trends come and go than you could shake a stick at, and very few of them left any lasting impression on the bodybuilding community. Learn to take the best of what everyone and every system have to offer.
How soon should I eat before weight training? I hear all kinds of conflicting advice on that. Some people say you should train on an empty stomach, others say you should be sipping whey protein and carbs throughout the workout. Needless to say, I am thoroughly confused. What's your take on this?
Part of the reason you have heard so much seemingly conflicting advice on this topic is that there is no blanket answer that applies to everyone in all situations and with differing goals. For a while, there was a lot of hype about how doing your weight training on an empty stomach was best, as it was supposed to elicit the optimal hormonal cascade for muscle growth (and I just made reference above to how that never really panned out). If you are old enough to remember the Cybergenics supplement kit and the workout plan that went along with it in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, part of the success of the overall program hinged on doing your weight training first thing on an empty stomach. A lot of bodybuilders and aspiring bodybuilders tried it and they were not pleased with the results.
Very few people are able to sustain an intense workout of 45-90 minutes on an empty stomach. It's like trying to drive a car on an empty tank, except at least with a car it wouldn't even start. Those who attempted to train with no gas in their tank commonly reported weakness, extreme fatigue and almost painful hunger pangs. The main reason is that weight training is an anaerobic activity, and the fuel to sustain muscle contractions is glucose. Your body can make ketone bodies from fat to serve the same purpose, but without some carbs or fat to provide the fuel for the contractions, your training is pretty much doomed to failure. I should point out that there are some rare individuals who are able to train on an empty stomach successfully, but they are certainly the exception and not the rule.
What most bodybuilders do is eat one to two hours before the beginning of their workout. If they are eating a meal that combines solid-food source proteins and complex carbs, such as a chicken breast and a yam, it takes the digestive system roughly two hours to digest. You would not want to train much less than 90 minutes after such a meal, or else you'd most likely experience stomach upset, cramping and possibly heartburn. This is because you only have so much blood in your body, and when a meal is digesting, much of your blood supply is diverted to the stomach and intestines. If you start heavy weight training in the midst of this, the body "gets confused" in a sense and hence, the stomachaches and so forth occur.
You would absolutely never want to train immediately following a "mixed meal" of solid protein and carbs. If your last mealtime before training happens to fall an hour before your workout, you would be better off having a protein shake with a baked potato or some rice, or even an energy bar. You could even have just a shake with some carbs in it, like an MRP, with a piece of fruit. So, remember as a general guideline, lean proteins take about two hours to digest, complex carbs by themselves or with a shake take an hour, and shakes and fruit are digested in less than an hour, as they are easier for the stomach to break down.
These are general guidelines, but we are not all robots that rolled off the same assembly line. Some of us need a little more or less time to digest our food, and this can even depend on what we are training on that particular day. For instance, Gunter Schlierkamp typically eats two hours before training, but on leg day he pushes that back to three hours. Otherwise, he would be vomiting up that meal a couple of exercises into the workout. Of course, he found that out the hard way. You need to experiment and take notes as to how you feel when you eat at a certain time prior to your workout, and what you're eating. Some exercises, like squats, barbell rows and deadlifts, are very uncomfortable with a full belly, which is why many bodybuilders will space their pre-workout meals a little further before those days than usual.
Finally, let me address the issue of sipping "recovery shakes" during workouts. Several university studies have shown this can be beneficial. Personally, I think those in the earlier stages of their bodybuilding careers who are still trying to add their basic foundation of size would be best served doing this, as they can certainly use all the extra nutrients they can get at this critical time. And even then, if you find yourself burping too much, bloating and getting gassy, or just experiencing general stomach discomfort while drinking a shake while you train, it's not for you. You always have to weigh the positives and negatives. If you were so uncomfortable that you couldn't even train properly, the shakes would be doing you more harm than good. Hopefully, my answer wasn't too confusing and you now have a sense of how to structure your pre-training meal around your workout.
Here's a problem I don't think you've encountered before. I have huge shoulders. Within a year of training, I had the biggest and strongest shoulders of anyone near my age (I'm 22 now, started training at 17). But my arms, or to be more exact, my biceps, are horrible. They look like they belong on someone half my size. Here is an example of the type of routine I usually do for them:
Barbell curls 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Alternate dumbbell curls 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Hammer curls 3 sets of 8-10 reps
I have tried training biceps on their own workout day with triceps, higher reps, lower reps, forced reps and drop sets. Nothing gives me significant results. Now, they look like little celery stalks coming out of my big melon delts. Please help me get them to grow, because this is really embarrassing. I don't even wear tank tops anymore.
Don't worry, this situation is more common than you think and I have seen it many times over the years. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't figured out the real problem yet. Your shoulders are naturally big and strong and they obviously have a tendency to "take over" whenever they have the chance. And the routine you submitted to me is composed completely of exercises in which the shoulders have that opportunity. When you are doing your barbell curls, I guarantee that your biceps are probably doing half or maybe even less of the work. The remainder is done by those big old front delts of yours. The same thing is happening with your dumbbell curls, both the regular and hammer grip. The solution is much easier than you might imagine, I'm happy to report. From this day forward, you must only do biceps exercise in which the upper arm is braced or stabilized rather than able to move freely. Here are a few to get you started:
Preacher curls (barbell or dumbbell)
Machine curls
Concentration curls
Arm Blaster curls (if you can find one of these oldies but goodies around)
Your form must be strict and even with your arm or arms braced against an immovable object, you need to pay close attention to make sure your shoulders aren't starting to kick in and rob the biceps of the work they require. This may necessitate lightening up the resistance a bit at times to ensure proper isolation. When you do any type of curl, only your arms should be moving. You often see guys doing this sloppy seesaw motion with their bodies on preacher curls and it's always because they have too much weight on the bar. Leave your ego out of biceps training. So many times I have had guys come to me using too much weight and cheating form, and all we needed to do to get them growing was to take some of the weight away and do the exercise right.
None of this is rocket science, but it never ceases to amaze me how few trainers actually grasp and apply that concept. I especially urge you to take it fairly light for the first two or three workouts using the new biceps exercises. Concentrate on flexing your biceps hard at the top of each rep and developing your mind-muscle connection. Any fool can lift weights, but that doesn't make him a bodybuilder, or even make him look like one. You need to find the exercises that work best for you. In other words, the ones that give you the most intense muscular contractions and pumps, and you should stick with them regardless of whether or not they are the "popular" exercises all your buddies do. Barbell curls and standing dumbbell curls may work just fine for most guys in the gym, but they are a poor choice for your individual needs. Always pay attention to the feelings in your muscles as you train, because they never lie and they never steer you wrong.
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Performance Nutrition 