I know your supposed to be awake for 4-5hours prior to running, but what about weight training(like if you do it on an off day)? Would the same rule apply?
I dont think it is as big a deal in weight lifting however it may be a factor. That 4-5 hour rule i beleive in running is true as i feel like crap sprinting in the morning but the 4-5 rule of thumb is impractical in college when many meets start at 9am (55m trials). There is no way anyone is getting up at 4-5am to be ready to run at 9am. And going to bed at 9am to get your 8 hours of sleep is also impractical for a college athlete as they do not get to bed before 12-1am any night of the year. So in following the 4-5 hour awake period rule of thumb is impractical for many meets and i feel like your robbing peter to pay paul. (losing out on amount of sleep to get up early so level of CNS activation is optimal.)
Sorry if i got off topic and rambled on and on. :rolleyes:
Quik I sort of agree. But 3 hours is minimum. Unfortunately if you are competing at 9am bad luck. Get use to it.
You still need to eat that is why I would get up at 5am if competing at 9am.
With weights. I’m up at 5:30 doing abs and start lifting at 7am after 40 minute tip to gym.
I think it depends on whether it’s a “dummy” meet or peak meet for how early you get up in preparation.
Impractical to get up so early? No way anyone’s getting up at 5am to get ready for a 9am race? Guess again!
If you’re a shoe-in to qualify, you can get up a little later- but, if it’s tough to get out of round one, you better get up the full 5 hrs before in Athens. If you don’t, there’ll be plenty of time to sleep in till Beijing!
Charlie i hear what you are saying with elite athletes but i was tlaking about collegiate athlete that are not at the same level.
So a college athlete can’t go to bed at a decent hour. something tels me this isn’t all about booking!
In college students do not go to bed before 12am. i am not speaking for everbody but i am speaking for a vast majority of us. Now you know as well i as i know that when your body is set on going to bed night after night at the same time and then all of a sudden on a friday night you attempt to go to bed at 10pm so that you can wake up at 5am for a 9am meet you dont fall asleep until your normal time if at all because of nerves. Now what is more important? Going to bed early (getting 3-4 hours of sleep) so you can wake up early so your CNS level of activation is optimal or going to sleep at 12am and getting 7 hours of sleep but only having 2-3 hours befroe competition?
I am not really speaking for myself in this situation as i have had sleeping problems for a number of years and many times get no sleep at all before meets. Also just a note that when i was in high school and stayed up all night because of prom and went straight to my track meet the next day i felt great and perfromed well. Can this be because i was up for so many hours that my CNS was wide awake even though i had been deprived of sleep?
Possible- But I wouldn’t recommend it! You must be awake more than 2 or 3 hours before a race if you want to perform well- and not get injured!
I understand that. At evening meets i feel great and usually perform my best. It makles perfect sense. How about when training. Is the rule as crucial?
Not as crucial for practice- but it helps.
Morning training sesssions may benefit from elevated T levels but obviously suffer from a slower metabolic rate. In my experience, lifts that rely heavily on RFD are impacted more significantly than limit exercises (snatch sessions in the morning are usually woeful).
Personally, I do sessions at 8am so I can work/study during the day and am free to coach in the evening. I typically get up at 7 have a strong coffee and then stand under the shower for half an hour.
I train in the am - first thing in the day.
I find training first thing very important for me.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you are lifting or sprinting once you warm-up properly (mentally and physically).
Sure - some mornings I can find the going though and want to just sleep on - but I use a scoop of powerdrive or black coffee those mornings and away I go - these seem to do it for me - but I try to use them only once in a while and only when I’m really struggling.
I always wake 1hr. or 1.5 hours before I go training and use this time to get my diet ready for the day - fill my little supplement box, get the brain moving and drinks ready.
Now I can give a list of reasons why it’s best to lift first thing in the morning - there are probably a few reasons why am training isn’t good too - but that’s not the real aim of this thread.
It’s not easy when the alarm goes off at 0500 or 0545 - but I do it in the hope I can achieve my goals.
It does mean going to bed early - always being tired in the evening when friends are heading out or you’re with mates and you’re shattered - but hell if it was easy I and thousands of others would have run 9.79 long ago.
It’s not easy.
If I ever get negative thoughts about the need to go to bed early and get up at crazy hours I resort to reading 3 things
-
The ‘Finite Mathemetics’ chapter in ‘Chasing the Dragon’ -
-
My Michael Jordan ‘I’ve failed that’s why I succeed’ poster
-
The Terence Mc Swiney qoute.
-
Vince Lombardis - what it takes to be Number One speech…
They usually do it for me.
Time to be awake ?
I’d say minimum 1 hour.
But I’d really say the main thing is to be there - to be awake and to be training.
To say I can’t train because I can’t get up at 0600 because it’s too early - well that doesn’t sound like a good enough excuse to me.
Of course, the easy answer to that one is start shifting your schedule NOW so that when it comes around to meet time, it won’t feel like going to bed early, it will simply be the normal time you go to bed. Get used to studying in the morning instead of late at night (or is the problem that the clubs aren’t open in the morning? 
It’s really just a question of priorities…
That’s so true Xlr8,
Many people attempt to use sleeping tablets or different foods for one off occasions like meets that are at awkward hours - and these only serve to throw the athletes preparartion off - I’ve done it myself.
Actually speaking of times and carcadian rythyms etc.
There is a funny anecdote about Bob Pasley the manager of the Liverpool soccer team who had to go to the continent to play a major European match.
When they qualified for the big match he chnaged the team training times to the exact time in the evening that his team would be playing when they went to the continent. He believed that since the match was very late in the evening, his players should prepare themselves mentally and physically to play later in the evening too and therefore remain fresher longer.
Bob Pasley was so worried that the time difference would affect his players that he refused to chnage his watch or allow any of his players use the continent time. All watches were kept at UK time and he made the players go to bed and rise at the exact the same time as they would noramlly at home so as to maintain the players normal bodily habit.
He was convinced that the players would play better
This drove the hotel staff mad of course as the players were eating at awkward hours for them, but victory has a funny way of making all these things seem (in)significant in hindsight.
A certain powerlifter who’s name I don’t recall, did a squat with max weight on bar as soon as he got out of bed in the morning.
This was to “educate” his nervous system.
My personal experiance with faster exercise such as sprinting is that I need a huge amount of time to elapse (over 5 hours) before I can really
feel it.
In my basketball days I was usually playing between 7 and 10 p.m
and it felt great.
I can squat first thing in morning without a problem.
Apparently, concentration levals are usually at their peak late afternoon - early evening, although much of it depends when your body is used to training.
World class swimmers are early birds and many will do much of their swim work 6 to 9 a.m before the pools get packed with other people.
However, if training was done to early to often it could have a negative impact on the immune system.
Are you sure Goose?
I always thought it was for approx. 4 hours after the first hour of rising. - I ddin’t think it was so late ?
I read that concentration levals are higher in the afternoon/ early evening in some women’s health page in newspaper.
I’m not sure if it would be a 100% correct.
Yes, I’m Goose2, technical hitch when the old website became the new one. In fact I’m also formely known as Goose 7 a long time ago and I am the artist formerly known as Prince.
I have been struggling with POwer Cleans and Power Snatches at 7am in the morning if I do them first thing.