Weight Training FAQ

Weight Training FAQ

What Is The Best Time To Do Your Weight Training Workout?

I recommend you work out in the morning as soon as you wake up. Drink 16 ounces of cold water before you start the workout and an additional 30 to 60 ounces during the activity. This is essential to prevent dehydration.

In the morning your body doesn't have any carbohydrates to burn. In the absence of carbohydrates, your body goes straight to the fat stores (triglycerides) in order to get the energy necessary to do the work so as a result, you may burn up to 300% more body fat this way. Another good reason to work out in the morning is the fact that at this time growth hormone levels are at their highest levels (remember that growth hormone is one of the hormones responsible for muscle growth and the one that influences fat loss the most).

Working out in the morning will allow you to expedite the fat loss process for dramatic results. However, we do understand that certain obstacles such as work constraints and other situations might not permit everybody to weight train in the morning. In this case, do your cardio first thing in the morning and weight training workout two to three hours after any meal (so for instance, if your last meal was at 3:00pm, then your exercise session should be anywhere from 5:00-6:00pm).

Won't I Lose Muscle If I Workout On An Empty Stomach?

Unless you are a naturally skinny hardgainer, or someone who suffers from blood sugar problems, working out on an empty stomach has always proven to be an effective way to lose fat and gain muscle for me and my clients without any loss of muscle mass. Taking l-Glutamine, BCAAs, Creatine, and NO Boosters prior to the workout further protects muscle tissue, though simply staying properly hydrated with adequate amounts of water will do the trick since good hydration is highly anti-catabolic.

If this is the first time ever that you have trained in the morning energy levels may be a bit off initially. But after the first week of applying yourself, your body starts adapting to it and you will find that your strength/energy levels will start going up again.

If Doing Cardio And Weights On The Same Day, Should Cardio Be Done Before Weights Or After Weights?

In a perfect world where there are no time constraints, the ideal way of doing things would be to do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and weights around 12 noon when you've had a few meals and your strength/alertness should be at its peak. However, very few of us can adhere to that schedule.

So the best thing is to perform the weights first thing in the morning with the cardiovascular exercise right after. If morning weight training cannot be done, then perform the cardio in the morning and weights after work. If cardio cannot be performed in the morning either, do the weights/cardio session anytime in the afternoon. Also, if most of the time you know you can only do weights and cardio in the afternoon but say a couple of days of the week you can split it, by all means take advantage of those few days and do cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon.

What Sort Of Clothing Should I Wear To Workout?

When you go to the gym, you should be wearing comfortable clothes that allow your body to move freely without constraints. Therefore, rigid clothes like jeans and the like are definitely out of the question. You also need to choose clothes based on the climate you live in and environmental conditions.

You should wear extra layers of clothing if your environment is cold helping to keep your body temperature on the warm side and prevent possible injuries. Also wear nice comfortable cross training shoes along with a thick absorbent pair of socks. Never train in your bare feet or with sandals; you could seriously injure your feet if you ever dropped a plate on them.

How Fast Should I Lift The Weights?

Slow lifting is good for beginners that have never lifted a weight before. It helps them to learn and master the movement and prevents them from using bad exercise form. As one learns to control the weight and to maximally contract the muscle being trained one can start training with more speed on the positive (lifting) portion of the movement since provided that no momentum (jerking and bouncing of the weights) is involved, a slightly faster lifting style will generate more force (since force = mass x acceleration), which in turn will force the body to use more muscle fibers thus maximizing stimulation. The negative portion (when the weight is being lowered to its initial position) should always be slower than the positive; around twice as slow.

However, keep in mind that bodybuilding is about contracting the muscles in every repetition and feeling the movement; not just simply lifting a weight from A to B. So make sure that your lifting speed does not affect the quality of the contraction under any circumstance. When in doubt, go a bit slower. I also always like to pause at the top of the movement and really squeeze the muscle before going back to the initial position.