Feature: The Hated Early Morning Workout

I remember many years ago, a local reporter asking a high school athlete about the season after just winning the state championship. The young man pointed to how hard his team worked, making sure to mention, “getting up at 5 in the morning.” It made me remember how much I hated early morning workouts as a player and as a coach.

Many coaches will point to the early morning work as a reason for their success, which made me wonder about the efficacy of such workouts. Much of the effects are intangible and immeasurable but some coaches swear by the predawn lift. The first benefit of the early morning workout is the discipline it can create within a program. Rising early teaches young men to get to bed earlier, to commit to improving (because your opponents are probably working to beat you), and offers a trial that the team goes through together, a shared struggle. As for the tangible, your kids will get stronger and faster depending on the amount of time training. The question is, does the morning offer more than other times.

The best reason for the 6:00am workout is that there is no other time available for the weight room. Shared facilities are a fact of life for coaches and many run out of hours in the day. Further, with the effort we expect and should expect at practice, it is difficult to believe an after-practice weight room session would be optimal. After practice, kids have family commitments, homework, nutritional needs, social expectations, and of course, sleep. This leaves the early morning as the best time to work out.

So, what are the negatives. The science behind the theory that morning workouts are better than workouts during other hours is scant, especially for young athletes. The early morning workout may be far less beneficial to a 16 year old as it is to a 19 year old. Those 14 to 17 need 8 to 10 hours sleep while those 19-25 need only 7 to 9 hours. So, you might have sleep deprived athletes coming to the weight room. Not only this, many will have not eaten and be glycogen depleted, which could lead to increased injuries and decreased efficacy. The early morning workout is far more difficult for the athlete who lives 30 miles from school than the kid who lives across the street. For the 6:00am workout, a student would have to be up at least 5:00am to prepare for the school day, eat, etc. Without too much talk of circadian rhythm, the athlete probably is not asleep before 11:00pm. The early morning workout provides other challenges to coaches such as discipline for missed workouts, sleep deprived moodiness, poor overall nutrition of the team, and more.

I spoke to a state championship quarterback from one our great teams about the early morning workout. He admitted he hated the early morning workout and he and his group would skip sets unless a coach was watching, then go home and grab some sleep before first period. On the other hand, there are kids, the ones that break the weight room records, who love the early morning workout, that is their element. The point is we should not romanticize the early morning effort, but recognize how we can improve.

A 2019 British Journal of Sports Medicine study found that our cortisol level peaks about 8:00am. This is when we are most alert and most focused, assuming healthy sleep habits. If we can instill these habits, our kids will be healthier. This is a great argument for 1st period, sport-specific PE. If your kids could be working out at 7:00 or 8:00 rather than 5:00 or 6:00, the benefits could be great. Ideally, coaches could ensure nutrition working with food services, allow ample time to increase heart rate and stretch properly, and push athletes through an intense workout at 8:00am. Healthy sleep, solid nutrition, and morning workouts leads to increased attention during the day, improved visual learning, and even better decision making.

I always thought we had early morning workouts because we had a coach with a sleep disorder, you know the guy who brags he has been up since 4:00am every day, or because that was the way it was always done. Neither of these is a good reason to have kids at the gym at 5:00am. The successful coach will find ways to incorporate strength training within the practice day as well as common sense weight room workouts. Coaches in general are very innovative, if you want an edge on your competition, be innovative with the morning workouts.

Sources:

Working Out in the Morning: 13 Benefits, Research, Tips, and More (healthline.com)

Should You Hold Workouts in the Early Morning? - Training & Conditioning (training-conditioning.com)

Are Mandatory Early Morning Workouts Doing Young Athletes More Harm Than Good? - stack