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Hi Guys

I just wanted to here some thoughts on early morning squat and/or deadlifts. I have read a number of well respected trainers say you shouldn't do these lifts heavy in the morning due to overnight spinal de-compression increasing the risk of injury.

Personally I have happily squated and deadlift heavy in the mornings and have done for years without injury or complaint. Admittedly I do plenty of warm up first - skipping, kb swings, and lots of lighter sets before I get really heavy.

So my question is this - aside from interest blogs and so on has anyone ever heard of any actual studies or research that can verify, or at least help validate that heavy early morning squats and deadlifts are bad? Or is this another internet myth that gets spread around because the same coaches (like me  for example} read the same blogs and sites and end up spreading the same bullshit without fully doing their research.

thoughts and comments?

Quote from: JackW on September 21, 2011, 04:05:02 am

Hi Guys

I just wanted to here some thoughts on early morning squat and/or deadlifts. I have read a number of well respected trainers say you shouldn't do these lifts heavy in the morning due to overnight spinal de-compression increasing the risk of injury.

Personally I have happily squated and deadlift heavy in the mornings and have done for years without injury or complaint. Admittedly I do plenty of warm up first - skipping, kb swings, and lots of lighter sets before I get really heavy.

So my question is this - aside from interest blogs and so on has anyone ever heard of any actual studies or research that can verify, or at least help validate that heavy early morning squats and deadlifts are bad? Or is this another internet myth that gets spread around because the same coaches (like me  for example} read the same blogs and sites and end up spreading the same bullshit without fully doing their research.

thoughts and comments?

using my own experience with this, and from people i have trained in the morning, we've never had a problem.. i imagine it could be a problem if you just walked out of bed and went right into the squat rack.. but if you "wakeup" & warmup properly, i don't see how it could be a problem.

x2.   

  I have had a lot of athletes that have to come in before classes in the morning, and some before morning practices but the workout always includes some type of dynamic/mobility warm up, rfi exercise, and then some olympic variation/rfd exercise.  IMO its the cns not being primed that can cause issues with the heavy lifts early in the morning, its just not primed yet, making it hard to get "tight" through the core, and the "stiffness" that goes along with being not properly firing yet.  Doing some type of sub maximal jumps/hops/sprints, and then a few sets of a rfd exercise really wakes up the cns and gets the body firing well.

I hate spewing out information that "I've read but can't remember where" but I think I have something helpful to add:

I've read that your spine isn't well lubricated and it's decompressed when you wake up, but about an hour after standing up and walking around it's fine to squat heavy. Throw in warm-ups and I'm pretty sure you're 99% good to go, hence you've never had a problem with it