OH! Magazine - Australian Version August 2014 (Australian Version) | Page 11

MICHELLE
BRIDGES

IT’S TIME TO EXERCISE

www.michellebridges.com.au

( Fitness )

Michelle Bridges discusses training time and whether morning or evening
workouts are best.
here’s nothing quite like launching
myself out of bed at 5.30am to
greet the prospect of a morning training
session. I can’t wait to rip open the
curtains almost off their rails to reveal the
faint suggestion of morning light and the
odd magpie yodelling the day into life.

T

Filling my lungs with crisp, fresh, yet-tobe adulterated pre-dawn air. Feeling my
heart rate start to quicken in anticipation
of a slammin’ workout of Spartan
proportions to catapult me into the day.
There’s nothing quite like it because, well,
mostly because it never happens. What does
happen is that I get woken with a cup of tea
at 5.25am (I didn’t hear the alarm – I never
do – which is why I never have it on my side
of the bed), which is my cue to start bitchin’
about not being a morning person and my
almost certifiable hatred of anyone that is!
Then putting on my gym gear in a near-

But it works for me. Which brings me to the
question – when is the best time to train?

Glycogen is the stored form of glucose,
which we use as fuel. In the mornings,
because we haven’t eaten anything during
the night, our glycogen stores are
depleted, so we tend to use stored body
fat as a source of energy source.

Training in the morning has physiological
as well as psychological benefits. My
favourites are the psychological ones,
principally that by 8am my exercise is
done and dusted and I can get on with my
day, smug in the knowledge that all I have
to do is eat right for the day and I’m right
on track for achieving that optimum health.

Morning training also cranks our
metabolism up earlier in the day so it
runs faster for longer, chewing up the
calories as it does so. Our brains shar V