AM vs PM and starting strength

i think i read somewhere that training early close to when you wake up when you only have one meal etc is detrimental to strength and hormone levels will not be as peaked as they can be later on?

I was planning to train squats in the early morning and everything else like bench, deadlift etc is he evening.

My only problem is when i start to make PR's in the program and if i did not split up the session in two and do squats in he early morning and rest in the evening i could very well be training as long as 1.30 to 2 hours at a time which im sure will be redundant for muscle growth due to cortisol levels skyrocketing and test levels dropping... what would be the best option?

makes no sence to me. y not just post up how your routine as of now.  

its the starting strength routine
Workout A
squats
bench
deadlift
 
Workout B
squats
press
power clean
 
all 3x5 except deadlift is 1x5 and powerclean is 5x3
the weight needs to be the same for all sets hence why you will need to take long brakes in between sets + all the warmups = 1.30 to 2 hour sessions
 
which is why i wanted to do squats in the morning and the rest in the evening so i can finish both sessions in an hour tops

My first thought is that hormone release and uptake is highly individual and will be affetcted by diet, sleep and moreso genetics far more than what hour of day you do a particular exercise.
 
Also, GH is released in the latter stages of sleep (in most people after 5-6 hours) so if it does spike in the body (which I'm not so convinced of either) it'll be nearer to the release time. Although I'd say in most people the GH release going to affect the rest and recovery phase more than the trainng strength / effectiveness.
 
From a fuel perspective it makes sense that, for a strength programme, your body will work better if fuelled properly - so common sense dictates that later in the day may be a more reasonable time to train - if only because you have a better chance to train harder due to fuelling. This doubles up with the testosterone release. Calories are required for tes stimulation during training, so a better fuelled body will create a better environment for testosterone production.

Fine to train am if its convenient for you. Personally had ni trouble training 9 am with ni drop in strength. Off course if your talking very early milage may vary. Ignore the length of time the session takes you. Not a factor that is important to you, unless your lifestyle means you cannot spare the time in one block.

sorry iaink can you elaborate on why it is not a factor that is important?
i have just read loads of different stuff on training for too long mainly after and hours worth of training muscle building becomes obsolete due to cortisol rising and test dropping, just don't know what to believe :/

^Yeah, you can read all sorts of sh1te on the internet.

Try telling heavyweight power lifters and Olympic lifters that training as long as they do (usually a few hours) limits how much muscle they gain!

I used to go to the gym at 830am after dropping my daughter off from school, this used to work out great and was full of energy. I now do to a new job and I train at home, train at 5pm, I find there's a big difference for me as I'm not as motivated and I dont have as much energy now when I train as Im knackered from work. So I preferred mornings. (This may be the time of year though as I was diagnosed with sad last year and i get it bad)

powerclean


sorry iaink can you elaborate on why it is not a factor that is important?
i have just read loads of different stuff on training for too long mainly after and hours worth of training muscle building becomes obsolete due to cortisol rising and test dropping, just don't know what to believe :/

Changes in test and corisol are natural and are not a problem. Cortisol is an important hormone and it should rise via hard training.
 
The whole thing appears to came from Oly lifting and the ruskies. They used this change in hormones after training to program their athletes sessions. They inferred that it was more optimal to do 3-4 short sessions a day instead of a couple of larger ones. Some of there reasoning stems from hormaonal changes. This is far enough when doing the kind of training proffessional oly lifters do; hrs of work a day most days.
 
So if your trying to get in hrs of hard training in a day, every day, then smaller session seem the way to go for several reasons. For everyone else there is such a large variance in what actually happens that actually limiting your training based on an arbitary figure (1hr) seem pointless. It saws nothing about what you did in that hr; load, volume and rest. Neither the nutritional state you are in prior to training.
 
Futher I remain to be convinced that cortisol is so bad,. It needs to rise after training. Its a very important hormone. I am sure that chronically elevated cortisol (ie if you had a very stressfull job, or did hrs of hard training every day) then it may become problomatic.
 
Hormones and training is a complicated field wherein even the experts would debate these issues. Therefore I come down to doing whatever you need to do in a session (and over a week) and have done with. Most of us cannot devote the time to this as a proffessional athlete and compromise is often needed regardless of what we think is optimal or not.
 
 
If you want to split up your training feel free to do so. May help your performance i the second session, and it's even more stimulation across the day. However you shouldn't feel like your training is for nothing if it goes over the scared 1hr! :)