Ask a Trainer
Two elite 24 Hour Fitness Trainers tackle your most burning in-the-gym questions.
Is there any harm in hitting the gym after work one day, then before breakfast the next?
-- Shane, Houston
If you’re working different body parts, I’d say there’s no problem at all.
It’s person- and workout-specific. There are some people who can do that, no problem, no matter what their workouts. But in general, if you do cardio the night before, there should be no problem with lifting the next morning.
Or lifting the night before and doing cardio the next morning. The key to doing two workouts in quick succession is to do two wholly different workouts—workouts that target different muscles.
Well, you could do cardio at night and then cardio again in the morning.
You could, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You want to alternate the muscles you use, after all. And just to address another component of this question, I tell all my clients they definitely need to have a good breakfast before they work out. A lot of people roll out of bed and go right to the gym, but your body needs fuel, whether you’re lifting or doing cardio.
Meet the Experts
Two trainers, both with impeccable credentials but very different styles.
Brandy Bachmeyer, 28, a former Olympic weightlifter, is a rare amalgam of brains, brawn, and perkiness. Sort of like a cross between MacGyver and a local TV weatherperson. In a good way. An elite trainer at San Ramon Supersport Club in California, Brandy regularly puts in 12-hour days, sometimes joining them as they train for half-marathons—even surveying the contents of their sub-Zeros.
Scott Nunes, a trainer at the 24 Hour Fitness in Escondido, California knows firsthand that getting fit doesn’t just happen. “I used to be a bona fide couch potato,” Nunes avows. When Nunes was in his mid 20s, he had back surgery, developed arthritis, and found himself weighing in at 260 pounds: “When my one-and-a-half-year-old son raced me to the top of the stairs and beat me, I started doing pushups and sit ups that day,” he recalls. Nunes, 37, got in great shape, which helped him raise his son, who’s now 14.
COMBINED WISDOM Sure, work out at night and then the next morning, but make sure you’re working different muscles as well as your jaws—by eating breakfast!
