[Rocksteady]

After another late arrival home from the climbing wall, my girlfriend sent me this article on reasons not to exercise in the evening:

http://issue.stylist.co.uk/Stylist-style-fashion-beauty-news/1S4ba7ab0736205012.cde
p.44-45

I generally thought it was dumbed-down rubbish aimed at people who are exercising purely for 'cosmetic' reasons, and not because they want to be a beast-like crusher of tiny features on steep rock.

However, one thing piqued my interest - that after a stressful day at work, you tend to produce cortisol, which promotes fat-gain and muscle-loss. Apparently, going to the gym also stimulates cortisol production, so the article makes out that exercising in the evening is a recipe for a cortisol cocktail that turns you into a fat mess.

As I understand it, high levels of cortisol can also be degrading to tendons, which made me wonder if evening cranking sessions down the climbing wall are more likely to cause injury than cranking at other times of day. It's not like I have much of a choice of times to climb, but I'm starting to wonder if shorter sessions after work might be better than the 3+hours I favour, which mean I get home late, eat late, get to bed late, sleep less etc. I do seem to pick up a disproportionate amount of finger injuries, albeit mostly minor pulley twinges.

Any SCIENCE on evening exercise and cortisol production? Is this article even accurate in describing the effects of cortisol?   

Cheers

[slackline]

Google Scholar is your friend

The problem you'll find though is with access to many of the articles themselves as you tend to need a subscription, particularly for newer papers, although often you find that journals allow free access to older content.

This one looks like it might provide an insight into cortisol production and exercise at different times of day (and its probably freely accessible, currently can't be arsed going to a non-work computer to check for though).

From that paper is the following graph comparing cortisol production with exercise at different times of day and no exercise at the same times of day...



Further details, including whether these were statistically significantly different, are in the paper (but bear in mind that statistical significance is not the same as a meaningfully significant clinical difference).

[JamesD]

When doing strength training in the past I always felt weak as shit first thing in the morning, even if I ate something before hand, or took a shedload of stimulants, still the same story.
Cardio I can handle in the morning, but strength training I strictly reserve for the evenings 

[joel]

I have no idea about the SCIENCE but  for me 3 hours is way too long. Training in short, frequent sessions is definitely the key for recovery for me. You can get good gains in power from surprisingly short sessions - 1 to 2 hours max. Cortisol stuff is interesting though

[SA Chris]

Choice for most of us is simple - either train in evenings or not train. Guess you could do an early morning session if you got up soon enough and had your own board, but my scratcher is too warm and comfy at 5am to get up and do much.

[Rocksteady]

Thanks for dragging up that study, Slackers. I'm somewhat limited in ability to read SCIENCE, but I'm taking away this:

"In conclusion, when the confounding factors of meals, prior exercise, and sleep are controlled, time of day has no effect on the magnitude of the Growth Hormone response to exercise. In contrast, the cortisol response to exercise is modulated by time of day. Peak cortisol concentrations in response to exercise were highest at 0700 h, followed by 2400 and 1900 h in that order. In contrast, maximal increases in cortisol concentrations over time in comparison to control day conditions occurred at 2400 h, followed by 0700 and 1900 h, in that order. These data suggest that the circadian rhythm of cortisol secretion influences the cortisol response to exercise."

James, I too always feel dead weak if I try to train strength in the morning, but cardio is fine. I can do volume/low-intensity bodyweight stuff like press-ups or pull-ups in the morning but am definitely slightly weaker than at other times of day. I don't like early starts on climbing trips either... 

Regarding the effects of cortisol I found this:

"Small increases of cortisol have some positive effects:

A quick burst of energy for survival reasons
Heightened memory functions
A burst of increased immunity
Lower sensitivity to pain
Helps maintain homeostasis in the body

Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream (like those associated with chronic stress) have been shown to have negative effects, such as:

Impaired cognitive performance
Suppressed thyroid function
Blood sugar imbalances such as hyperglycemia
Decreased bone density
Decrease in muscle tissue
Higher blood pressure
Lowered immunity and inflammatory responses in the body, slowed wound healing, and other health consequences
Increased abdominal fat, which is associated with a greater amount of health problems than fat deposited in other areas of the body. Some of the health problems associated with increased stomach fat are heart attacks, strokes, the development of metabolic syndrome, higher levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of “good” cholesterol (HDL), which can lead to other health problems".

So it sounds like exercising late can mean that you have more cortisol in your body over a longer period of time, which could contribute to the negative effects described above. I guess as well as getting a shorter night's sleep, which also 'ain't great for recovery.

Hmmmm...

My current evening session would involve getting to the wall for 6.30ish, warming up/doing easier problems for an hour, doing two hours of bouldering, then half an hour or so of endurance circuits. I leave when it closes at 10 (try to eat a post-workout protein bar), and get home around 11 (yeah I live in London...) Make a snack (egg on beans on toast usually), don't get to bed til 12.30, get up at 7.

Maybe I'm letting myself 'av it and need to do a shorter session so I get to bed earlier. Maybe that will mean less injuries...

[Duma]

An hour warming up sounds like ages? (though I know this varies a lot between people) And trying to boulder at a high level for two hours, and then trying to do circuits is probably a big contributor to recurring injuries (poor form due to fatigue etc). You're definitely not getting enough sleep either. I'd be fairly confident these factors are having a bigger effect than any increased cortisol levels due to exercise timing.
I'd cut your warm up by 20 minutes or so, and boulder for half an hour-ish less. Possibly do circuits in a dedicated session also rather than on the end of a strength/power session?. This would get you home before 10 and in bed before midnight. The extra sleep will make the most difference I'd say.

PS I know no SCIENCE, so take this with more than a grain of salt.

[Paul B]

Cortisol levels are also increased by drinking beer too much which leads to storage of fat around the abdominal region in men I think. I think some supp's like sesamin might counter act that effect but I can't remember where I read that?

[JamesD]

Rocksteady dude, sounds to me like you are over training big style, 3 hours is mental and not in a good way, the longest I would spend lifting in the gym when training for power-lifting would be about 60-70 minutes, and I got great gains this way, I either carried out cardio in mornings or on seperate days, as it is way too taxing on the body both mentally and physically to subject it to such craziness all in one hit.
Also do not under estimate just how good a good nights sleep can benefit you, i've cut out caffeine completely over the past week, and if I get myself 7-8 hours I feel amazing in the morning, whereas before I was without explaination waking up in the middle of the night, despite not having drunk coffee until lunch time, felt tired all the time, and I don't think I had a good nights sleep in a month or two.
I would say you want to cut your training sessions in half, focus on making them more intense, and spread them out over more days, would also echo what Duma said about doing circuits on a seperate day, strength and endurance are best trained seperate if you are looking to get the best out of each.
I think I remember reading somewhere SCIENCE like, that a good dose of Uber high GI carbs Post workout/training in addition to your protein is supposed to help keep cortisol respectable.

and finally.....seeing as you are a fellow London dweller, if you ever happen to be around at The Arch gimme a shout, i'm the big dude who is always in black trackies and a pair of scarpas