Morning vs. evening streches

[Ted]

I noticed a very big difference between morning and evening streches.

EVENING streches: I can flex my trunk and touch my feet (front strech) w/o too much problems.

MORNING: it's a disaster. I can't even touch my knees.

Any reason for that?

Ted

[xander]

I guess that in the evening you have already been 'warming up' all day, but in the morning your muscles are cold and stiff from sleep.

[UKfightfreak]

This is why you begin you workout routine in a morning with a general warm-up joint rotations and dynamic streches - with relaxed streches afterwards if you have time.

[brian]

It is not so much that your muscles are cold and stiff, as are your joints.

There is fluid within your spinal disks that expand during sleep. This is why you will measure taller in the morning than the evening.

Particularly those that are prone to low back soreness or injuries, it is not recommended that low back flexion exercises are done in the morning.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but "good mornings" are not a good idea unless the athlete is really conditioned. Even then the risk/reward does not seem too great.

If you need a qualified source, check out Dr. Stuart McGill's book, "Low Back Disorders". It is available at Human Kinetics or a decent university library.

Best regards,

Brian