exercising at night...

As a whole it's not a good idea to work out close to your bed time. You have to think about what your doing to your body when you workout. The stressors and cortisol increase depending on your workout.

Also, you need to nourish your body after a workout and general rule of thumb is no eating 2 hours before bed time (usual time we give for the stomach to digest and empty out so to speak). If your working out late in the evening that tosses a monkey wrench in things and can also cause sleep pattern issues.

When you wake you should eat within the first hour of waking (another topic all together) and feel the need to eat. Your "Breaking the Fast"(having not eaten in the last 6.5 to 8 hours) which requires "breakfast".

If you're not hungry when you wake up then you should reevaluate what you did the day before because you might have had an excess in your caloric intake.

Either early in the morning or at the times you listed are feasible times to work out.

Get Physically Fit
"Live Long & Healthy"

Okay... can you clue me in on "streamlining" your work out?

The best time to work out is whenever it works for you and your lifestyle. There are no hard, fast rules. There is no significant difference in weight loss based on the time that you work out.

There's also no problem with having a snack before going to bed. Again, no data to support that it, in any way, will cause you to gain weight or to slow your weight loss progress.

At the most basic level, this is a numbers game. Calories out must exceed calories in. Contributing factors are quality of food, thequality of your workouts, and your personal genetics but when/where how you manage this is irrelevent.

I must disagree with Tess on this fact. Their exist many studies on this fact as well as to working out to late before going to bed. We humans are not nocturnal in nature. The chemicals are body makes is in direct relation to our environment.

No problem. I don't pretend to be an expert but I have done a SIGNIFICANT amount of research and experimentaion. Respectfully, You'll have to cite your source. For all the "studies" out there, there are an equal number stating the opposite or stating that the actual results of these studies are minimal. Most of these "studies" don't really qualify as statistically significant. I personally beleive in a common sense approach.......

If you have to chose between not working out at all or working out at night. Then do so at night. In the end, whatever might be "optimal" is meaningless if it doesn't work in your life. My personal trainer is very good about explaining optimal approaches but he is also great about helping to adapt a program that will work with an individual;s lifestyle.


And rather we are nocturnal or not, many people work nights. The human body will adapt. In fact, that's the bottom line. The human body is extraordinarily adaptable.

I still maintain: DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.

Also, you need to nourish your body after a workout and general rule of thumb is no eating 2 hours before bed time (usual time we give for the stomach to digest and empty out so to speak). If your working out late in the evening that tosses a monkey wrench in things and can also cause sleep pattern issues.

When you wake you should eat within the first hour of waking (another topic all together) and feel the need to eat. Your "Breaking the Fast"(having not eaten in the last 6.5 to 8 hours) which requires "breakfast".

Get Physically Fit
"Live Long & Healthy"

These two contradict each other, and I'm wondering where you;re getting this information, not saying its not correct information because I'm no expert, but if you don’t eat 2 hours before you go to bed then it would be 8.5-10 hours, that’s a long time without eating and a long time to go without food. Based on what your saying about "Breaking the Fast".

I do agree that the less time between when you eat the better your body works to burn it off, especially if you are trying to lose weight and are keeping calories low.

As far as working out ur results will be the same no matter what time you work out. Have you heard the saying "The best time to work out is when it works out for you" (or something like that). I don’t always work out at the same time sometimes in the morning around 6 b4 work sometimes just after bout 5pm and a couple times a week around 8-9. I will say that it do go to bed an hour later then normal but I have had great results no matter what time I fit in my workout.

Let me ask you this, if you don’t work out at that time would you work out at all that day? So what’s gonna get you a better workout, 9pm workout or no workout.

You have to learn to fit exercise in when you can, life has only gotten busier for me now I work full time and have two kids. Their young and take a lot of my time (as they should) so if you learn to fit in your fitness when you can now, it’ll be easier to maintain in the future

Well elizamary77 I see where you coming from.

Your metabolic rate drops when you're sleeping. You're not burning nearly as many calories as you do during your waking hours. Sort of like a bear hibernating in the winter.

As far as working out goes. You don't need to work out for hours and daily to get results. This is a major misconception that continues on in the industry and keeps you going back to the gym.

To many people waste time training ineffectively and spend hours and days in the gym and are wondering "why" they aren't getting results.

For example, if you practice High Intensity training the better you get at it you spend less time doing it.

Look up the practices and principalsDr. L Dardin and his predecessor Arthur Jones who wrote the book on H.I.T. training.

If you train the right way you will require a lot of recovery time that comes through rest.

Most trainers won't tell you this because they want to keep you as a client as long as they can. My intent is to counsel, matriculate and graduate as many people to be self sufficient and proficient in the right ways to train themselves.

I don't know it all or nearly close to knowing it all but i do take each client on a case by case and sort them out. I've had a lot of the hardcases thats what i get the most of because i love solving the riddles of how to get someone healthy.

The issue is a lot of people learn how to train from watching the bad habits of others or a video and following the latest diet fade.

If you want your car fixed fast hire a mechanic. Want to be a Marine Go to boot camp, want your kidney removed see a surgeon.
Tooth pulled orthopedic dentist, hair done cosmetologist.


You want to get in shape and lose weight, get a good personal trainer who works with or dietician or has a background in wellness coaching. They will train you the right way to train yourself moving forward by correcting your habits.

I always work out in the evening, sometimes directly after work (before supper) and sometimes later in the evening (8 or 9 ish). I am not one for early morning workouts, and have done this for years. And I sleep like a baby afterwards. For me, the purpose of excercising is not only maintaing a healthy body but a healthy mind, so I believe it is important to do what is best for you as an individual.

I must disagree with Tess on this fact. Their exist many studies on this fact as well as to working out to late before going to bed. We humans are not nocturnal in nature. The chemicals are body makes is in direct relation to our environment.

No problem. I don't pretend to be an expert but I have done a SIGNIFICANT amount of research and experimentaion. Respectfully, You'll have to cite your source. For all the "studies" out there, there are an equal number stating the opposite or stating that the actual results of these studies are minimal. Most of these "studies" don't really qualify as statistically significant. I personally beleive in a common sense approach.......

If you have to chose between not working out at all or working out at night. Then do so at night. In the end, whatever might be "optimal" is meaningless if it doesn't work in your life. My personal trainer is very good about explaining optimal approaches but he is also great about helping to adapt a program that will work with an individual;s lifestyle.


And rather we are nocturnal or not, many people work nights. The human body will adapt. In fact, that's the bottom line. The human body is extraordinarily adaptable.

I still maintain: DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.

I totally agree with you, if working at night means that you are going to stick with it, and you will do it, then that's exactly the path you need to take. Finding the time to exercise now a days is a limited for most of us, and A workout is better then NO workout. IAnd you are so right about there being a study to back up anything you want to push as the truth. That being said, the only negative thing that I find with working out in the evening, is just make sure that you do have enough down time before hitting the sack because for some people it can keep them awake. For me it's the total opposite, it puts me to sleep. I think people appreciate the advice of people like getphysicallyfit (I think you have some terrific tips) the problem comes in when you start dictating views as the best ones and forget that most people on this website aren't clients. They may be brand new and working out period is a huge step for them, gotta think outside the box, the rules don't always apply to everyone equally.

I exercise at all hours because I work shift work. if i am working the night shift, then I workout at night. if I am working an evening shift then I work out in the morning. People have the balance their life in a way that makes sense. Rules cannot guide everyone's lives; therefore, we have to do what makes sense for us.

I've always felt more comfortable working out at night and I just follow simple rules when I do this:

- Workout IMMEDIATELY (or as soon as possible) after work
- Have a snack about 45 minutes before so I have energy
- Eat as soon as I can after the work out (I usually throw a protein and veggie in the oven to bake for 20 mins, that way I can shower, get lotioned up and it'll be done as soon as I am, no waiting)
- Don't eat anything else
- Go to bed at LEAST 2 hours later - if it's late, I suck it up and go to bed later as I don't want to screw up my routine and create bad habits
- No carbs for dinner unless the dinner is earlier (say, weekends when it's 6 or 7) and I'll be in bed a lot later (weekends are usually 12 or later for bedtime )

I've lost 19 lbs so far and any time I've worked out & lost weight in the past, working out at night has worked for me. You just have to find your balance. :happy: