Best Time Of The Day To Work Out?

what ever works best in your schedule. Anytime is good for your body.

No extra benefit to doing it at a certain time of day - as the others have already said, whatever time you can get it done is the best time.

The best time of the day is somewhere between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm
Honestly... Whenever you can fit it in.

If you want to geek out on this stuff, working out first thing in the AM will add to waking cortisol release. Whereas, afternoon/evening lifting benefits the testosterone/cortisol levels allowing for better strength gains. There is some debate about pre-sleep exercise and affects to cortisol and health, but I've never seen anything concrete. In general, cycling, weight lifting and sprinting will be greatest in the afternoon/evening. But the biggest takeaway from research, is irrespective of time of day exercise is neuro-protective and health promoting; and lack of exercise is detrimental. Especially in this sitting world of ours. In the end, the best time of day is the time you'll stick with.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15129828
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9715668
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18608836
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20030545
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20560715

It really is a personal choice. I prefer to do cardio in the morning and weights in the early afternoon. But I don’t always get to time things the way I want. I won’t exercise after 5pm, otherwise I’ll be up too late.

Go when it works best for you, monitor your sleep, energy, etc. That should give an idea what rhythm works for you.

Wherever it fits. Sometimes that's before work. Sometimes right after. Sometimes the best I can do is go out at lunchtime.

I prefer mornings. It gets me on the right path for the day, and I get up early enough to start about 5:30am. I was unemployed for a while at the end of last year and early afternoon was ok too. Evenings don't work for me. I feel sluggish and don't sleep as well at night.

My hubby is opposite from me. Hates getting up early to run/work out and has no issues working out at night.

You do you.

I don't think it really matters when you do it, as long as you have the energy to. but for me, I work out in the morning a little after breakfast. I don't like exercising after lunch/dinner because I don't want to upset my stomach, anc my breakfast is usually pretty light so it doesn't make me sick when I'm moving a lot afterwards.

OBXgirl130 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

why would it matter?

It is believed by some that working out in the morning can benefit you by boosting your metabolism for the day. Not to say that working out at night won't benefit you too. But I want to hear what other people have to say about it. Whether they feel more energized throughout the day after a morning workout or whether it doesn't change anything what time of the day you do it.

In RE to cardio, you get very minimal boost to your metabolism after you've completed your workout. The boost you get from lifting is greater as your body is broken down significantly more and needs to be repair...but people overstate this more often then not and act like they're burning a gazillion more calories per day than they would otherwise.

In RE to energy, yes...I usually feel more energized after a good workout. If I could, I would workout in the AM, but I'm up early as it is and have an hour plus commute to work. I do like to ride at lunch because it's a great way to break up the day and I feel more energized in the afternoon when everyone else is crashing. I lift 2x weekly in the evening and 1x weekly on Saturday morning. I also like to do an early morning ride on Sundays.

Really, it's all about when you can do it and just training in such a way that you are meeting your fitness goals...things like "boosting metabolism" and whatnot are so insignificant as to be largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. These type of things are often referred to as "majoring in the minors."

I prefer first thing in the morning to get it out of the way.

Whatever works best for you.

I'd prefer to work out in the morning, but I have a full time job that starts at 7:30am, and 2 kids to get up and on the bus before I leave, so that's not happening. Plus my gym doesn't open until 9am. So I work out right after work before I get the bright idea to sit on the couch "just for a minute" which turns into the entire night. The same people go to my gym at the same time, so I feel like there's a fun group to work out with, which gets me there. I work out on Saturday mornings, but around 4:45-5:30 the rest of the week days. Works for me and I'm consistently exercising, which is important.

I prefer evenings. My mornings are reserved for practicing piano, and I HATE getting up in the morning with a purple passion, so exercising then would be torture. If I exercise about 2 hours before bed, it makes me tired, and going to bed after exercise and a shower is so relaxing.

I think I'm the only one who prefers to work out before I head to bed... but I dont really think it matters.
But honestly working out helps me sleep alot better!! So it just helps(: