Best time to exercise??

I like working out in the morning, because I don't have to worry about it after work that way. It does require me to get to the gym at 5:30am, but once I'm finished I feel good and energetic for the day. I don't always feel like working out after work, and a lot of times things will pop up that prevent me from doing so.

On a late shift (14:30 - 21:30) I go before work normally in the morning. On an early shift (07:30 - 14:30) I go about an hour maybe two after I finish.

The best to exercise is when you do it. As long as you give 100% the time of day does not matter. I use to feel bad that I couldn't get up with the chickens to workout. I only worked out after work; until a friend of mine told me that she admires that after working an 8 hour work day I can go workout after work. I have been doing it since Jun 2011 and lost 100+ pounds.

As stated before, there's no golden hour that's good for exercise. ANY exercise is better than NO exercise, so anything you do, at any time, is good.

The real struggle is to find some time that works for your personal schedule. For example, if you're not an early riser, the idea of waking up early to squeeze in some exercise has a lower chance of long term success because it really doesn't fit your lifestyle. It's easy to make excuses for things that don't fit naturally. So if you start down this path, make it a time of day that has longevity first.

As a personal example, thanks to work and kids, the only time I could really exercise was after 8pm. The "common wisdom" out there was that late-night exercise is bad because exercise in general tends to boost people awake. I've not found that to be true at all, at least that I can be asleep within 90 minutes of being done. And to the points above, late night is great at the gym when it's less crowded. If you get tired after dinner, and that's a good time for you, you might want to consider what you're eating - a low mix of protein/carbs can drop your energy level considerably, so there's opportunity there.

Also when you do exercise, minimum of 30 minutes and something that doesn't kill you is best. There's always more difficult, but you should feel like you made an effort at the end. Sweat is success! I started with 1 mile of walking at a slow pace, now I'm up to 3.5 miles of walking at a 6+% incline, most days. It's all about heart rate and difficulty.

All those points above should give you a plan for how and when you want to tackle this. Hope it helps.

Hornsby wrote: »

It's best to lift weights at 11:20am but only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. It's best to do cardio between 5:30pm and 7:30pm in the evening.

So true. I've started lifting at 11:30 instead of 11:20 and haven't had any gains for months...

I prefer running in the evenings (7-9pm) - first of all I am not a morning person, second - it's usually cooler, and third - it helps me to erase all the day thoughts and worries. However,once a week I wake up before 6am to get to the pool - it's the only time of the day which works for me and swimming is one of my favorite exercises, so it's not that difficult to motivate myself to get out of bed...