When do you exercise - first thing in the morning or after work?

Both. I'm at the gym from 4:30 til 6:00 a.m. Whatever I can't get done during that time happens after work.

Usually early morning, but I've been taking advantage of my son's soccer practice two nights a week to get some extra trail time on my runs.

Evening. I wouldn't have time to go in the morning but even if i did i would still chose to go in the evening. I feel like i need the food i've eaten during the day to give me the fuel for the gym, i feel weaker if i work out in the morning. I make sure i go straight from work though because I know if i go home first then there is less chance of me getting back up and going out to the gym.

First thing if I can, after work my energy is usually gone for the day

Varies by season. In the summer I usually ride in the AM to beat the heat 'cuz riding when it's 100+ outside sucks. Evening rides in the Spring and Fall are wonderful, though the Spring can bring some nasty winds, so I get stuck inside on my indoor trainer a lot. Winter is just a crap shoot because it's dark in the AM and dark when I get home from work and it's cold...usually a couple days per week in the weight room and I'll force myself to get on my indoor trainer a couple times per week.

I usually lift on Friday after work and Sunday morning...sometimes Tuesday evening after work, but I usually end up ditching the weight room for a ride.

Generally before work is the only chance I get. Sometimes I have a split schedule where I have to be at the first site earlier, but then leave earlier, and on those days, I can usually squeeze in most of a workout between sessions.

Yes, i find myself in the exact position. So i bring work out clothes to work and change at work and go right after. I do 2 nights a week after work and then one Saturday morning and then the other 2 days i do a at home video. This way i am getting variety. My goal is to get more days in at the gym. But making progress is a start.

I go after work, I drive right by the gym, so it's easy. I have tried working out before work, but that means getting out of bed before 5am and I am not a morning person and my workouts suffer...I just can't seem to left as much weight in the morning. The only workout that doesn't seem horrible in the morning is swimming. That causes a different problem and that is hunger. When I swim in the morning, all I want to do is eat all day!

I am also a morning person.

For the longest time I never thought of myself as a morning person so I used to try and workout during my lunch (I got 1 hour) but found that was inefficient. I would spend 20 of those minutes changing and showering and ending up with just 30-40 minutes worth of gym time and I like to get at least that in cardio.

Sooooo, I bought a bike. Just a $200 6KU fixie bike to ride to work. So now I ride ~10 miles roundtrip each day totalling about 45-60 minutes of good cardio (Denver is hilly and I think the fixie is good because it forces me not to gear down for an easier ride) each day.

My current routine: I get up at 5:40am, do 100 pushups/situps and I leave my house by 6am each day, I get to the gym at my office at 6:20-6:30, and fill in the rest of the time how I see fit. I'm not a huge weights guy but don't want to neglect them. This gives me plenty of time to shower and get ready at the office and be upstairs around 7am.

Best thing is to experiment, try combinations for a while, and then weigh the pros and cons of each. You can split your workouts in the morning and evening (i.e. cardio in the morning and lifting during the evening or vice versa).

I'm not much of a morning person but did find doing intense exercises in the morning helped wake me up and the gym equipment was more accessible (less people hogging up equipment). However, I kept cutting my workouts short or rushed through routines to make it to work on time, so I settled on doing my workouts right after work and weekends.

I am not a morning person. My brain wakes up last in the mornings, and by then I already had two coffees.

That being said, I did try to work out in the wee hours for a month. Wake up, go to the gym, get 1:15 hrs there, go back, shower, dress up, go to work and punch the 9 AM clock. The level of happy-sleepy-depleted I felt afterwards for the whole day was debilitating. I could not work except when really nudged by someone else or in full panic, when the *kitten* was hitting the fan.

So what I do is wake up and walk briskly to work, which makes ca. 5 km. I hitch the subway part of the way back, so I'm about 9-10k of walking at the end of the day, extra lunchtime walk-around and after-hours shopping/errands included. Walking has minimal impact on sleepiness and it works in waking up the brain / energizing.

I am getting the more intense workouts in the evening (sadly not much lately) - but as late as I push them sometimes, they don't have any negative effect on sleep. It really boils down to how each feels best, and we're all different.

I workout first thing in the morning. By around 6 am, I'm leaving the gym (showered and all), and this is when the non-negotiable aspects of my life start. On that subject, however...

As someone mentioned upthread, you can "talk yourself out of" exercising regardless of when you schedule it. People always seem to make time for things they want to do. Stop thinking about fitness as optional.

I've been doing 5am swimming for about 6 years and I wouldn't change it. Really sets me up for the rest of the day. There's no excuse of something coming up during the day and messing up with my workout. And by 7:30am I'm ready for work with a lot of time for a nice breakfast.

The only thing I'm "giving" up is sleeping, though going to bed around 9:30pm gets me enough sleep.

I now love working out on my way home from work. Especially satisfying if I've had a rough day, as it gives me a constructive way to release stress and let the worries of the day go. Having a good snack in the afternoon is important to my success in the gym, then I come home to a lighter dinner.