Best time to work out

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shauna121211
shauna121211 Posts: 575 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey everyone,

I was reading my gym's magazine and got some good information about working out I thought I'd share. I'm sure we all have pondered this from time to time.... when's the best time of the day to work out?

Anyways, the overall message was that it depends on your fitness goals. Working out in the morning before your first meal will help you burn the most fat (I like that!). Working out in the afternoon will help you gain more muscle doing strength exercise, which is why a lot of weight lifters work out later in the day after they have a fair bit of food in their system. So ideally, it would be best to work out twice a day, cardio in the morning, weight training in the evening. As if we have time for that! They realize we're busy so a more realistic goal would be to have a couple morning workouts and a couple evening workouts per week.

After reading this, I'm going to try to do a couple AM workouts during the week... grudgingly. My bed is oh so comfy in the morning and already hard enough to get out of, so it's going to be tough getting up even earlier to hit the gym. But I figure there are more pros to hitting the gym before work than sleeping in. It says that it will give you more energy throughout the day, so I'm going to test this theory out!

Replies

  • ibbray04
    ibbray04 Posts: 227 Member
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    I usually work out in the evening during the week (my husband leaves at 6 am, and I and the kids leave at 7:15, no time to get out and run), but on the weekend I get out in the morning and I love it!
  • MarieNevada
    MarieNevada Posts: 395 Member
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    i do cardio in the mornings and on the days that i make it i feel awesome. i lift weights after work, that's when i feel most capable of lifting heavy stuff. i do cardio after weights sometimes and it never feels as good as it does early in the morning. probably cause i'm tired from lifting.
  • Irene8509
    Irene8509 Posts: 381 Member
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    Good Luck, but I think the best time to workout is whenever you can:happy:
  • DixiedoesMFP
    DixiedoesMFP Posts: 935 Member
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    I work out in the mornings, and I do tend to have more energy throughout the day. Sometimes I work out in the evenings too and I do seem to be able to push myself harder. But mostly, as a single mom, I work out when I can fit it in and that is the best time of day for me :)
  • mindy14456
    mindy14456 Posts: 552 Member
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    I am definitely a workout in the morning person. And while I am not thrilled getting out of my comfy bed at 5am, it makes my day so much better!
  • barbiex3
    barbiex3 Posts: 1,036 Member
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    personalllly. i've done both. it doesn't make a huge difference. I would just say workout when you get your jolt of energy for the day. or just workout when you have time. Worrying over "when" is not really needed. JUST DO IT. lol <3 nike!
  • gagej11
    gagej11 Posts: 3
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    I am definitely a morning person I find it very difficult to workout in the evening. However I open a gym 3 days a week which means being there at 430 and you can bet I am not going to get up and workout before that! Which means I am having to learn to workout in the evening and I do not enjoy it. It is to hot to run and honestly I am drained. But I am going to make it happen because I do not have another choice! I will keep in mind your shared info and since I have to workout in the evenings make these days more intense strength training days and make the days I do not work more for cardio. :)
  • ambermichon
    ambermichon Posts: 404 Member
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    I work out 6 days a week in the afternoon. The last 2 weeks I added 3 morning workouts....results = amazing!!!! Gonna try to keep it up
  • Jeremy_S
    Jeremy_S Posts: 11
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    Make sure you're body is in an anabolic state if you choose to workout in the morning prior to breakfast. The WORST thing you want to experience is see the weight dropping on the scale and not realizing it's a mixture of both fat and muscle. And then you may notice your body getting more tired b/c the hormone cortisol is released, and now you're body is getting energy from your muscles rather than from your fat stores or your carbohydrates from food.
  • keeks8281
    keeks8281 Posts: 53
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    I absolutely cannot work out in the morning. I've tried it before, and it does not work for me. I usually work out in the evening and am able to be consistent with that.
  • Lexiehsub76
    Lexiehsub76 Posts: 51
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    I myself like to try and workout in the morning and the evenings everyday just to make sure that I get a good days worth of excercise in!!!!
  • vikesfanmb
    vikesfanmb Posts: 291 Member
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    I work out mainly in the evenings, after working all day. It helps relieve stress and keeps me from plopping down in front of
    the t.v. (or computer) and getting the BIG BAD munchies. ha ha ha

    I've never been a morning person . . so it's even a bit of a stretch for me some days to get to the office by 8:00 am. But on weekends, I can get to my water aerobics class at 8:15 am on the dot!! Isn't that funny? I guess it's what motivates you to
    get out of bed. Water aerobics is FUN!! Work . . not quite so much.

    LOL
  • Scoobiesnax
    Scoobiesnax Posts: 148 Member
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    I definitely prefer running early in the day, although getting out of bed some cool mornings is a challenge all on it's own !. I have always had a really difficult time doing any weight training anytime before 9 or 10, I find my body to be too tight, stiff, and lethargic early in the day and it just doesn't respond to weights very well until I get loose. A warm up prior to working out just isn't enough for me. My favorite time is mid afternoon, I find I usually have the most energy then.

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  • shauna121211
    shauna121211 Posts: 575 Member
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    Awesome posts guys! I did my first morning workout in ages today! I used to get up at 5am almost every day during high school and swim before school, where did that motivation go?!

    It was a bit rough getting out of bed, but after the workout I felt much better about starting the day on a positive note! I didn't have quite as much energy at the gym as I would in the afternoon, but this evening I won't be able to workout, so I'm happy to have gotten my workout in for the day! I wish my gym had a pool, because I would much prefer to swim laps in the morning to wake me up then run on the treadmill or hit the elliptical up... Anyways, I'll probably do these am workouts once or twice a week, depending on the evening plans. :)

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