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Working out in the Morning vs. Night
Replies
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Successful people prioritize critical activities early to ensure these are finished first, so the evidence strongly favor morning workouts.
I used to work out first thing - the "butt crack o' dawn" at 0430 every morning and found it much easier to hit my daily goals and this fed into my larger goals. Currently I'm married with 3 kids and my wife and I split up our time - she works out first thing in the morning and I work out in the afternoons. This makes it challenging and I often run into conflicts when things come up.
Disagree with the bolded conclusion.
Successful people tend to be better at planning, committing to and executing their plan, that's not dependant on time of day at all.
And realistically workouts are not at the top of most people's list of critical activities.
For the majority of my working life my exercise had to fit in around my need to work (including getting enough quality sleep) and my family commitments. That meant my exercise got squeezed into workday lunchtimes and evenings, being sleep deprived and having awful quality workouts would have been a really poor choice for me.
I would agree with this additional specification, but it takes a well disciplined and experienced person to master time management. Certainly not applicable for someone just starting out.
It's a simple matter of conflicting priorities. If one intends to work out for 30 mins/day, the longer one delays this activity the greater the chance of failure.
Not for me - that's why it's so personal. If I didn't get a lunchbreak I would fallback to late evening when the children were asleep. My best exercise performance is also late morning to very late evening.
You don't have to master time management to prioritise and unless you are a professional athlete it's simply not the top priority over career and family. To stay healthy was of course important but a high level of fitness and/or strength simply isn't the top priority for most.
To sacrifice much needed sleep to train at a time when I would physically perform the worst and impact my work performance as well would simply have been a dumb choice for me. Doesn't matter if you are just starting out or not - people need to fit everything into their schedule the best way it suits them, not the way that suits someone else.6 -
Successful people prioritize critical activities early to ensure these are finished first, so the evidence strongly favor morning workouts.
I used to work out first thing - the "butt crack o' dawn" at 0430 every morning and found it much easier to hit my daily goals and this fed into my larger goals. Currently I'm married with 3 kids and my wife and I split up our time - she works out first thing in the morning and I work out in the afternoons. This makes it challenging and I often run into conflicts when things come up.
Disagree with the bolded conclusion.
Successful people tend to be better at planning, committing to and executing their plan, that's not dependant on time of day at all.
And realistically workouts are not at the top of most people's list of critical activities.
For the majority of my working life my exercise had to fit in around my need to work (including getting enough quality sleep) and my family commitments. That meant my exercise got squeezed into workday lunchtimes and evenings, being sleep deprived and having awful quality workouts would have been a really poor choice for me.
I would agree with this additional specification, but it takes a well disciplined and experienced person to master time management. Certainly not applicable for someone just starting out.
It's a simple matter of conflicting priorities. If one intends to work out for 30 mins/day, the longer one delays this activity the greater the chance of failure.
To sacrifice much needed sleep to train at a time when I would physically perform the worst and impact my work performance as well would simply have been a dumb choice for me.
That's me.1 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Successful people prioritize critical activities early to ensure these are finished first, so the evidence strongly favor morning workouts.
I used to work out first thing - the "butt crack o' dawn" at 0430 every morning and found it much easier to hit my daily goals and this fed into my larger goals. Currently I'm married with 3 kids and my wife and I split up our time - she works out first thing in the morning and I work out in the afternoons. This makes it challenging and I often run into conflicts when things come up.
Disagree with the bolded conclusion.
Successful people tend to be better at planning, committing to and executing their plan, that's not dependant on time of day at all.
And realistically workouts are not at the top of most people's list of critical activities.
For the majority of my working life my exercise had to fit in around my need to work (including getting enough quality sleep) and my family commitments. That meant my exercise got squeezed into workday lunchtimes and evenings, being sleep deprived and having awful quality workouts would have been a really poor choice for me.
I would agree with this additional specification, but it takes a well disciplined and experienced person to master time management. Certainly not applicable for someone just starting out.
It's a simple matter of conflicting priorities. If one intends to work out for 30 mins/day, the longer one delays this activity the greater the chance of failure.
To sacrifice much needed sleep to train at a time when I would physically perform the worst and impact my work performance as well would simply have been a dumb choice for me.
That's me.
I personally prefer to train in the morning, but that said, I would not sacrifice sleep in order to facilitate it...0 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Successful people prioritize critical activities early to ensure these are finished first, so the evidence strongly favor morning workouts.
I used to work out first thing - the "butt crack o' dawn" at 0430 every morning and found it much easier to hit my daily goals and this fed into my larger goals. Currently I'm married with 3 kids and my wife and I split up our time - she works out first thing in the morning and I work out in the afternoons. This makes it challenging and I often run into conflicts when things come up.
Disagree with the bolded conclusion.
Successful people tend to be better at planning, committing to and executing their plan, that's not dependant on time of day at all.
And realistically workouts are not at the top of most people's list of critical activities.
For the majority of my working life my exercise had to fit in around my need to work (including getting enough quality sleep) and my family commitments. That meant my exercise got squeezed into workday lunchtimes and evenings, being sleep deprived and having awful quality workouts would have been a really poor choice for me.
I would agree with this additional specification, but it takes a well disciplined and experienced person to master time management. Certainly not applicable for someone just starting out.
It's a simple matter of conflicting priorities. If one intends to work out for 30 mins/day, the longer one delays this activity the greater the chance of failure.
To sacrifice much needed sleep to train at a time when I would physically perform the worst and impact my work performance as well would simply have been a dumb choice for me.
That's me.
I personally prefer to train in the morning, but that said, I would not sacrifice sleep in order to facilitate it...
Both Sat and Sun I was wide awake at 4:30. Think I could do the same on a weekday?1 -
For me, working out at night is the best option. This is because I am not a morning person. I would love to be a morning person and start my day with yoga but I can't make it happen. On the weekends, I do mid morning workouts but I can't force myself to get up early enough to workout and be at work by 7:30. I honestly feel like the time that you are most likely to get work outs in and stick with it is the best time.1
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I work out when time permits...
Monday - Thursday (work days) I work out in the evenings.
Friday after work belongs to my wife so it is always a gym rest day
Weekends - morning, afternoon, or evenings - again when time permits
Ultimately - I prefer a before-lunch workout, so late morning would be my vote0 -
Weekdays early morning, usually in gym by 7.15, so can be at work by 9.30, except Thursdays when I do take a Pilates class in the evening, weekends are active rest days0
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did i just resurrect a really old thread??? Sorry...
I do both. Mornings are a bit more serious, people want to get in and get out, though there are still regulars that like to chat (and take up space/racks/benches). I will say i have a daily mental battle with my lazy self, so far my muffin top hating self is consistently winning.
Evenings (i get in there around 8pm) feels more like social hour and a lot more highschoolers.0 -
did i just resurrect a really old thread??? Sorry...
No. This thread has been pretty active, even if it started last year. No issues.
Now, this thread, https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/33324/do-cigarettes-have-calories/p3
LOL
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In the ideal world, I'd workout around 2pm. Not morning, not evening. But for some strange reasons gyms only have childcare in the AM from about 8-12, and from 4 and later. *shrug*. Again, if it were my choice, I'd take the evening childcare time and workout around 4pm. I find my lifts are heavier, I have more energy, and I just enjoy my workout more. That being said, it screws up the evening routine and dinner. My kids are still young, so at this point in life, kids trump all. So usually I just workout the last bit of childcare before they stop childcare, so late morning. It's the best compromise I can come up with.0
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I'm definitely an evening workout person. Anytime between 5pm - 7:30pm. For some reason, working out at that time is when i'm the most energetic. I have tried mornings. I seriously envy people who can get up and workout.
That said - I'm a researcher and the best time for creativity, researching and writing is 6am - 12pm. For some reason, my brain can switch on for that! Afternoons are the worst, especially at my optimal workout time!0 -
My schedule shifts every 3 months 6pm-6am then 6am-6pm 3 on 2 off 2 on 3 off, although at the moment I'm on a basic 8am-4pmM-F.
I have a gym in my garage which helps out a lot, so when on days I was able to sleep 9pm-1am, get a workout in and get everything together to be to work before 4am. Yeah, 1am is kind of a ridiculous time to get up, but I've learned that a workout in the morning helps me wake up almost as much as tea or coffee. Additionally, if I don't work out then, it's just not happening. I'm exhausted by the end of the day and just want to relax.
Same with nights, plus I don't like to work out in the morning (after work) when on nights because it's already hard enough to get decent sleep even with blackout curtains, so it doesn't make sense to workout and have a ton of unneeded energy.
Days off I'll work out later, but overall I try not to put it off too long, the long I go throughout the day without working out, the harder it gets to drag myself overy and do something1 -
My schedule shifts every 3 months 6pm-6am then 6am-6pm 3 on 2 off 2 on 3 off, although at the moment I'm on a basic 8am-4pmM-F.
I have a gym in my garage which helps out a lot, so when on days I was able to sleep 9pm-1am, get a workout in and get everything together to be to work before 4am. Yeah, 1am is kind of a ridiculous time to get up, but I've learned that a workout in the morning helps me wake up almost as much as tea or coffee. Additionally, if I don't work out then, it's just not happening. I'm exhausted by the end of the day and just want to relax.
Same with nights, plus I don't like to work out in the morning (after work) when on nights because it's already hard enough to get decent sleep even with blackout curtains, so it doesn't make sense to workout and have a ton of unneeded energy.
Days off I'll work out later, but overall I try not to put it off too long, the long I go throughout the day without working out, the harder it gets to drag myself overy and do something
We rotate day vs night shift also, but ours is every 4 weeks (also on a 2-2-3 schedule). I will say, getting a white noise machine was a game changer for me. Highly recommend.1
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