When is the best time to work out?

curtnrod
curtnrod Posts: 223 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Interesting article on workout times

http://greatist.com/fitness/best-time-to-work-out/

Do you have a set workout time, or does it vary day to day? Have you found that you perform better with a set time for your workout as the article suggests?

Replies

  • verptwerp
    verptwerp Posts: 3,659 Member
    The best time is whenever I actually GET the time ....... mostly I'll workout after my job ..... on weekends I try to get it done early, so I can enjoy the rest of the day .....

    Happy exercising :drinker:
  • carlageek
    carlageek Posts: 32 Member
    The best time to work out is whatever time you will actually do it.

    If there are marginal differences in effectiveness based upon time of day, they are tiny and completely negligible compared to the binary of getting your workout in vs. not getting it in.
  • gr8grl68
    gr8grl68 Posts: 417 Member
    While I would prefer to do a workout before I go to work, I'd have to get up at 3:30 in the morning (which I have done)--because I too like the idea of getting it done for the day. However, we have a gym here at work, so I aim for 2-2:30 when everyone is gone from the gym during lunch hour and back at work, which leaves the equipment open for me. My family also belongs to the local YMCA, so I sometimes go after work as well. . . .wait, what was the question?
  • mama2shi
    mama2shi Posts: 300 Member
    When life dictates I can...no matter what time of the day it is, it beats not working out at all. Although, the later I do it at night the harder it is for me to settle down and sleep. My preference is around 5:30 p.m. but like I said, sometimes life tells me otherwise :wink:
  • rholland1125
    rholland1125 Posts: 17 Member
    I do better throughout the day with AM workouts...usually if I go after work I am up all night. I have thought about spending 15 minutes in the AM on my elliptical at home then working out after work at the gym..then I would have endorphins going all day long...but it has been a struggle waking up even 15 minutes early!
  • giftieetcetera
    giftieetcetera Posts: 96 Member
    I usually workout right after work, while hubby takes the kids to karate. No matter what, I workout before 8 p.m. or I can't sleep.

    Morning workouts are not going to happen, better for me or not.
  • curtnrod
    curtnrod Posts: 223 Member
    The best time to work out is whatever time you will actually do it.

    If there are marginal differences in effectiveness based upon time of day, they are tiny and completely negligible compared to the binary of getting your workout in vs. not getting it in.

    According to the study, significant improvements can be expected to occur at the time of day at which high-intensity training is regularly performed. Additionally, those that worked out in the afternoon had significantly longer times to exhaustion and oxygen depletion.
  • wdwithers
    wdwithers Posts: 36
    I have heard that the morning is only because your body is still in fat burning mode even when you stop. So my thinking is if you excercise in the morning, you'll burn breakfast calories faster, you are still burning some calories even if its not much, Then if you do it again in the afternoon even just a little bit and don't eat anything after that, you got some of what you ate at lunch and supper. This is just what I figured out by what I have heard from different people. If you are on the computer doing stuff, (like we are now) you are burning some calories here too. Count them even if you have to look it up on some other site. Any little bit helps. You would be surprise to find out how many calories you burn, not even trying.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    theoretically, it's in the afternoon. hormone levels are optimal.

    but in reality, whenever you get the chance.
  • mama2shi
    mama2shi Posts: 300 Member
    The best time to work out is whatever time you will actually do it.

    If there are marginal differences in effectiveness based upon time of day, they are tiny and completely negligible compared to the binary of getting your workout in vs. not getting it in.

    According to the study, significant improvements can be expected to occur at the time of day at which high-intensity training is regularly performed. Additionally, those that worked out in the afternoon had significantly longer times to exhaustion and oxygen depletion.

    And totally off subject - I loooove your profile pic. I have a Boston too and he is always in our faces lol
  • krisiepoo
    krisiepoo Posts: 710 Member
    I work out during my lunch break at work... I'm trying to get up an hour earlier so I can also walk my dogs before I go to work but have been failing miserably at that :(

    Sundays is my long run and I do that first thing in the morning
  • mindidily
    mindidily Posts: 196 Member
    I love running in the morning. It really gets me going for the day! The days I don't get my time, I am pretty cranky. I do enjoy evening walks with the kids in the stroller or with the dog.
  • carlageek
    carlageek Posts: 32 Member
    The best time to work out is whatever time you will actually do it.

    If there are marginal differences in effectiveness based upon time of day, they are tiny and completely negligible compared to the binary of getting your workout in vs. not getting it in.

    According to the study, significant improvements can be expected to occur at the time of day at which high-intensity training is regularly performed. Additionally, those that worked out in the afternoon had significantly longer times to exhaustion and oxygen depletion.

    ... but if you find that working out at time A fits into your schedule and is doable on a regular basis, while working out at time B is really inconvenient and you consistently skip workouts because of that, the results of the study are pretty much irrelevant.

    I stand by my original statement: The best time to work out is the time you will actually do it.
  • ZeroWoIf
    ZeroWoIf Posts: 588 Member
    The best time for me to work out is when I have enough mental and great energy level that would let me train at high intensity. If you are gonna workout and your effort is weak for long periods of time then it would yield less than desirable results. Thats why when people hit the treadmill for such a long time they don't enough making a lot of progress because they have the type of mindset that they need to burn more and more and more.
  • krisiepoo
    krisiepoo Posts: 710 Member
    The best time to work out is whatever time you will actually do it.

    If there are marginal differences in effectiveness based upon time of day, they are tiny and completely negligible compared to the binary of getting your workout in vs. not getting it in.

    According to the study, significant improvements can be expected to occur at the time of day at which high-intensity training is regularly performed. Additionally, those that worked out in the afternoon had significantly longer times to exhaustion and oxygen depletion.

    ... but if you find that working out at time A fits into your schedule and is doable on a regular basis, while working out at time B is really inconvenient and you consistently skip workouts because of that, the results of the study are pretty much irrelevant.

    I stand by my original statement: The best time to work out is the time you will actually do it.

    ^^^ This
  • kitigonkukoo
    kitigonkukoo Posts: 218 Member
    My body responds better to working out in the morning... but like so many people have said, it would be a REALLY early morning to get it in before work... and I did that for a couple years, and just can't get myself up that early anymore.

    I now go mostly in the afternoons (lunch break) or after work, early evening.

    One bonus to working out in the evening: if I go a little over calories (mis-judge a meal, for example), I can burn off the extra calories. :)

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