Best time of day to workout

[merary]

Hi Cathe,

I was wondering if you have any idea what's the best time of the day to workout. Is working out in the evenings as effective as in the mornings? In terms of fat burn, muscle endurance and rest? Is it more effective doing a particular type of excersise in the mornings and another one it the evenings (i.e. cardio in the morning and weights in the evening, or viceversa)?

Just wondering... trying to come up with the best possible schedule...
If anyone else has an opinon, please share...
Thanks!

 

[Pochacco]

Not Cathe but thought I'd offer my two cents

Here's an advantage to working out in the morning. Studies have shown that people tend to stick with an exercise plan when they work out in the morning. If you work out later in the day, there is a greater tendency for your day to get busier, interruptions may occur causing your schedule to change and therefore, you may end up skipping exercise. When you work out in the morning, exercise is the 1st thing you would do and there's no chance of interruptions.

A second benefit to working out in the morning is greater fat burn. The body first uses glucose (i.e. sugar) stores in the body for energy. When glucose is used up, the body then turns to your fat stores for the energy. When we sleep, the body is metabolizing a large percentage of our glucose stores. So when we first wake up and start exercising 1st thing in the morning, the body has very little glucose stores left and therefore, starts tapping immediately into our fat stores for energy. However, there's a catch with all this. This is assuming you don't eat something before your morning exercise. As soon as you eat something, that is sugar(glucose) that your body can use for energy. Not everyone can exercise on an "empty stomach".

On the reverse side, working out at night has it's advantages. The muscles are warmer and more pliable in the evening than 1st thing in the morning. That makes evening a perfect time for heavy weight lifting. The "afterburn" effect (which is where the body continues to burn more calories even after exercise is done)
is supposedly longer and more intense when you work out at night than in the morning (although I don't remember the scientific explanation for that)

Despite all of this, the bottom line is that any time of day is the best day to exercise as long as it fits your schedule and you can stick with it!!

Eileen

 

[aseay]

i do cardio in the morning and upper body in the evening. as in p90x he says to get your heart rate up before working the upper body. mornings i am too tired to do upper and i like to have some fuel in my body. if i have time, i do cardio then weights. but if i work a long day i just do upper at like 8:00 after a nap and dinner.

laura

 

[Muffin Top]

Just butting in here to say...
The BEST time of day to work out is the time you can stick with long-term!

 

[step_a_holic]

I agree with Muffin Top. I previously asked Cathe this question and her response was, not in these exact words, that any time is a good time as long as you can give it your all.

I would love to be able to workout first thing in the morning but I've definitely cannot give it my all. The evenings are much better for me. I have alot more energy and it's something I look forward to all day.

Melissa