You just finished your blog post?
I just finished my workout. Haha.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I suck as a morning person.
In fact, I’ll go as far to say that I just may be legally “broken” until about noon every day.
Now, I don’t generally go to bed until about 2 a.m., so perhaps that is part of the problem. For example, it’s currently 1:13 a.m., and I’m just sitting down to write this blog post.
Pretty standard behavior.
Regardless, whenever I wake up (generally around 10 or so), I suck at being productive. I’m pretty good at eating, but productivity, that comes somewhere around 3 p.m.
The point, you ask?
Well, it should be pretty obvious by now that I’m about to share with you the definitive best time of day to conduct your workouts.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t so obvious.
BUT, here it goes.
If I received a nickel for each time someone asked me a specific fitness related question, then “What is the best time of day to workout?” would undoubtedly be one of my main sources of income.
And generally, being the learned fitness professional I am, I’d respond by going into a lengthy diatribe all about glycogen depletion, diurnal rhythms of fat loss hormones, fat-burning potential, RER, substrate utilization, and a bunch of other sciency terms that no one really cares about.
You see, when someone asks me “What is the best time of day to workout?”, they’re really asking “When will I get the best results?”
That’s it. That’s all anyone cares about. Results.
And in a perfect world, if we’re talking fat loss results, the answer is probably “in the morning”.
Problem is, I suck at mornings, and I’m thinking there are at least a few other people on planet earth who share a similar problem (and perhaps a couple others on Pagliarini, my home planet).
And you know what? If one of them asked me that question, and I responded with “in the morning”, I’d be DEAD WRONG.
Why? Because they, like me, would have a crappy workout in the morning.
I say I’d probably only achieve, or rather I’d only be able to put forth about 75% of the effort in the morning that I’d be able to demonstrate at some point later in the day.
I may even cut the workout short in the morning, because hey, I don’t feel like doing strenuous activity to the point of vomiting upon awakening.
Shoot me.
Does my morning funkiness make me a bad person? I don’t think so, but it does make me something I like to call human.
If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s that thing that makes us all unique and equally imperfect at the same time.
Yes, I’m a “fitness professional”, yes, this is what I do for a living, but the truth is that I’m no different than everyone else out there. There are things about me that are obstacles when it comes to achieving my best body. There are things within my personality that I have to work around to be successful (be it in the gym, in business, in relationships, whatever).
In an ideal world I’d wake up at 5 a.m. each day ready and willing to go sprint my ass off, I probably wouldn’t be fantasizing about Reese’s Peanut Butter cups on an hourly basis, and I’d be totally awesome at being awesome in every single fitness related life-circumstance.
But I’m not. So I don’t work out in the morning, and maybe that costs me 1% fat loss per week.
Actually, and this is what I really want you to GET from this blog post, the fact that I don’t work out in the morning probably INCREASES my fat loss by 25%. Why? Because as I’ve alluded to several times now, I have infinitely better, more productive, more intense workouts in the afternoon.
Get it?
So when is the best time of day to work out? In an ideal world, for several factors, it’s probably in the morning.
But in the real world, the answer is the time of day in which you personally are able to workout out with the utmost intensity, put forth the greatest amount effort, and train with impeccable levels of focus.
Screw the science. That’s the best time of day to workout.
When will you be working out today? Let me know in the comments section below!
Rock on,
Joel
Related Posts
102 comments - add yours
Nice post, I usually find that I can workout at my utmost intensity in the evening, I too suck at the mornings, as im up till about 3am.
While I agree that whatever time of the day you feel your mind above all, is ready to give the focus necessary to lift the heaviest weights at the intensity you need to lift them for the results you want to achieve, I think you have to take into account one simple question: How much food can I eat before that 8-9 hour starvation period known as sleep? This question becomes even more important when you think about how much your muscles need the amino acids and the insulin response in order to begin repairing themselves, and how increased muscle insulin sensitivity plays such an important role in making sure that happens. Also, it’s important to remember that sensitivity doesn’t last forever…pretty much about a day’s worth of time. If you’re going to work out at night, fine. Just make sure you stay up long enough to get in your daily amount of protein before you starve yourself for 8 hours!
I start my workouts at 6.50 am. Because that’s the only time my wife is asleep so she won’t notice me “having fun” and find some work for me to do. Alternatively, she’ll be convinced that I’m using too much effort and I’ll hurt myself.
Of course, this assumes she hasn’t woken me up at 2 am to ask me to proof read a business letter or something. In which case it takes me 30 minutes to wake up to the proof-reading level, and so I’ll miss an hours sleep and skip training that day. But it only happens once or twice a week.
I couldn’t agree more! I am defenitly not a morning person. Even though I get up at 5.30 for work, I suck at working out so early. My best time for that is in the afternoon and early in the evening. At that time I feel much better and stronger, plus the results are much better! I also tested this morning workout, and discovered that it drains all of my energy for the day, and the regeneration is much slower! Maybe a quick jog in the woods for oxygen and a better apetite…
don’t stop with this great post’s ;) – they rock
Frenk
I work out in the afternoon because I have asthma and science says the best time for people whose air may be limited is between 3 pm and 5pm every day. This is not the best time for someone who is confined to an office or meetings every afternoon, but it helped me understand why I had such a hard time doing early morning workouts. Since I was laid off from my job and have been free lancing, I try to work out every week day around 3 pm and it is really true that I breathe better at this time of day than earlier. (I don’t like getting going in the morning any more than you do, but did it for many years anyway…)
Joel,
You are right – the best time to workout is when you feel it’s best.
But I do feel sorry for you night owls as you are missing the best time of day.
I usally wake up before five and am out on the road jogging or cycling or doing resistance training (on alternate days) by 5-45.
It’s great watching the velvet black sky turn tio grey and silver and dawn turn to sunrisem as I exercise.
Besides here in Borneo, right on the Equator, early morning is the coolest time of day.
By the time I drive to work at 8am I can feel my body bizzing from the workout, which sets me up for the day.
By the way, I am 70.
Rock on
Bernard
I suppose NEVER is not the answer you are looking for?
Definitely around 5-7 pm, when the air has cooled a bit, but its not too cold. In the winter I like to work out in the afternoons around 3pm. It takes me about half an hour to fully realise I’m awake in the morning, and by then I have to eat breakfeast and finish getting ready for work. So there.
I love it in the morning. I’m up at 4:30 am. After a shake and the strongest cup of coffee on mother earth I hit the gym at 5:00 am. My workouts are focused, it’s cooler in the morning, my eating isn’t messed up and I don’t have a day’s worth of crap hanging over my head. Most of all the wannabe trainers are nowhere in sight. Switching from evenings to mornings was the best thing I ever did. I’m injury free, stronger, more muscular and leaner then ever before. The weird thing is I can only get better…
At 7:30 – 8:00 PM. Is when I came back from my work. Not a lot of energy, but I have no election.
Steve Maxwell has pointed out it is very important to do a full warm up for morning work because the spine is extended from lying down sleeping. This makes it far easier to displace vertebrae or suffer other back problems.
Another night owl! I also am at my most productive between 4pm and 3am. I work out at 9 pm, which energizes me further for late night productivity. I’m also a light sleeper, so when I hear the newspaper being delivered at 6 am, I get up and read it for half an hour (with a yogurt), and then resume sleep until 9:30 am. However, I am totally foggy, and dragged out for that first hour upon awakening. Been like this for most of my adult life, so I just accept this as my rhythm, and make the most of it. Complicates things, though when my Mother visits, as she’s a “morning person”! You won’t get any profound conversation out of me in the morning.
Joel
Somewhere in Russia there was a study that showed that people working out at 10pm had better results then 10am. Something about better quality rest close to the training time. However
as you pointed out you might get a crappy workout at that time. Probably the best answer is whenever you feel like you should. Arnold worked out first thing in the morning and he got great results…
to each his own
Eric Moss RKC
My best time is: whenever I have the time and energy. On some weeks I’m heavily loaded with work and my workout timings can be all over the place. For instance, I could be working out on Monday morning, Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon. Personally I like working in the morning but work tends to get in the way.
I would have to total agree with you… Train when you are going to get the maximum out of your work out!
I would only add 2 other things to that;
1. Try to train at the same time every day
2. Train with a buddy so that even on a bad day you have a good day
Up 3 and 3:30 a.m. everyday even weekends, after a snack I’m in my weight room between 4 and 4:30 a.m. if it’s a workout day.
After work is the best time for me…makes me feel better after sitting on my ass all day at my desk :-). I occasionally work out in the morning on a Saturday which I seem to be a bit better at but generally I get up with the minimum amount of time I need to get ready for work and pretty much growl at people until I get coffeee….not an ideal time to hit the gym…
I used to work out first thing in the morning and got good results. I recently switched to about 4pm after reading something about the benefit of training at that time. Having given it a go, I have switched back and come to the conclusion, that for people in the real world, i.e those with jobs and families who can’t wake up at 10am, the morning is probably universally the best time, irrespective of whether you are a morning person.
Why?
– you get your work-out out of the way and can focus on the rest of your life
– A good work-out will provide a real metabolic stimulus for the rest of the day that will leave you fresh and energised for the day
– Working out during the working day interrupts your professional life and in the evening your family life
– You get a sense of achievement from having already done your work-out
– removes the stress that you put yourself under to fit your workout in when in the middle of your day
– It is the least interrupted time of day, and thus you are most likely to actually do your work-out – in fact, I guarantee you will miss fewer work-outs. After all who will stop you going to the gym at 6 or 7am? at 3pm or 4pm however, you might find your boss glaring at you as you stride out of the office with your gym bag! At 6 or 7 pm you might want to go home to see your wife and kids. At 10pm there are better forms of exercise you and your partner could be benefitting from!
– Even if you are a total night owl like myself, you can soon condition yourself to be a morning person and be awake and put full intensity into your work-outs.
– The vast majority of highly successful people in all areas are uop and about in the am.
If you can’t do it right off the bat, try this method: get up 10mins earlier every day for about a week. The extra hour you gain is sufficient to cover your work-out from all subsequent weeks onwards.
Also, if you are over about 25, make sure you do not sleep more than 7 hours – you really don’t need it (won’t help with anything, including muscle building). Again, you may need to phase down to 7 or less over a period of a week or two. Frankly if you’re over 30 and sleeping more than 6 hours a day, you need to rethink your priorities
May be everybody thinks I am crazy as I workout daily at around 1 in the afternoons when everybody is having their lunch.
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for your today article. Finally, someone to understand me. I hate wake up in the morning, I hate go to my work in the morning, but what can I do? I think that probably we must vote for a law in order to work after noon. Thank you for make me feel as a human and not like a strange person and because of you I don’t feel guilty anymore about my biological clock.
Best regads
Clearly this is an individual thing – we all know that some people are better at mornings than others. Everyone has different “productive” times during the day, and as you point out Joel, the best time to work out is when you have the most productivity and can best focus on the task at hand.
Personally, I like mornings – i.e. 6:00am. But sometimes I have to change it up due to scheduling issues…but I always get it done before 1:00pm – after that I start to peter out…maybe it’s job-stress, I don’t know. But I have learned to figure out what works best for me and work with it. In your case Joel, perhaps you lose 1% of fat loss by not working out in the morning, but compare that to only attaining 75% effort levels at that time…this loss in productivity clearly outweighs the 1% benefit of increased fat loss.
Perhaps it’s just me, but this isn’t rocket science. As Joel points out, we’re all human, which means we’re all unique and therefore sometimes we simply have to ignore the science and mainstream.
From my perspective, morning workouts will work only for people who have a total gym at home or who work 2nd shift or who are on the roads all the time and staying in posh hotels that have a good gym. The only other group of people are the ones that already have a great body and are dedicated to maitain it that way and wake up crazy early in the morning to do so. Everyone else like me take the easy way out and workout in the evenings, I believe. What do you think Joey?
I am sitting here, still the zombie girl that I am each morning after waking to an alarm, chuckling. :) I have been dragging my ass out of bed each morning at 5 am so that I can get a cardio workout in before work. It is NOT my ideal way to start the day. However, I also go back to the gym at around 3:30 pm (after work) to do another session of cardio because I need to lose a large amount of weight and I don’t see results unless I am doing about 90 minutes of cardio 5x a week in combination with my 2 sessions of personal training per week.
Anyone else feel my pain?
Oh, and when I am not working, my ideal workout is at about 10:30 am.
Thanks, I have read so much about it and I am the opposite of you I am a morning person all the way. Most of the time common sense is the right sense it’s just not that common
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...