@Vaseem –
Nice thoughts Vaseem! Although I have to disagree that there’s not reason not to get 8 hours of sleep, regardless of age. Granted, I don’t do it everyday, but it’s incredibly doable and beneficial.
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
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102 comments - add yours
I’m with you, am most productive later in the day so put more into it. Too early in the am & too easy to wimp out. That being said I work shift work thus work tonight so will go for a run in abt. an hr. around 10 & as the sun is shining it will be easier. I think each individual is different & should go according to body inclinations as well as lifestyle. That is the best time because as you say you expend more thus more fat loss. Love reading your info/tips, thanks so much.
I’ve always had my most productive workouts early afternoon. Like you Joel, I would be relatively useless in the morning, especially without copious amounts of caffeine…
Around the middle of the day the body temp is higher, the tightness from when you first wake up has faded, you have a couple of meals in you, but it’s not the very end of the day when you’re wiped from working your ass off all day.
Midday always seems to work best for me…most energy, least reluctance to train. Say no more.
The best time for me is when I have time. im not an early riser either, so it never happens early in the morning. Most of the time its around 10-11 oclock in the morning. Lately Ive been having to wait until 5 pm because the weightroom i have been using isnt open to the public until 5 pm.
So at home its around 10-11, if I use the weightroom its 5ish. I agree, its better to workout when you feel the best and you dont feel like you are FORCING yourself to do it.
Good read.
The best time for me is later at night, after all my homework is done and I’ve eaten supper atleast 1 hour before. Sometimes I’ll start my workout at 10Pm and it won’t hurt me at all. Eat when I get done, and go to sleep
While life can occasionally “get in the way,” is consistency with the time you choose to train the real crucial factor? The body seems to adapt to just about anything thrown its way when given a reasonable chance to do so.
Mid-afternoon for me too…around 3-4pm. Just way too tired in the morning for an intense workout. Joel, I am on vacation so I was wondering what you thought about swimming and HIT? Been doing intense sprint laps in the pool for cardio then body-weight exercise circuits at the house. Heck, I even use the bars to help you get out of the pool to do dips. People stare at me like I am a freak, I love it. ;-)
It’s really good that you point out the differences between the “perfect world” and the “real world”. Some of the things research recommends for best results simply are not doable in the context of our crazy lives…work, school, family, and half a million other things sure can stand in the way of our fun!
So rather than worry about the optimal time to work out, I just go whenever I can get myself to the gym. This ends up being imperfect, but adequate.
Let’s not forget that just about ANY workout is better than no workout at all!
Thanks for the post Joel. It’s always nice to know that I’m not the only fitness professional out there that is not a morning person. I really wish I were, but I’m just not and I can’t get a good workout in the early am. My body rythmns are just not going at that time.
Also, I really enjoyed the music you recommended. Please continue to post more on good music choices. My clients love my music selections since I am too a music buff. When I have the time, I’ll send you some of my favorite picks as well.
Karen
@Vaseem – Right on. When I was in the Army as OIC of a weather station on the Greenland Icecap I shared a bunkhouse with other officers including the camp CO. I went to bed later and got up earlier than he did. My weather observers did hourly measurements 24/7, his letter to my regular CO at the end of the operation said that I kept my men under constant supervision. Ha-ha. That was over 50 years ago, I still can go to bed at midnight and wake up without an alarm cheerfully at 5 AM without ill effects and enjoy walking the dog up and down hills for 30 minutes before breakfast. Gene
Joel,
I am a soldier and we start at 6am, four times a week. Two cardio, two muscle strength. I am just coming off Acitve duty and heading to Cali, I sent my bike ahead. I go into a slump in the afternoon and if not at school plan on riding.
I have discovered that bike riding isn’t easy, but crusing with a nice breeze is great. Any ideas on how to build up endurance, other than just doing it?
Agreed – I totally suck at mornings, and I wish I didn’t, but I do, and the absolute BEST classes at my gym are in the evenings (5-8 p.m.), I’m exercising somewhere in the 5-7 p.m. range, and I can give it my all ;)
Les Mills classes anybody? ;)
Oh my gosh Daniella, I feel your pain – I have thyroid disorder, so basically if I’m only working out 60 minutes a day, I am simply “maintaining” my weight, NOT losing unless I give it 90 minutes or MORE – sux to be us, eh? ;)
Hey at least I,m doing something right, if I don,t get the gym out of the way first thing it aint going to happen. I’m usually there at 6am and have the place to myself, just the way I like it, no crap music no gym junkies to hassle me and its nice and cool. Then I can go and enjoy a big breakfast my favorite meal of the day. But hey I’m retired and I don’t have to rush off somewhere.
Alan
@Deane,
I’m fairly sure you aren’t my wife (unless you are posting under another name). I’m not unhappy with my marriage at all, I just sometimes have trouble fitting in enough sleep. And I know perfectly well that if I went to sleep an hour earlier instead of playing on the internet then my problems would be solved.
But general advice: don’t wake anyone up at 2am and expect them to be able to proofread/edit/write a document/letter, it won’t work. It’s the one thing my wife doesn’t get. Well that and socks, she doesn’t understand socks either.
testostrone levels are best in the morning so isnt that the best time to workout? throughout the day levels start to drop. =S
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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...