You know Joel, you and some of you responders just inspired me to train like a soldier in the mornings. THANKS ALOT!!!
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
Basically I need to work out before I shower for the day. I am a stay at home mom, and if I have to volunteer in the classroom one morning or be somewhere early, I probably won’t exercise that day. But if I don’t have anywhere to be until I pick up the kids from school, I’ll exercise around noon. I just can’t get up early to exercise. And most likely will be too lazy to take two showers a day….
Outstanding! I workout on weekdays at 3:30 pm right after work and I can really go; if I try a morning workout like the trainers say is better, it stinks.
I work in an office, a 50/ hr + /week job. But my lunch time is flexible. I like to take lunch around 1:30 and go work out. The fires of the early part of the day have been addressed so I’m not distracted. it probably does me good just to get away and relieve some stress midway through the day. The ‘lunch crowd’ has come and gone and the after school kids haven’t started arriving so it’s pretty quiet around that time. I can focus, I can concentrate, I probably had my second meal of the day around 11 AM so I have the energy and can follow wthw workout with the third meal/post work out meal. All in all early afternoon works out to be the best time for me
Ok I live in the Caribbean and man it is hot. Therefore I workout in the morning. Its cooler, not a lot of people are at the gym yet. Plus I am a mornign person. In the veneing I have the kids, homework, work late. If I chose evening a workout would rarely ever happen.
What I have started to do is power walk in the evenings while my kids are at swim practice.
But that depends on how tired I feel
I workout when I can. I was starting work at 6 all this summer and didn’t have time to workout before I left, and by the time I got home at night, I would rather eat and go to sleep than go workout. I’m starting college softball, and college in a week, so my schedule is going to be packed for a bit. Any tips on when to workout? I’m a catcher also, so excercises that will get my legs in shape would be appreciated
What a bunch of vampires we are!
Why are we all up til the wee hours of the morning?
Seriously, thanks for posting this. It makes total sense.
What about both? I will do a light kb/cardio workout for 20-30 minutes in the morning to get the blood flowing every morning, and 3 times a week a heavy kb workout in the afternoon.
Dear Joel,
I enjoyed your blog today, September 12, 2009. I feel so much more comfortable about my fitness routine. I, too, stay up until the “wee” hours and therefore exercise later in the day. It’s encouraging to know that you stay up late too. Now, whenever I feel guilty I’ll think of you and know that exercising later in the day is okay. Thank you for the helpful blog.
I’ve never accomplished anything worthwhile before noon in my entire life! That said, I do cardio in the AM (on 2 cups of joe) and then I lift about 4:30-5:00 in the PM. I can do cardio brain dead but I need a few meals in me to get a good resistance workout
Nice one Joel, I had a chuckle whilst reading this and thinking back to this morning: lying in bed, grimacing as my alarm clock screeched (yet again), beckoning me to wake up and work out. It took sheer will of steel to drag my butt out of bed but because I begin work late, working out in the morning leaves me the freedom to work later into the night or do something else in the evenings even though I would much prefer sleeping in!
It is so refreshing to hear a fitness professional saying the things you point out in this post! (you can tell your buddy John that I really am excited enough to use the exclamation point)
Like you, I would rather be a late nighter. I am unproductive and frankly, grumpy in the morning nor do I really feel like I have the appropriate energy level built up to really rock the workout. The ideal time of day for me would be around 2 pm but since I’m at work then I have to settle for sometime between 6 pm and 8:30 pm…depending on how the rest of the day goes, family committments, etc.
I dont really have a specific time that i like to work out, lets see its a almost ten, and i finished up my workout and had a good post workout meal to go with it. I agree that if you aren’t feeling it 100% then you definitely wont get those results from your workout.
Thank you so much!!
Like you, I am not a morning person. I have tried several times to have workouts early in the morning – but my body feels so weak, slow and tired compared to later in the day…..some time between 1.p.m and 8 p.m is the best time of day for me.
So, thank you again, now I can leave all that bad conscience behind – and do my workouts when it feels good for MY body!
I just got around to reading my e-mail so I’m sure this post is probably around a week old by now but I just had to say that this made me feel so much better. I get pretty depressed sometimes about my sleep patterns which no matter how hard I try seem to end up with me not being able to fall asleep early and having to wake up late just to get enough sleep to have a successful workout the following day. But I’m glad to know I’m not the only person on here who isn’t a morning person. Thanks Joel!
I agree – whenever you are able to workout, if you are super busy OR whenever you are stronger/feel best. if you can afford this
Cheers,
Yavor
yeah i do believe morning is the best time to burn off fat, works best for me… but surely it doesn’t matter what time you wake up…because your body will think it is morning at 1PM if you wake up at that time? There isn’t any environmental factors that your body triggers to find out that it is actually past mid of the day in a certain time zone…
I usually go to the gym at 8pm because that is when work, kids etc allows and I guess my body is used to that timing now? Today I had the opportunity to try a morning workout so an hour after eating I headed off for my usual routine- BIG mistake! Haven’t had such a rubbish gym session in years- totally lacking in strength and energy, and my head just wasn’t in it – guess I’m not a morning person either…..
I used to ‘suck’ at morning workouts finding my most productive time to be around 5-7pm, which is when I’m teaching classes. Great for my participants but not so good for my own training. For the last 3 months I’ve been doing INTENSE 45 minute workouts at 6.15am, and guess what? I don’t suck at all, in fact as my strength and fitness have improved not only am I training harder at 6.15am, but I’m also performing better at 6-8pm too! I’ve dropped 20lb of stubborn fat, while maintaining lean muscle mass and it feels great. So maybe you are a morning person, you just need to give it a chance x
Great blog Joel! Thanks! Like many others, I thought I was ‘cheating’ myself by not working out 1st thing in the morning! I can only do so between 12-2 & have my lunch after. ;) Hoping that’s ok because that means my lunch isn’t till sometimes 2 plus, or 3 o’clock! & breakfast is around 9 or so…plus a morning snack of a fruit around 11 or so. Wonder how effective that is in burning the right stuff??
Just wanted to say I enjoyed your blog–liked your advice and your witty writing! Thanks!
I work out at night around 10 to 11. Is that alright?
Where is it?
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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...