Working out is good for our health, but we also need to know the best time of the day to work out. If you are a beginner to exercise you need to know what time works best for you to exercise. There are times when we think that working out is no big deal but then we find ourselves gaining weight and getting sick afterward. When you decide to start working out, you should make sure that your schedule fits your daily life. If you are working out for weight-loss reasons you should only work out during the morning or late afternoon.
If you are a beginner in working out you should focus on the muscles that you want to firm. If you have decided to go to the gym and you haven’t exercised before, you should start by doing cardio.1 This will help tone up your muscles and you won’t get sore as quickly. Next, you should choose the best time of the day to exercise according to the weather. If the weather is bad, you should avoid working out. When the weather is good you can hike or run around your neighborhood.
You also need to know the best time of the day to work out according to your lifestyle. If you are a person who rarely gets to sleep at night, you should skip working out at night. On the other hand, if you are a person who sleeps like a log every day, working out at night is a good idea. You can even fit this time into your normal schedule if you work from home.
Benefits of Working Out in the Morning
There is really no better time of day to start a fitness program than the morning hours. Working out will never be easy, but the perks certainly outweigh the inconvenience of dragging yourself out of bed in the mornings. Experts even say that people who exercise in the morning are much more likely to stick with their routine.
This is probably due to the fact that if working out in the morning is your first item on your to-do list, then there are very few things that can quickly come up and render a distraction. The first benefit of working out in the morning is the obvious lack of interruption. When you are exercising, you are usually doing it in an area where there is little to no noise.
This means that you won’t get distracted by the ringing of your phone or the buzzing of your radio. Your mind can simply wander away from the exercises, allowing you to exercise peacefully. Another advantage of morning workouts is the directness of the workout. Since you are exercising in the morning, you are going to be doing it at a relatively consistent pace. This ensures that you will get the most benefits for your time exercising.
A study published in Psychological Review showed that people who exercise early in the morning tend to have higher energy levels throughout the day than those who exercise later in the day.2 Another study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion showed that women who worked out before their first full meal had a greater body mass index than those who worked out after lunch. The benefits of working out in the morning were proven in these studies, and they showed an association between early morning exercise and weight control. It seems that exercising in the morning hours releases energy much more quickly than working out later in the day.3
Other benefits of working out in the morning might also include improved cognitive function. Scientific studies have shown that exercise lowers your blood pressure, increases your heart rate, and boosts your metabolic rate. As your body works harder to burn calories, the amount of cholesterol in your body naturally decreases. It is believed that this is one of the reasons why you might lose weight after starting a workout program.4
The Benefits of Working Out in the Afternoon
One of the many benefits of working out in the afternoon is that you can lower your stress levels. While working out in the afternoon doesn’t help relieve stress, it can actually help you feel better during the rest of the day. In addition to helping to relieve stress, the workout can help to keep you motivated. If you’re already feeling tired and run down, even an hour of workout can help jump-start your metabolism so that you feel like a whole new person when you get home from working out.5
Another of the many benefits of working out in the afternoon is that we can improve our endurance. A lot of us suffer from a lack of stamina in the evening. Not only does working out in the evening prevent that from happening, but it allows us to increase our endurance. This means that we can go for long walks or run more miles. It’s not only great for burning fat, but also for improving our cardiovascular health.
One of the most common benefits of working out in the afternoon is that we can get more done during those few spare minutes between lunch and dinner. Many people complain that their lunchtime and dinners are too time-consuming. With those few minutes between those meals, we can complete more workouts and have more energy throughout the day. This will allow us to finish up whatever work we had left undone before lunch. If you add up all of the benefits of working out in the afternoon, it’s easy to see why so many people do it.
While working out in the afternoon can be very beneficial, we don’t always have time for it. However, working out in the afternoon gives us the benefit of having more energy throughout the day and more flexibility. This can make finishing up any projects that we had left by the evening more feasible. By freeing up a bit of your time, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of working out in the afternoon.
The Benefits of Working Out in the Evening
There are many benefits of working out in the evening. You can fit more variety into your workout schedule. When you work out at night, you have more time to do other things. Your body has more energy and you can stretch out. You can also make working out a fun activity that you will enjoy. 6
One of the many benefits of working out in the evening is that it saves time. Since you typically have some spare time after dinner or before bed, working out in the evening allows you more freedom. You can fit more variety into your routine. You can also do more repetitions and sets because you have more time.
Another benefit of working out in the evening is that you can fit more reps and sets into your workout routine. Working out at night means you need to change up the exercises you use. You can also do more repetitions with the same weights. Working out in the evening can also get you into shape faster because you can work out longer and harder.
One of the main benefits of working out in the evening is that you can have loads of variety in your diet. You can eat more meals and snacks throughout the day.7 This way your body will be able to absorb more nutrients at one time. This makes your muscles feel fuller and more active. Working out in the evening is also better for your joints. Since your body is working so hard, it will be easier for your joints to become sore from all of the walking and running.
What is the Best Time of Day to Workout?
Finding the best time of day to work out is a common question among fitness enthusiasts. Depending on the type of exercise you want to do, the answer to this question may vary. For example, if you are into high-intensity interval training programs, the best time of day for workouts may differ from the best time of day for aerobic exercises.
But researchers have been slowly coming to realize the many different benefits of exercising at different times of the day. Current research indicates that there is no single universally ideal time of the day when it comes to exercise. Instead, the best time for workouts probably depends on many different factors including your physical chronotype, your current age, and even any existing health conditions. 8
First, determine the time of day when you are the most alert. If you exercise right after your body’s natural morning sleep, you will experience the greatest post-exercise benefits. As you get older, the best time for exercise is usually early in the morning, or right after you get home from work. However, if you exercise before your body’s natural morning time, the exercise affects your physical and psychological well-being for the following day. So the best time for exercise may actually depend on your personal circumstances.
Image Credits
Enki Quotes / 2018
Forbes / February 28, 2019
Quora / 2021
South Louisiana Medical Associates / 2021
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2 “Working Out in the Morning: 13 Benefits, Research, Tips, and More.” 10 Jul. 2019, https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/working-out-in-the-morning Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
3 “Five Benefits of Exercising in the Morning | Piedmont Healthcare.” https://www.piedmont.org/living-better/5-benefits-of-morning-exercise Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
4 “7 Benefits of Morning Exercise, Plus 5 Secrets To Make It Happen!.” https://makeyourbodywork.com/benefits-of-morning-exercise/ Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
5 “Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress – Mayo Clinic.” 18 Aug. 2020, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469 Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
6 “6 Benefits of a Late-Night Workout | Planet Fitness.” https://www.planetfitness.com/community/articles/6-benefits-late-night-workout Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
7 “3 Reasons Why Working Out At Night Will Help You Tone Up Faster ….” 18 Feb. 2016, https://www.self.com/story/3-reasons-why-working-out-at-night-will-help-you-tone-up-faster Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
8 “The Benefits of Evening Exercise – Fitbit Blog.” 15 Apr. 2019, https://blog.fitbit.com/the-benefits-of-evening-exercise/ Accessed 29 Jun. 2021.
