You have your fitness goals and want to achieve them quickly. So, when would be the best time to exercise and get the most from your workouts? While there isn’t a clear-cut answer, let’s look at some advantages of exercising in the morning vs. the evening.
Key Takeaways
- Morning workouts can boost metabolism and set a positive tone for your day, while evening workouts might give you peak physical performance.
- The most important thing is finding a workout time that you can consistently stick to, whether that’s morning or evening.
- Track your workouts and how you feel to discover your personal optimal exercise time and maximize your fitness progress.
Morning Exercise
You may be a night owl, and thinking about exercising early in the day makes you cringe. However, there are some benefits of exercising in the morning. Waking up and jumping to an early workout can kick-start your metabolism and burn extra calories even after exercising. Furthermore, exercise can improve your mood and increase your energy, setting a positive tone for the day.
Working out in the morning can help you be more consistent. You’ll be less likely to have interruptions from work or other commitments that can suddenly eat up your time, so you won’t have to worry about getting your workout in as the day unfolds.
Regular exercise in the morning or evening can improve your sleep. However, exercising in the morning may help improve your sleep quality and fall asleep faster at night. As a result, it can help establish a predictable sleep pattern with enough sleep to help your body repair and recover.
Evening Exercise
If you’re a morning person, you may think you’ll be too tired to exercise in the evening. Before you discard that idea, there are some benefits of exercising later in the day. Exercising in the evening can help burn away the stress from the day and help you unwind.
Your body temperature peaks during the afternoon, so your muscles and endurance may be at peak performance. You might feel stronger and capable of lifting more weight or breaking a personal record. Additionally, your body is more limber in the afternoon, which can reduce your risk of injury.
Another advantage to exercising later in the day is that your body may have more fuel available from the food you’ve eaten earlier. You may perform better and exercise longer, which, over time, could mean reaching your fitness goals more quickly.
Is Exercising In The Morning Or Evening Better For You?
Regardless of the benefits of exercising in the morning vs. evening, what’s best is whatever helps you stick with it and stay consistent. Morning workouts might be easier to incorporate into your day if you’re a morning person. Conversely, a night owl may find the same success with evening workouts.
However, this doesn’t mean you can’t exercise in the evening if you miss your workout in the morning. On the other hand, if you know you’ll be busy one evening, you can move your workout earlier. Planning can help you find time to exercise throughout your busy day.
Tracking your progress can help determine whether morning or evening exercise works better for you. You can also experiment with different workouts at different times to find a routine you enjoy and can stick with easily. When you track your workouts, you have a bird’s-eye view of all your efforts. Not only will you see your progress, but you may also see early indicators of trouble, which will let you make adjustments sooner rather than later. As a result, you keep moving toward your fitness goals.
Tracking what exercises you did, when, for how long, and how you felt afterward will help you figure out your optimal time to exercise. Don’t be afraid to try something new. You may discover something better that makes your workout time more enjoyable.
Conclusion
While exercising in the morning or evening has its own advantages, it comes down to personal preference. Consistently exercising is more important than working out at a specific time. So next time someone tells you that working out in the morning or evening is better, it may be … for them. You’ll have to determine what works best for you by experimenting and seeing how you feel.
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Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
