When is the best time of day to exercise? My husband says that for him it is in the morning because then he feels like he has more energy. Is it strictly personal preference or is there really a best time of day to exercise?

Thank you!
Heather

I would think that whatever time you will be able to be consistent would be best. I have no science to back this up.

Personally I HAVE to work out in the mornings. Not that I am terribly energetic in the A.M. rather it is that 3 of 7 evenings are spoken for each week. So if I want to be consistent it means getting up earlier.

Which is difficult when my other half is a night owl.

I always prefer to workout in the morning. Firstly it sets up your day well and secondly also helps elevate your metabolism (i.e. burn more calories) for a good few hours after it through the 'afterburn effect'. Whenever I try to tone up, I always do morning cardio for this reason

Of course training in the morning is largely down to your schedule and I guess it's only good for the early-birds!

I find for me it works werever I happen to have time.

I am often biking to work right after breakfast (22kms) and bike home after work. (23kms). I am definitely not a morning person, however what Chris has said i've found to be true.

Biking for me in the morning often works much better then a cup of coffee. I'm given extra energy, and I have much more focas and attention once it comes time to sit down and get work done.

Evenings for me works opposite however. I find that it does give me a quick rush of energy, but once it is diminished, its a good time to go to bed. The sleep is always more restful.

I work out in the mornings mainly becuase if I leave it to the evening then I inevitably find excuses not to go to the gym.

Although some mornings its the last thing I want to do, once I get there I'm fine and then its out of the way and you don't have to worry about it any more!

There have been times that I've tried exercising in the morning and I admit that I DID feel more energetic and accomplish more during the day. It was a real boost. Unfortunately mornings are insanely hectic and I have to just exercise when I can. Unless it's something I can take my children with I have to do with walking or a stationary bike.

The bike is a nice "break" sometimes...I can watch a program or read and "get away from it all"...LOL Ignore the screaming kids...HA

I think that whenever you exercise is great because you're making time to do it and doing something healthier for yourself! Way to go!

i prefer exercising on an empty stomach, and at a time suitable to have a large meal right after i'm done, because i'm always starving when i finish. usually, that would be in the morning sometime.

I find mornings terrible - although I guess it's not helped by the fact that I generally choose to half-kill myself while working out. If i work out in the morning I'm always tired and irritable for the rest of the day - I find about 4pm to be optimal.

I've recently read that a rush of oxygen could be responsible for your focus and attention. Surely you are getting lots of good oxygen and breathing harder when you bike, so it is logical to assume that you would be able to do those things better after a workout.

Of course, I could just be remembering something incorrectly, and talking out of my bum.

Before I work, I like to breathe 100% oxygen for a few minutes (I actually do, I need to do preflight checks on an oxygen mask before I fly), and I find myself more alert than not.

I agree with most here, mornings for me are best, mostly because of my schedule, but also because I tend to make excuses in the evening. However, like Max said, if I have a really intense workout, then I'm wiped for the rest of the day. Also, this only applies to going to the gym. I often play racquetball or take a martial arts class at night. The upside is that I do sleep really well, but the down side is that it takes me about an hour or more to come down if the game or practice was fairly intense, which they usually are.

For cardio, morning is easy, for strength training I find morning very difficult. If you need my mind to be as focused as the body, the effort is hard to pull together predawn. My favorite work out times are before lunch or right after work. I think a lot of your scheduling ends up being around where you can fit it most comfortably (if you drive by the gym after work, your more inclined to fit it there..). Plus when you work out later it feels like a new day. If I cram it all in at the beginning of the day I end up dragging tail earlier (generality).

For the best time to workout, that is highly debateable. Personally, I prefer morning cardio which consists of a jog for 45minutes - this has allowed me to drop a significant amount of bodyfat. As for weight training, it isn't recommended to perform it in the morning due to lack of an energy source and due to low-to-none glycogen levels in your body.

wow i love working out as late as the gym is open 8- 10 or 9-11 when they close... less people i can do what i want... and i am super tired afterwords

I prefer to exercise in the morning because it seems to give me an energy boost the rest of the day. But that's a preference. Heather's question was "What's the best time to exercise?" At least one book that I am reading purports to offer an answer.

In The Aerobics Program For Total Well-Being, Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D. writes:

"Research we are doing suggests that the timing of your exercise may have an effect on the control of fat and weight. In other words, if you exercise vigorously just before the evening meal--that is, no earlier than 2 hours prior to the meal--you'll be more likely to lose a larger percentage of body fat than if you exercise at other times during the day.

"What's the reason for this principle which seems to be emerging from our research? ...

"[W]e really don't have all the answers. But it is known that vigorous exercise tends to depress the appetite for a couple of hours after the activity, and so it may be that those who work out in the late afternoon just tend to eat less than they would otherwise. Also, it's known that the body metabolism tends to increase during the day, and then starts to slow down as nighttime approaches. As a result, you tend to burn less calories in the evening than earlier in the day. So if you exercise late in the afternoon, you may be increasing the pace of your metabolism, and simultaneously increasing the ability of your body to burn more calories in the evening."

I prefer mornings myself. The times I've worked out in the evenings I find myself too revved up to go to sleep.

Another morning person here (posting this, actually, at 5:40 EDT :) ). I believe that studies have documented that those who work out in the morning are more consistent in their efforts.

I've also read, though, that body rhythms and/or temperatures make 4-5 P.M. the best time. But who can break free from work or other obligations at that hour?

If I exercise first thing in the morning, it mentally helps me control my eating during the day, as it sets the stage for a day that will have fitness as an overriding intention. When the lardish cake comes out at the 3:30 office party, I have an easier time saying no, as I have a memory of much pain and sweat that morning, and I'd hate to render that exercise useless...

I was facing a similar dilemma many months ago.

Initially, I used to hit the gym after work. However, erratic work schedules meant that I was unable to work out regularly.

Next, I switched to a morning routine - only to find myself getting late to work as my gym was closer home.

So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone - I signed up for a gym that was close to my work place. This meant that I could workout early in the morning between 7:00 and 9:00, get fresh with a quick shower and head off to work, just around the corner.

I have followed this schedule for the last three months - no complaints so far.

I have been told that in the mornings, before you eat breakfast is when your blood sugar level is the lowest. Having low blood sugar when you work out causes your body to start burning fat quciker. That is, if you work out for 30 minutes in the morning your body will start burning fat 10 minutes into the work out. Whereas, if you worked out for 30 minutes in the afternoon/evening your body wouldn't start burning fat until 20 minutes into the work out. It's food for thought.

I think you get more "bang for the buck" if you work out in the morning, especially if you take into account what Tom says:
It's just my opinion.

I read in Men's Health a while back that working out in the morning is the best time from a physical perspective. It jump-starts your metabolism so that you are burning more calories throughout the day.

That being said, the best time to exercise is the time that works best for you. If for instance you get off work at 3:00 and you're not a morning person, then rather than getting up a 5:00 am to hit the gym before work, you can work out on your way home from work. Or you have a gym at your place of work and your co-worker is your workout buddy. Whatever time that gets you going consitently is the best time.

The only caution I have is working out late at night. I've done it a couple times when I've gotten off work late and it made it hard for me to fall asleep.

I have read that for many people, working out late at night makes it hard to sleep afterwards. Your body is revved up, not ready for sleep mode.

Harish brings up a good point - if your gym is some distance from work, going in the morning could make you susceptable to extra traffic. I'm lucky in that my gym is only a mile from my house, so there is really no difference in traffic patterns.

When's the best time to work out? When I can drag my butt to do it!

Morning and evening workouts have always been about the same (barring extraordinary effort at the gym) for me in terms of alertness or hunger, etc. So, I don't know whether mornings or afternoons/evenings are better from any metabolism or appetite-suppressant point of view (or any other), but for me the key is to find some reason to be on a schedule and stick to it. Joining a class is perfect because, whether it's 6AM or 6PM, there's someone who knows my name who's going to ask me where I was if I miss a day. Otherwise it's just too easy to say "oh, I'm so sleepy from waking up early"/"oh, I'm so tired from work today."

So that's my wholly non-scientific, completely unrelated to anything that anyone else is saying, opinion. The best time to exercise is when it works for you and fits in neatly among everything else in your life, because otherwise, all the metabolic enhancement in the world isn't going to help if I don't show up.

I started out waking up and going to the gym before work. This required me to wake up at 5:45am to leave by 6am to be able to work out for 1 hr. I'd come home at 7-7:15am get ready and go to work so I can get there by 8am (I live 8 miles away from work).

Just recently I switched up due to me not going to the gym when I would wake up late. I've been going to the gym at 10:00 or 11:00 after my wife goes to bed and everyone is asleep. I work out for 1-1.5hrs and come home take a shower and go to bed.

So far so good with this setup.

Check out my fitness podcast at: http://www.geekfit.com

I tried working out in the A.M, but I'm useless until about 9am. Night time always lets me know if I need to burn that extra 100 calories because I snuck in too many goodies at lunch Not that I ever have a light workout, but it makes me feel that I've burned off what I ate during the day. ?? Does that make any sense?

I prefer morning workouts. I have more energy through the rest of the day and I find that I don't actually need as much sleep as I used to because I sleep deeper! I am waking up before my alarm for once and when I wake up I'm right ready to go!

I agree with a lot of the others here - morning workouts are the way to go for me for 2 reasons:

1. It wakes me up and gives me more energy throughout the day
2. If I wait until after work, I always seem to find an excuse (housework, TV, etc.) not to workout