What Time of Day Should I Be Working Out?

        One of the great questions when it comes to building out your exercise program is what is the optimal time of day to be working out.  I am truly sorry to say that there is no straightforward, all encompassing, correct answer to this question.  Keep in mind people are different, sometimes very different, and we have to take these differences into account when programming for ourselves or others.  Luckily there are some criteria to consider that will point us in the right direction. 

First off your body will tell you if it is a good time to workout or not.  Your circadian rhythm, or sleep and wake patterns, may be the biggest consideration that we need to make.  Second we need to understand when in the day that we have the highest amount of food, or fuel, in our system available to workout.  Finally we need to look at our heart rate or rate of perceived exertion, RPE for short.  Looking at these three factors will start the process of choosing that best time in the day for us to workout.

Rhythm

Let’s talk body rhythms.  Some of us are morning people. Some of us are night owls.  Even more of us are somewhere in between.  Let me start this off by saying that in all of my experience as a personal trainer the people that I train in the mornings before they go to work are by far the most consistent exercisers that I have.  The biggest reason that I can find for this is the earlier in the day there are less distractions and less things that can come up that take you away from your workout routine.  Apart from that I suggest that you try and workout when your body is the most alert and most prepared that it can be.  If you are a night owl workout after work.  If you are an early riser use that to your advantage and knock out the workout early!

Fuel

Moving one to fuel intake.  No matter what time you decide to workout you need to have fuel in your body to get through your workout at a high enough intensity to make the work count towards your goals.  For me when I work out I make sure that I eat something that fits in the palm of my hand at least 30 minutes before the workout starts.  This helps to ensure your blood sugar is high enough to perform during the workout rather than just survive the workout.

Heart Rate and RPE

Finally your heart rate and RPE will give you the scientific data to back up your choice of workout time.  The way this works is that your RPE and heart rate should respond to the work stimulus that you give it.  In simple terms when you push during your workout your RPE and heart rate should rise and when you stop pushing it should begin to fall pretty quickly.  This concept is referred to as heart rate variability.  The quicker your heart rate increases when you begin to work and how quickly it decreases when you stop working is a great indication of heart and overall health.  It is very common that if your body is not ready to workout that your heart rate and RPE will take longer to respond to work and to rest.  When your body is ready to workout your heart rate will rise quickly but also fall quickly when you are resting.  This pattern helps to build a healthy heart, lungs, and body.

How I Attack This

My favorite time of day to workout is first thing in the morning.  It helps to lower my stress levels throughout the day and gets me to tackle my work day with a level and productive head.  Personally my body functions best when I am early to bed and early to rise. Before I workout in the morning I drink about 30oz of ice cold water to wake up my digestive system.  I also eat half a breakfast grain bar to get my body fueled and ready to go.  

Remember that no single factor will determine when the best time for you to workout is, but the combination of these three factors will get you very close to the right answer for yourself.  Finally that last thought that I want to leave you with is the time of day that you choose should breed more consistency over time, not diminish it.  If you try the morning workouts and you miss 4 out of 5 days, workout in the evening.  If you find your evening workouts get interrupted 3 of 5 days then push the workouts to the morning.  Play with it and see how your body responds to the different times of day and write down how your body feels.  This data will give you the confidence to keep to your routine and reach your goals.

If you need some help or want to talk about this further set your free consultation today!