What is the best time of Day to Exercise?
Life nowadays has become busy more than ever. And in such tightly packed schedules finding the time to workout can be difficult. And even harder when you are juggling between your career, social life, & binge-watching your favorite latest Netflix series. Squeezing out time for exercise that will keep you in the best of your shape and boost physical and mental health can be tiring. Well, the levange that our fitness schedule provides us is there are certain times in the day when we can hit the gym in our workout clothes. Doing exercise is not like performing strict combat training where you necessarily have to show up at a particular time. However, there are times in a day that can significantly help in maximizing your fitness goals. Let’s get into that.
Best Time for Workout is whenever you can
Yes! That statement is true, the best time for working out is whenever you can do it. It can be very hard to find 90-minute hours for working out at a particular time of the day regularly. However, a morning workout offers some additional benefits. Do not schedule your workouts during the busy hours of your day because there is a high probability that you will end up compromising them. Take short time slots such as playing squash for 20 minutes in the day right before going to the bed at night. The best time for you is when it is easy to do that activity with consistency. Make sure you stitch with the same time routine for certain days or weeks if not months.
For instance, if you are someone who gets 20 minutes at night, but you skip it because you are low on energy or motivation then try adjusting it in some other part of your day. Go to bed 20 minutes early and wake up 20 earlier, now you have that time and energy to do the same exercise. People who workout consistently show weight loss & fitness results better in the long-term.
Working Out in the Morning
It isn’t false that morning exercise provides an edge, and studies support it. It provides more benefits. During early morning hours, human beings have the hormonal profile which would predispose them for better metabolism. People tend to have elevated cortisol levels & growth hormones during early mornings. Which supports active metabolism. More energy will be drawn from the fat reserves. That will help a lot in keeping you best of your shape. Morning workouts have the following additional benefits.
- Help in establishing a better fitness routine: Those who workout during the mornings tend to be more consistent because morning exercise leaves very little space room for excuses. Workouts done at the later parts of the day are usually skipped because of the piled-up responsibilities and duties.
- Help in improving your sleep cycle: Waking-up early in the morning can be difficult, but studies show that morning workout habits have the potential of shifting the circadian rhythm so your body tends to be more alert naturally during the morning & tired during the evening. That helps with falling asleep earlier. Morning workouts also boost deep sleep according to certain studies.
Moreover, it facilitates muscular growth, that way you gain more strength.
When Sweating in the evening or Night
As we have stated earlier it is clear that performing morning exercises after getting in your workout clothes comparatively offers more benefits as early hours is the ideal time for working out. But that doesn’t mean evening and afternoon workouts have no perks or benefits at all. Following are the benefits of working out in the later hours of the day.
The Benefits
Science also suggests that our body is at peak performance later in the day in the afternoons. Human body temperature tends to increase during the day while optimizing muscular functions & strength, enzyme activity & endurance for better performance.
It lies between 2 p.m-6 p.m. Human body temperature is performing at its peak during these hours. During these hours your body is ready for spending more energy. Which makes it a good time for exercise.
Moreover, oxygen uptake-kinetics are way faster during the evening, which means your body utilizes the resources slowly & effectively compared to the morning. Morning work-outs also require an additional warm-up routine that takes focus away from the workout. Your body naturally has a higher reaction time in the evenings and afternoons for high-intensity workouts. Late afternoon closer to evening is also when your human heart-rate & blood pressure is dropped to the lowest, thus reducing the chances of injury.
People also assume that working out at night can disturb your sleep but studies suggest the opposite. Lifting in the evening can give you better sleep than disturbing it.
The Verdict
You might be thinking what the best time for working out? Each time has its pros and cons. The thing that is most important here is “Working out” no matter at which time you do it has benefits. What matters is sparing time for exercising on your busy day and then performing it consistently.
