Pros And Cons For Best Workout Time Of The Day

Today we’re gonna be talking about pros and cons for the best workout time, which can be in the morning, noon or night. I know we already covered a part of this topic in a previous article: “What Is The Best Time To Exercise To Lose Weight?“. But I wanna dig a little bit deeper here to point out the reasons you should or shouldn’t work out in a specific time of the day.

The truth is that there is no one, real, universal time that works best for everyone. You have to take things relative to your own situation to account, including your schedule, your energy levels throughout the day, as well as your motivation levels.

Really, there is a lot of different things you need to take into account because everybody is a little bit different as far as what time of the day they feel most comfortable for exercising. But you also have to weigh that out with what your day looks like, where you can actually fit in most efficiently and actually get it done. Because exercising when you’re a beginner is more about habit than it is about whether or not you’re getting “the most effective workout“.

So you wanna consider all these things so that you’re setting yourself up for success. You want to make it at the most likely scenario that you’re going to show up for your workout. That’s ultimately the most important thing about when you’re going to do it is when are you most likely to actually do it. After that, the hour that you’re actually doing the workout is a mood point compared to whether or not you actually show up and do it.

For example I have a friend who typically work out first thing in the morning. I absolutely detest working out first thing in the morning. I feel weak, I feel really lethargic, I don’t feel like I have enough energy, but that is the time of the day that I can get it in and not have to worry about replacing my workout with other work emergency that’s happened to show up.

My friend likes to work out in the morning because it sets her mood for the whole rest of the day, she feels more positive, her energy is boosted and she can focus better. Also for her it is easier to eat healthy foods throughout the day if she is working out first thing in the morning.

Best Workout Time Of The Day

The main thing is that I’m gonna do a real quick rundown of the typical time of the day the most people work out and the pros and cons of each one of those. Then I’m gonna let you decide what is the best workout time for you.

1. First Thing In The Morning

Pros:

1. This one is usually the easiest to get done because nothing’s really happened in the day yet, you can kind of set aside a little bit of specific time just for yourself to get that workout in.

Cons:

1. You’re gonna be much less flexible because your body hasn’t warmed up yet.

2. The range of motion is reduced because you’re ligaments, tendons and muscles were healing over the course of the night.

3. You might find that the duration and the intensity of your morning cardio workout may be affected if you do it on an empty stomach.

You need to make sure if your best workout time is in the morning that you take a little bit longer to do your warm up. Also you should eat about 200 calories, so grab some nuts or an yoghurt, or anything you like before starting your morning workout routine.

2. Lunch Workout Time

This can be the best workout time for those with a regular day job. A lot of people have really short lunches so that takes it out completely. But if you do have a long lunch break you can get a workout in.

Cons:

1. Just make sure you are working out before you eat, or eating at least 2 hours before you work out. You need to make sure that all that food is really digested before you start your workout, otherwise that becomes another issue with lowering overall ability to get your workout done.

Pros:

1. You will wake yourself back up if you’re bored at work.

2. You will improve your cognitive abilities by doing that workout. So when you go back to work you can actually get your work done more efficiently because your brain has been kinda woken up by that physical activity.

3. Working Out At Night

A lot of people find that they get their best workout at the end of the day, or in the evening. This is another option that’s totally fine, there’s nothing wrong with it.

Pros:

1. Your energy might be highest at this time.

2. You have a day of good nutrition behind yourself hopefully.

3. At the end of the day you are done with your work and you can blow up all the stress that you went through throughout the day.

Cons:

1. There’s a high possibility to skip your workout because things come up and they always seem more important and more pressing than a workout, which is so easy to put off until tomorrow. But as long as you know that you stick to your routine, then working out in the evening is just fine.

So everything that you do is depending on your style of workout you do, your lifestyle, whether you’re a 9 to 5 worker, whether you do swing shift, whether you’re a stay-at-home mom or dad, all those things are going to affect when is going to be the best workout time for you. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, then maybe the best time to work out is that small window when your kid is taking a nap or distracted watching a cartoon. So you have to kinda plan your workout around that.

You need to find the best workout time for you and then when you have a good habit built, you can start deciding to shift your workout one way or another to make it a little more efficient for yourself. All these, of course, if you’re really focusing on trying to get the most out of each workout.

I know something different works for everybody, so leave a comment if you have an idea about when is the best workout time of the day that we haven’t thought of it yet. This is a community effort, so make sure that we’re always sharing with each other to get the best information across for everyone. Stay fit!