What time of day do you work out?

adwred · What time of day do you work out?

I'm going to start an exercise regimen, but I am not a morning person. I know working out in the morning is supposed to have the greatest benefit, though. Honestly, when I get home from work, my energy is pretty much at its lowest and if I work out too late, I have trouble sleeping, as it pumps me up! Should I bite the bullet and try to do it before I go to work in the morning or force myself after work because it will revitalize me?

Since it's only twice a week, I'm willing to try whatever for a while to see how I feel.

What time of day do you all work out and how often? Is a morning workout really worth the benefits? Do you find that taking any particular supplement helps rev you up in the morning to do a workout? Do you have a protein shake or anything afterwards?

woof_woof

Morning workouts set me up for the entire day.
I usually run or gym train in the morning. And they kill my hunger for the whole day so I can easily go without eating till the evening.
Evening workouts sometimes make me insomniac.

Viking Dan

Supposedly working out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach burns 3 times as much fat since you've just come off an 8 hour fast.

Whether this is applicable on lowcarb where your glycogen is low all the time is anybody's guess...

adwred

OK. Well, I worked out tonight because I wanted to get started, but from now on, I'll try to do it in the a.m. *Dread!*

jl53563

If you are no-carbing, you are going to be burning virtually all fat no matter what time of day you excercise. See the Phinney study. Personally, my body does not like to exercise first thing in the morning. I prefer late morning or early afternoon.

Cavemate K

Also, you have to think about what kind of workout you'll be able to keep up over the long run. It took me a while to face the fact that I'm just not, at present, a morning person. I'm usually pretty zonked out after work, so a pm workout is not easy, but it's far more likely that I'll actually drag my butt to the gym in the evenings.

K

teknodamage

I agree with JL... since we're always in fat burning mode from ketosis it probably doesn't matter what time of day you exercise. However, morning exercise may give an added benefit to your metabolism because of being in a fasted state. As for carb eaters in a fasted state, they are slightly depleted of glocogen and so doing a workout for them gets them into fat burning mode quicker... for someone in ketosis I assume you would burn fat immediately on energy expenditure, I wish there was a study out there for that... but i'm willing to bet that there is still a metabolic advantage to morning cardio at least. We have the metabolic advantage anyway because of our diet... so we win, yay!
I like doing my HIIT cardio in the morning for the very fact that I hate it. It gets me into full gear! Weights I like to do in the evening because of the time factor. With HIIT I can be done with a whole round including warm up and cool down in about 14-15 minutes. With weights it'll take me 30-45 mins... I don't have time like that when I need to be getting to work. I stay up too late at night!

adwred

I wish I had a treadmill and workout equipment at home. The idea of hauling myself out at 6 am in the freezing cold for some HIIT seems about as appealing as being sodomized with a pitchfork.

jl53563

teknodamage

ugh, i hear ya. Down in Texas it's nice and warm right now.

ReddyMcMeaty

Your body is naturally more able to handle heavier weight and more intense exercise in the afternoon and evening. I think morning is great for morning people and for lower intensity cardio but regarding performance later in the day is usually better. That being said the best time is when you'll actually do it.. followed by when you feel best doing it. I always perform best in the evening but have trouble sleeping afterward. I like to workout in the morning early, and then to go back to sleep once I've finished. Not really practical.

Ogden

I usually work out in the evening after work, but not too late as that will keep me from sleeping later. Ideally though, I like to work out in the morning but I also like to do everything at once. HIIT gets me ramped-up to hit the weights so my workouts run a little more than and hour with warm up/cool down and stretching. Some mornings I can pull that off but it's tough to get up that early as I often stay up too late.

I could try a split workout with cardio early and weights after work. Might have to give that a shot.