The right time for physical activity allows you to achieve the highest possible results. If it is inappropriate, the effectiveness of training is either sharply reduced or turns out to be practically zero. To determine the best time to go to the gym or jog, you need to focus on your goal - losing weight, gaining weight. You should exercise at those hours that help keep your body in good shape, burn fat, or, conversely, gain muscle mass.
Scientific research
There is a lot of research on what is the best time to exercise. This topic interests scientists around the world. Many years of research have made it possible not only to study this issue, but also to come to certain conclusions that allow trainees to achieve better results.
Research by American scientists has shown that the choice of time for training should be based on the physical characteristics of a person’s structure:
- Ectomorphs. People with this body type have a high metabolic rate. They are naturally predisposed to thinness and experience certain problems in gaining weight, including muscle mass, which causes difficulties for those who want to build up decent muscles. The best time for ectomorphs to exercise is in the evening, when they are full of strength and energy.
- Mesomorphs. People with an average body type have no tendency to be either overweight or thin. This is due to the normal metabolic rate. Mesomorphs, according to the study, can exercise in the morning, afternoon, and evening hours. It all depends on the person’s own wishes and availability of free time.
- Endomorphs. People with the third body type often suffer from excess weight. Metabolism in their body is very slow. In order not to suffer from extra pounds in the form of body fat, they should exercise in the morning. The optimal and best period is considered to be from 7 to 10 hours, when the amount of glycogen with glucose is minimal and energy for exercise is released due to the oxidation of the fat layer.
Researchers from Williamsburg conducted an experiment. It consisted in the fact that training was carried out at 8, 12, 15 and 20 o'clock. At each time period, several people trained with heavy weights. The participants in the experiment were people who had not previously played sports. This study found that the best time for strength training is the evening.
This conclusion is natural. Muscle fibers are more susceptible to contraction and rapid work in the evening hours, since the temperature of the human body in the evening hours is much higher than in the morning or afternoon. In addition, the effectiveness of resistance training is determined by testosterone and cortisol levels. The first is responsible for the destruction, and the second is responsible for the increase in muscle mass.
At rest, testosterone is high in the first half of the day, but the most effective increase from resistance training occurs in the evening hours. And if a person wants not only to play sports, but also to become the owner of impressive muscle mass, it is recommended to perform strength exercises in the evening hours. Exercising at this time brings maximum benefits and allows you to increase muscle mass.
People who want to get rid of excess weight and body fat should exercise in the morning. This period of time is characterized by high levels of cortisol, but there are some nuances here that should definitely be studied by all those who want to become slimmer.
Is it better to train in the morning or evening? Lindover, Skoromny, Yugay
When should men exercise to lose weight: what time of day is best to exercise
For the stronger half of humanity, a lot depends on hormonal levels. More testosterone is produced in the morning hours. Thanks to it, your workout becomes more productive: muscles develop faster, fat goes away. In the evening hours, the body is better warmed up: it responds faster to brain signals. You will be able to work with a greater load, increase your efficiency and not be afraid of injury. For a long time it was believed that men are free to choose a convenient time for training on their own, since both in the morning and evening hours the effect of the exercises done will be the same.
But in 2021, Finnish scientists conducted an experiment. He walked for 24 weeks. The researchers invited 42 male students to participate. They included ten of them in the control group, and divided the remaining 32 into 4 teams. Each of them studied according to their own schedule: 2 in the morning, 2 in the evening. The difference between the 2 morning and 2 evening groups is the order of cardio training and strength training. For some, the first exercises were those that developed the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, while others first developed the strength indicators of all muscle groups. The result of the experiment: the clear leadership of evening classes, where cardio training was ahead of strength training. If you like to “pull iron”, then it is better to do it in the afternoon: from 16:30 to 20:00. It has been scientifically proven that during this period muscles develop and grow faster.
Commentary from a nutritionist at Elena Morozova’s Weight Loss Clinic
If you want to gain muscle mass and burn body fat, you shouldn't do strength training first and then move on to cardio. This is a common mistake of beginners: they think that it is better to do the hard part while they have the strength, and finish the classes with simple endurance exercises.
If your goal is to gain weight and you don’t plan to lose weight, give up aerobic exercise altogether. It requires energy resources from the muscles, which are necessary for their growth. This option is acceptable only for those athletes who eat natural foods and use nutritional supplements. When they exercise, their body activates anabolic resources. Hydrogen ions are released into the blood. It promotes better penetration of testosterone into cells. The main male hormone, in turn, starts the growth process. Muscles increase in size without the need for additional stimulants.
If after strength training you switch to aerobic training, you will lose the effect. This is the same as if you were doing cardio and at the same time drinking sugar water, not regular water. Aerobic exercise blocks the anabolic processes of muscle growth in the same way that insulin blocks fat burning.
You can get rid of extra pounds without cardio when you normalize your diet. Contact the Elena Morozova Weight Loss Clinic if you don’t know how to do it yourself. Our specialists will conduct a bioimpedance analysis of body weight composition, evaluate how fluid, fat and muscle tissue are distributed in your body, based on the data obtained, they will create an individual balanced weekly diet and give recommendations on additional nutritional supplements, if you want it. If you know what goal you want to achieve, gain muscle mass, lose weight or pump up certain parts of the body, it will be easier for you to determine what time of day is best to train.
When the experiment of Finnish scientists gave results, the researchers became interested in what time is best to develop the body's endurance. Another experiment was carried out. He showed that in this case, evening sports, in which a man first performs cardio exercises and then moves on to strength training, is most effective.
Workouts for those who like to get up early in the morning
For a person who wakes up early in the morning and feels cheerful, energetic, and full of strength, morning workouts are most suitable. Of course, such activities have their own characteristics. In the morning, body temperature is reduced. This means that the joints with ligaments are not completely elastic, so active exercises do not bring much effect and are not recommended. Gymnastics with yoga is the best choice for early training. They don't require a lot of energy and allow you to feel energized all day long.
What determines the training time?
First of all, it is worth talking about such a concept as circadian rhythms. These are the internal states of our body that transform during the day. For example, body temperature is known to fluctuate from 36°C in the morning to 37°C towards night. In addition, the level of cortisol in the blood varies. This is a hormone that mobilizes the body's strength during stress or heavy exertion. Its indicator, on the contrary, decreases in the evening.
These and many other indicators, such as fluctuations in pressure, pulse, heart rate, affect our efficiency at different times of the day, and according to circadian rhythms, people are divided into “night owls” and “larks”.
Burning fat - from seven to nine in the morning
These two hours are best for doing cardio and burning fat. Cortisol is quite high from 7 to 9 am, and glycogen = quite low, so during training, energy is taken from the fat layer. Morning workouts are best done within forty minutes. The intensity should be medium. A person who does not have problems with the heart or blood pressure can exercise in half the time, but at a more accelerated pace. You should focus on your own well-being, since not all people can engage in any activity in the morning.
For muscle building
Evening physical activity helps build Effects of morning physical versus evening combined strength and endurance training on performance, muscle hypertrophy, and serum hormone concentrations muscles faster than exercise in the morning. Moreover, the higher a person’s training, the greater the effect will be. For example, in one study, Training in the evening gives you more muscles, more definition, evening sessions provided experienced bodybuilders with a 3.2% increase in muscle mass, while the same load in the morning increased muscle mass by only 0.6%.
This difference may be due to fluctuations in hormone levels throughout the day.
For muscle building, the amount of the male sex hormone testosterone and the “stress hormone” cortisol is of great importance. The first has a positive effect on muscle growth and fat burning, the second promotes the accumulation of fat reserves and muscle breakdown.
Testosterone production increases The effect of diurnal variation on clinical measurement of serum testosterone and other sex hormone levels in men at night and reaches a peak Modeling of Circadian Testosterone in Healthy Men and Hypogonadal Men in the morning. Then the hormone level gradually decreases, increases slightly at 16-18 hours, and then drops again, down to its lowest levels at nine in the evening.
And it would seem that since its level is highest in the morning, it is necessary to train at dawn. But don't forget about cortisol. Its amount increases Replication of cortisol circadian rhythm: new advances in hydrocortisone replacement therapy after midnight and reaches a peak around eight in the morning, and then gradually decreases.
As a result, the most favorable ratio of testosterone to cortisol The Diagnosis and Management of Central Hypoadrenalism is observed in those same 16–18 hours: at this time, the male sex hormone, as mentioned earlier, slightly increases Circadian Variation in Testosterone, Sex Hormone‑Binding Globulin, and Calculated Non‑SexHormone‑Binding Globulin Bound Testosteronein Healthy Young and Elderly Men, and the stress hormone is at low levels. In addition, in the evening, The Differential Hormonal Milieu of Morning versus Evening May Have an Impact on Muscle Hypertrophic Potential activity of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), another anabolic hormone that helps increase muscle mass, is high.
This may be why, after training in the afternoon, more intense Effects of time of day on resistance exercise‑induced anabolic signaling in skeletal muscle are noted than after training in the morning.
Strength and high-intensity training - from 17.00 to 18.00
From five to six in the evening it is best to exercise with weights. This time is ideal for visiting the gym, as well as high-intensity and interval training. Such activities require maximum endurance, and in the evening both body temperature and testosterone levels rise higher. A person feels a surge of strength and this has a positive effect on the workout.
Best time to train
So, what is the best time to do your workout? Of course, everyone is especially interested in the best time for strength training in the gym
Until 10:00 am
If waking up early in the morning does not cause you any difficulties, and you feel cheerful and full of energy, then early workouts are for you. But you need to take into account the fact that in the morning the joints and ligaments are not so elastic, so active sports will not be the best option for morning workouts.
But yoga or breathing/joint exercises are perfect for this. Working out on an empty stomach, as we already know, makes no sense, so if you don't feel like eating breakfast, then at least drink some protein or eat a banana.
Heavy strength training is not recommended in the morning , give your body time to recover to its normal working state.
Make it a habit in the morning, immediately after waking up and drinking a glass of water, to warm up, stretch, do a couple of simple yoga exercises or joint exercises and calmly go about your business.
Exercising in the morning has other very important and beneficial benefits for your weight loss and training:
- Morning workouts help control appetite throughout the day.. This conclusion was made by scientists in a study (published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise), which assessed how women responded to food after exercise on an empty stomach.
A group consisting of those whose weight is normal and those who are overweight walked briskly for 45 minutes. It turned out that after exercise, women were less attracted to photos of appetizing food compared to those who did not exercise at all.
This is explained not so much by the work of hormones, but by our psychology : if you “eat a frog” (do an unpleasant, but important and necessary task) in the morning, then you will not have to waste mental energy during the day and force yourself.
Yes, at first it will be very difficult, but the advantage of all this bullying is that the brain, like a muscle, is trainable and is quite amenable to “training”. The hormones of joy that will inevitably begin to be released after exercise will be both a pleasant bonus and a means of establishing a habit.
In addition, if you practice the natural release of endorphins and serotonin in the morning, you can assume that the whole day will be positive. So what do you think - it will be so!
The limbic system, with regular releases of endorphins, will “agree with the arguments” of the neocortex about the need for planning, work and achievements. And things will go much better, as there will be more resources and opportunities at the physical and intellectual level.
10 best books on the psychology of losing weight: how to push yourself
- Exercising early in the morning makes you calmer throughout the day . A 2007 study by Finnish researchers found that early morning exercise improved daily fluctuations in cortisol (the stress hormone) levels.
- After exercising in the morning, we tend to increase our physical activity throughout the day.. Your body is stretched, blood and lymph flow is dispersed, muscles are elastic and filled with blood - why not walk instead of the elevator, since everything is going so well?
And again, it’s a matter of psychology: as soon as you force yourself to do something that may not be pleasant, but is certainly necessary and useful, taming the “beast” inside you then becomes much easier.
You'll see that your mood will improve and going to your regular workout during the day will be much easier than usual.
You can also optimize your morning workouts to make them feel more positive:
- take 100-200 mg before training. caffeine tablets . It increases the responsiveness of the neuromuscular system, activates energy production through fat burning and allows you to increase working weights:
- Be sure to warm up . Warm up more than usual in the morning to increase your core body temperature and the quality of your subsequent workout; To do this, just pedal the exercise bike 5-10 minutes longer.
- Train at the same time . Our body is an adaptation machine that adapts to various conditions. If you constantly train in the morning, your body will get used to it and there will be no morning decrease in efficiency.
From 12:00 to 17:00
At this time, it is best to give preference to active types of fitness (if you do this): dancing, aerobics, running, cycling, etc., they strengthen the cardiovascular system and help lose weight.
also the best time of day for strength training , so going to the gym or attending any strength classes, as well as high-intensity or interval training classes that require a lot of endurance and strength, will only benefit you.
In the second half of the day, body temperature and testosterone levels increase compared to the first, and cortisol , on the contrary, decrease.
All this together has a good effect on the surge of strength and has a positive effect on your productivity from the workout.
After 19:00
In the evening, you shouldn’t overload your body and excite your emotional state , so if you really want to work out, then choose different types of yoga, Pilates, stretching, bodyflex, etc.
These types of training are healthy and calming in nature; they also help strengthen the deepest layers of muscles, form beautiful and correct posture, develop flexibility and endurance, and have a positive effect on the psycho-emotional background of women.
Once you've decided how many times a week and at what time you want to workout, you need to create a workout plan ! We specifically wrote an article to help you : “First time in the gym: how to start training?” .
Summarizing
The timing of your workout depends on many factors. The first thing that needs to be taken into account by a person who decides to start going to the gym, lose weight or, conversely, gain muscle mass, is his body type. In most cases, it determines the purpose of the lesson. The results that a person wants to achieve also influence when exactly it is best to exercise. To lose weight, it is best to exercise in the morning. Evening is more suitable for gaining muscle mass. However, if you have not previously played sports, it is better to first visit a doctor, which will allow you to accurately determine the absence of contraindications to certain types of physical activity.
What is the best time to exercise?
Igor June 29, 2018
When is the best time to train to increase muscle mass?
The key to mass growth is not so much the time chosen for strength training, but the duration of recovery. Sleep should be at least 8 hours a day. After heavy sessions – up to 9 hours. Better training:
- In the morning - from 10.00 to 12.00;
- In the evening - from 17.00 to 20.00;
- 2 hours before bedtime.
The last option is best suited for those who study at home. Evening workouts (a few hours before bedtime) are not suitable for all athletes, but with a busy daily schedule they will give the greatest effect. It is also recommended to carry them out 2-3 hours after dinner, which includes protein foods and slow carbohydrates.
Daytime workouts
Training in the middle of the day is the most convenient, since the person has already woken up and is still quite alert. The benefits of daytime exercise include:
- Experts recommend stretching, strength training, and CrossFit. Exercise increases endurance .
- At this time, the muscles are warm and flexible. The risk of injury during training is reduced .
- Daytime workouts are effective for increasing and developing muscle mass .
To achieve a good result, lunch should be taken an hour before exercise or an hour after. But due to a busy schedule, few people have the opportunity to study. It is not always possible to devote 60 minutes to physical activity. Therefore, the effectiveness of training is significantly reduced.
