When is the best time of day to workout? Morning? Midday? Afternoon? Evening? 2:00am? Let’s take a brief look…
We all have vastly different schedules and training/racing goals. Someone training for their first 5K won’t have the same training regime for someone that plans to run a half marathon with us in the spring. Keeping that simple but profound fact in mind, the “best” time of day to workout is 100% subjective with only a few overlapping areas when you compare any two people against on another. Let’s look at a few bullet points…
THE OVERLAPS – The few areas that may overlap in terms of “best” time time of day to workout can be dependent on your workout location. If the gym you utilize isn’t open 24 hours a day, you may be in a similar situation as others with training – morning, noon or night (not the 2:00am workouts 😉 ). The same can be said about living in certain climates – if you’re training for that 5K but your neighbor is training for a half marathon and you live someplace that’s super cold or hot, neither of you may train outside during the more extreme weather times of the day.
MORNING WORKOUTS – Waking up to crush your workouts or training sessions can be a great way to start the day. You often get a strong sense of accomplishment, you’ve achieved a goal for the day and can tackle whatever’s next on your list knowing you worked towards your health and fitness goals. It’s locked in!
MIDDAY WORKOUTS – These can be a great time of day to tackle your exercise. Taking a midday break from work, life or other tasks gives you the chance to reboot or restart. Taking your mind off of the hectic-ness and focusing on yourself and health is a HUGE win in our opinion. Even if it’s just a 15 minute walk, yoga-stretch session or pushups and air squats at the office – it adds up and makes a difference!
AFTERNOON/EVENING WORKOUTS – These are extremely popular at the end of most folks workdays – so expect your local gym to be a bit more crowded. Letting the stress of a workday go OR channeling whatever frustrations you might have had throughout the day into a productive workout is a big win. Workouts can often be energizing too allowing you to get a “second wind” to tackle dinner, family obligations, additional leftover work from the day and go to bed feely highly accomplished.
THE 2:00AM WORKOUTS – Now this isn’t super common, but remember we ALL have different schedules and work/life/training balances. 2:00am to many of us may sound horrible for a workout – but that might be the end of someone’s work shift or the start of their day – you never know!
The key thing to remember with ANY time you workout is that you’re doing something great for yourself, your training and your overall health. Stay motivated and stay the course with whatever time works best for you and your schedule.
What’s your go to workout and training time of the day? What do you prefer or like better about it?