The Best Time of Day to Exercise?
An extremely popular and important question which many people often wonder, is what the most optimal time of day to train is. There simply is not a cut-and-dry answer to this question! First and foremost you must evaluate your goals.
Your potential goals may be to:
- Maximize Muscle Gain
- Maximize Fat Loss
- Perform Optimally (Strength, Athletic Performance, Endurance, etc…)
- Consistency
- Motivation
- Benefits
Therefore, it is easy to see that your exercise schedule will be dictated immensely by your goals. So let’s look at the various times of day, and the general state of the human body in each…
- Morning
- Starved of nutrients and dehydrated
- Highest levels of testosterone
- Highest levels of cortisol
- Lowest testosterone to cortisol ratio
- Afternoon
- Nutrients and hydration levels are high
- High strength and endurance output
- Balanced testosterone to cortisol ratio
- Evening
- Nutrient and hydration levels are highest
- Highest strength output
- Lowest testosterone levels
- Lowest cortisol levels
- Highest testosterone to cortisol ratio
It is easy to spot some patterns here. Clearly there are certain times of the day which are best for specific goals. However, an often overlooked part of a muscle gaining regime is consistency. It truly is the most important factor when it comes to nearly any goal relating to exercise. The time of day which to consistently train at is only a smaller quotient in the overall regime that is dominated by sticking to your training time. The reasons for this are myriad, but for starters think about circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycles), meal timing, work schedule, and gym availability.
A huge factor for myself has always been the availability of equipment and a training partner. It simply screws up my entire workout if I can’t get in the gym and crank out my sets to failure with my strict resting periods. It is equally as frustrating to hit the gym expecting to barbell press multiples of your weight and not having a reliable lifting partner.
The optimal time of day to train and exercise is therefore almost entirely dependent upon your own personal schedule.
However…
There is a lot to be said about “priming” your body to lift in an anabolic environment. That means being in a state of coloric excess, maximum hydration, well rested, and alert. I like to time this out to around 6 hours after I wake up. That way I know I will have at least 2 meals in me before I train, and I’ll be consuming another one pre and post workout. I will also have at least another 6-8 hours to eat, stretch, flex, etc…before I get that big HGH burst while i sleep…
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Dr. Rex is a natural bodybuilder and a local authority on training for muscle development. Be sure to subscribe to his newsletter for superior muscle and bodybuilding information Here.
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Tags: anabolic environment, Athletic Performance, Circadian Rhythms, Exercise Schedule, Hydration Levels, optimal training time, the best time to exercise, the best time to train