What Is the Best Time to Exercise?

What time of the day gives us the best results in the gym?

Do you train in the morning or the evening?

Do you train at all?

Would it change your habits if you knew the best time to train?

Ultimately, does it matter what time you train?

In this article, I answer these questions by exploring recent research on the optimal time to train to maximise your results in the gym.

The best time to train

What is the best time to do your workout? Will exercising in the morning or evening be better for helping us achieve our fitness goals?

Two recent papers (here and here) from Küüsmaa-Schildt and colleagues explored these questions and specifically, our ability to build muscle and endurance.

Fifty-one active and healthy men in their late 20s to late 30s participated in the study, that had no history of previous strength or endurance training over the past year

The researchers also considered chronotypes — a measure of circadian rhythm, where the extremes are people that are either early birds (prefer early mornings), or night owls (prefer evenings). No participants were included in the study with either extreme, as it would impact when they prefer to work out.

Morning workouts were between 6:00 and 10:30 a.m., and the evening workouts were between 4:30 and 8 p.m.

Participants were monitored over 24 weeks and their training regime is pictured below.

The results indicated that people training in the evening tend to have a better ability to build muscle.

The first twelve weeks showed no real difference, but in the second 12 weeks, there was significantly more hypertrophy for the evening sessions.

“In the evening, improvements in maximal strength performance seemed to be accompanied by increased neuromuscular activity in the group that performed strength training constantly before endurance training.” — Küüsmaa-Schildt et al., 2017

The best time to do cardio?

The aforementioned research also looked at muscular endurance, or, cardio.

The results indicate that if strength or building muscle is your goal, you should do cardio after your workout if it's during the same workout. It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s in the morning or evening.

If endurance is your main goal, do cardio before weights.

Ideally, if you want to do both on the same day, you’d schedule your cardio in the morning, let your body recover and then lift weights in the afternoon or evening. However, exercising twice a day isn’t practical for most people. Many people struggle with it just once a day!

Does it really matter what time you exercise?

When it comes to the “right” time to exercise, do you have a certain time of the day that you prefer to have your workout? Or does your schedule dictate when you’re able to get to the gym?

Some of us are full of energy when we wake up, whilst others will prefer to train in the evenings.

I prefer late morning. But currently, I train after work at 5 p.m.

I’m not a morning person, so there’s no way I’m getting to the gym before I start work. But you might be different.

The best time to train for people with physique-based goals is the evening according to recent research.

“The present combined training program in the evening led to larger gains in muscle mass compared to the same training program in the morning hours.” — Küüsmaa-Schildt et al., 2016

The reasons why aren’t particularly clear, but it could be due to having improved hydration later in the day, we’ve eaten more and the food has time to digest, providing optimal glycogen stores.

However, more important than the time you exercise is the fact you’re exercising.

The best time for you to exercise is a time that fits your schedule, allowing you to be consistent with your workout. Structure your workouts around your life.

If you can’t exercise in the evening, which might be more optimal for performance than in the morning, don’t worry.

Consistently exercising will determine your results far more than the time you exercise. And some research actually suggests that it's easier to stick to healthy morning habits.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, recent evidence suggests that training in the late afternoon or evening is better for building muscle than exercising in the morning.

This is likely due to the performance improvements provided by having improved glycogen stores and hydration later in the day.

However, the difference isn’t significant, and you should structure your exercise routine around a time you can consistently exercise. This is when you’ll perform at your best.

If you do cardio and lift weights during the same session, save the cardio until after lifting weights.

Thank you for reading.

If you enjoyed the content, you might be interested in this article about how long your workouts need to be to transform your physique.

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