Are morning workouts best?

Do you believe this fitness myth: morning workouts are best?

To be honest, the best time to workout is the time that you schedule it and get it done uninterrupted. That’s the bottom line.

But there’s been a lot of talk about people who exercise in the morning having a sustained weight loss, being able to manage their health and make it a lifelong to exercise. So does that mean that morning workouts are best? Not necessarily (from an exercise standpoint).

In other words, if I hook you up to a device that measured your output, meaning the number of calories that you burn per minute when you exercise, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that those who workout in the morning burn more calories or work at a higher level of effectiveness.

Listen Up

The reason you often hear that working out in the morning is the best is because those people are able to make it a lifestyle option.

We also know that when you workout first thing in the morning, people tend to be more energetic, more productive and sleep better the night before.

Studies Say

In general, that’s not to say that’s right for you. I hear from thousands of people who are like “I know you always work out in the morning Chalene, but I don’t have any energy in the morning and I can kill it when I workout in the evenings and that’s what I look forward to doing when I get home from work.”  The research supports that the time of day that creates the least amount of resistance for you is the best time to exercise.

One study found that afternoon exercisers, those who exercise between noon and 6PM found that their output was much higher than those who exercise in the first part of the day.

Now the theory is that the body is warmer and that we’re more awake and more alert and we have more emotions pumping through us and we tend to go a lot harder in the second part of the day.  I can tell you that personally, I exercise every morning. But when I hook myself up to a Fitbit or apple watch, I have a much higher calorie burn later in the day. So you might ask yourself, then why don’t you workout later in the day?

My Preference

I get it done in the morning. No matter how disciplined I swear I’m going to be, and promise myself I’m going to do it midday or schedule it even for an evening, I just never do it. So here’s my theory, a workout where I burn fewer calories is still a better workout than a workout that gets interrupted too often.

A recent study by the Appalachian State University found that morning workouts are actually best if you want to improve your sleep. And here’s the other thing that we know about early morning workouts, that you can often exercise in what we call a fasted state. Meaning that you have allowed your body to process the food and the carbohydrates and the nutrients that you’ve put in the night before and it helps you to be more fit and to have a reduced body fat. It really is toss up between what’s the best time to exercise, morning or evening.

Personal Thoughts

Again, I personally believe that the best time to exercise is in the morning because I don’t think many people are going to demand time with you or expect you to schedule a phone call or even to return an email or answer questions at 5AM. That’s why I love to encourage people to exercise first thing in the morning. And when it comes to weight loss, we do know that exercising in a “fasted” state meaning, you’ve gone 15 hours or 16 hours without food is possibly the best way for you to reduce body fat.  And that’s much easier to do first thing in the morning than it is late in the day.

Final Thoughts

So the bottom-line is, it’s really up to you! Do what works best for your schedule but keep in mind the research. Understand where the tradeoffs are. If it keeps getting interrupted… if week after week you intend to workout five times a week and you’re only getting in two or three because life is getting in the way, well then the time that you’re scheduling your workout is really not very effective. And getting your workout done even if you’re not burning as many calories is more important to your mental well-being, your physical well-being, your creativity, your patience and all of those other important reasons why we exercise.

So there you go. Those are some of the biggest myths and we busted them wide open this week!  What topics would you like me to cover on my blog??? Shoot me a comment below 🙂

~ Chalene