Morning Workout Vs Evening Workout.....Which Is Better?

Sorting out the time for workout involves half the battle when it comes to keeping up with a workout routine. Between juggling family priorities and competing demands like working from nine to six, you often get two choices for a workout: morning or evening.

Amidst the increasing challenge to set out timing for fitness daily, there has been a debate whether morning or evening workout benefits more. Some believe morning workouts lead to greater weight loss and others claim weight training in the evening is better for gaining muscle mass.

Let’s find out in this article whether or not the timing of your workout makes a difference in fitness outcome.                

Morning Workout Routine

Morning workouts are known to be one of the best ways to feel energized and receive increased mental alertness while potentially leading to adherence over time. Mornings are the best-preferred timing for those who dread the thought of going to the gym after a long workday.

The Clear Advantages Of A Morning Workout:

• Easier to stick to healthy habits completed in the morning.

• Less likely to skip workouts due to scheduling conflicts or other demands.

• More sustainable as it’s out of the way before other time pressures may interfere.

• Potentially primes you to feel alert in the morning and to get a restful sleep at night.

• Kick starts your metabolism and aids in weight loss.

• You can stay away from any built-up stress of having to workout in the evening.

When you wake up in the morning, you’re coming off a fast of probably around 8-12 hours without any food. When you workout in this state (haven’t eaten breakfast yet), your body has to use the stored fat as an energy source to power your workout as your glycogen stores will be depleted after a night of fasting. This means you’ll be burning more of your body’s fat stores which aid in weight loss results.

Evening Workout Routine

Evening workout finds more convenient for those who find it tough to get out of bed early.  Evening workout serves as an outlet to help you relax and take your mind off the stresses of the day. Having no further commitments hanging over your head, you can focus better on the workout.

 The Better-Known Benefits Of Evening Workout:

• Causes less stress for most people as you can get some extra sleep and don’t have to deal with the morning rush.

• Your muscles will be warm and flexible in the evening and are the best time to muscle building and high-intensity and power-based exercise.

• Evening workout may be invigorating and lead you to a sense of restful sleep.

• You can plan your workout well and probably won’t deal with problem planning your pre/post-workout snack.

• While muscles demand more time for warm-up in the morning, your muscles are already ready for action in the evening and hence will require less time for a warm-up session.

• Evening time allows you to workout for longer in a more focused way.

Evening time is the best suitable time for strength and endurance training. Your body temperature remains higher at this time and your muscles are more flexible since your body is warmed up than it is in the morning. Besides the cortisol and other stress hormones are significantly higher in the evening. Protein synthesis peaks in at this time and hence is beneficial to do intense workouts like weight training that can support good muscle building.

While there are clear advantages of each workout routine, there are disadvantages to each time of the workout too. Student class encounters a challenge while the working class encounters another.

• Morning workout may not be suitable for those who are not early risers. Such people find it extremely difficult to maintain or stick to the routine on a regular basis.

• Morning workout may not be feasible to some as doing workout before having breakfast may put you at risk of earlier burn of calories and fatigue soon sets in.

• You’ll normally be in an urge to finish early and may find it tough to plan your workout and focus more on weight lifting in the morning routine.

• Evening workout may not allow you to be consistent as the evening hours probe a greater chance of distractions like last-minute dinner plan, movie plan and so on.

• During cold weather or when the weather becomes unpredictable, the chances of missing your evening workouts are more. Such times you may have to restrict your workout to indoor.

• Some find it tough to fall asleep if they workout 2-3 hours before bedtime as there will be higher levels of circulating stress hormones.

Although small differences lay between the calorie-burning and strength-building powers of working out in the morning and working out at night, neither is particularly better and hence probably not worth basing your workout timing.

In my personal view, the morning workouts are like an awakening cup of coffee whereas an evening workout is like a refreshing stress-buster coffee, both give you the same energy boost…

Consistency is the key to fitness, hence your best bet is to pick a workout timing that aligns with your long-term fitness goal, and something you can stick with...

Also read:  Should You Do Cardio Or Weight Training First?

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