Please note that I am not a fitness professional! I’m only sharing my personal insight and perspective stemming from experience ♡
I’ve noticed that people often wonder when the best time to exercise is and when they should work out on a daily basis.
Is a morning workout best? Or is it even better if you wait until the end of the day and exercise at night instead? With twenty-four hours in any given day, the options are not necessarily endless, but they are vast.
When it comes to making decisions about your life, including your fitness journey, I think the most valuable approach to take is a subjective one. Keep your lifestyle in mind when you are trying to figure out the answer to questions like, “When is the best time to exercise?” I say this because the answer is subjective, so your thought process should be, too.
In short, the best time to exercise is the time that works best for you. In addition to being subjective, figuring out the best time to exercise should involve you looking through the lens of sustainability as well. It’s great if you can head to the gym at three in the morning one day, but if you can’t keep that up and implement it as part of your daily routine, then a three-o’clock workout isn’t sustainable. It’s exciting at first, but can you stick with it over time?
Now that you know subjectivity and sustainability go hand-in-hand with figuring out the best time to exercise for you, let’s take a closer
Morning Workouts vs Evening Workouts: Which is the Best Time to Exercise?
Some people love working out in the mornings, while others prefer exercising in the evenings. Aside from the time of day, what’s the main difference between morning workouts vs evening workouts?
In my experience, morning workouts can feel both rejuvenating and draining. Similarly, evening workouts can be motivating as well as exhausting.
I ebb and flow between morning workouts vs evening workouts because there are some periods in my life where a morning workout is favorable, while other times, my life aligns more with evening workouts.
I hope this goes to show that there’s no real difference between a morning workout vs an evening workout outside of how you feel about them. Try them both on for size if you’re not sure which time of day you prefer. And don’t feel like you have to commit to one over the other forever!
You can always plan to do morning workouts for a week or two, and if you find that working out in the morning isn’t the best time to exercise for you, then you can switch to evening workouts. It’s all about self-discovery and crafting a workout routine that you can stick to! ♡
The Secret To Exercising When You Tell Yourself You Will
The secret of staying disciplined and setting up a routine that involves regular exercise is to simply make it easier for yourself to do what’s hard. For the record, that’s not an original viewpoint of mine. I cannot for the life of me remember where I heard that or who said it, but all credit is theirs to claim!
But if you can make it easier for yourself to do the hard things, then you can minimize the chances of mental roadblocks getting in your way. And when your mind does try to talk you out of exercising at the time you told yourself you would, your discipline will overshadow your doubt.
Making hard things easier to accomplish can manifest in various ways. For instance, if you plan to work out in the early mornings, set out your clothes, shoes, and relevant accessories the night before. That way, when you rise and shine in the morning, your outfit is already picked out for you. All you have to do is put it on and then head out the door!
Likewise, if you work out in the evenings, have a plan in place to ensure that you won’t talk yourself out of exercising because you’re tired. If energy drinks make you feel a boost of energy prior to a workout, plan to sip on one of those leading up to your workout time.
Or if coffee makes you more tired when you drink it in the afternoon, stop yourself from drinking coffee in the afternoon. You know yourself best, and in time, you’ll learn what making the hard things easier to accomplish looks like for you, but I swear it’s the secret to exercising when you tell yourself you will.
At What Time of Day Do You Like To Exercise?
There’s no such thing as a universally perfect time to work out. Rather, there’s only the time that is perfect for you on an individual level!
When do you like to exercise? Are you an early riser who hits the weight section before the sun rises? Do you find yourself liking nighttime workouts when only you and the moon are awake? Or is there a middle ground that you gravitate towards? With twenty-four hours in any given day, there are so many options!
Feel free to let me know what you like best by DMing me on IG — either here or here! I’m all ears ♡