Is there really a ‘best’ time to work out?

The best time to work out has been discussed, debated, and disputed for years in the health and fitness industry. Should you train in the morning or in the evening? It’s still the question on everyone’s lips. 

Research – like this study published by Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine – shows us that the benefits of exercise continue to stack up, like improved weight loss, torching calories, increasing bone density and muscle mass, and kicking up your cardio fitness. Exercise can even reduce stress levels and improve your sleep, but if you’re training towards specific goals, experts believe that timing really could matter.

It’s tough enough shoehorning workouts into your busy schedule, let alone timing them to suit your fitness goals. But if you want to maximize your results, you might want to rain check certain times of day to do so, and there could be some weight in optimizing your training schedule. 

We thought it was time to set the record straight. Find the best fitness trackers to monitor your training, or read on to see what trusted experts said when we asked – is there a ‘best’ time to work out? And why does it matter? 

Is it better to work out first thing in the morning?  “It’s a good question. And like most things, there is no template answer as there are so many factors to consider,” Gary Brickley, senior lecturer at the School of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Brighton, tells Live Science. 

One reason we might choose to work out in the morning is because it's when we feel most alert. This is important from a neuromuscular point of view, Brickley explains, as being alert could help us master new sporting skills. But if you've slept poorly and are suffering with fatigue, then working out first thing will mean that you struggle to focus.

However, exercising first thing in the morning could be beneficial in other ways. If you work out before you eat, then your body won't be able to draw its energy from recently consumed food – so it will start targeting stored fat instead.

“The work by researchers Atkinson and Reilly (1996) also suggests that exercise timing should be phased around our hormonal status,” Brickley says. “Cortisol (our stress hormone) and testosterone may peak in the morning, and this is when glucose might drop and insulin increases, which may be favorable for improving fat metabolism in an overnight fasted state.”

Brickley suggests endurance athletes could utilize the morning for their longer, steadier aerobic exercise sessions to encourage fat metabolism.

So, if morning exercise is better suited to endurance and fat burn, is there a place for afternoon or evening exercise?

Some recent research points to training in the evening as best for muscle mass growth. In a study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism the effects of a 24-week training program performed in the morning versus evening showed a notable gain in muscle mass for evening training, especially when combined with endurance training. 

However, late night workouts could impact the quality of your sleep. A study published in the Journal of Health Psychology shows delays in sleep for evening exercisers versus morning exercisers.

Brickley agrees, but points out that exercise in general should improve sleep quality. “A study by Kovacevic et al (2021)  showed an improvement in sleep quality after resistance exercise. But, in other people, they may be hyperalert after training and could struggle to sleep following intense exercise.”

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