In my book, Today is Still the Day, I mention that the best time to exercise is whenever you will do it consistently. I stand by that advice. However, if you have a specific goal in mind and are willing to be flexible about when you exercise, this information may be helpful to you.
According to studies, it seems that female study participants who did strength training in the morning (6 to 8 a.m.) showed not only improvements in lower-body power in exercises such as jump squats but also a significant reduction in total and abdominal fat.
As for evening workouts (6:30 to 8:30 p.m.), female participants in this group were found to have better success in increasing upper-body strength, power, and endurance. They also experienced a reduction in total body fat but less significantly than their morning workout counterparts. They, instead, had better success with overall muscle growth.
In the male study participants, those who exercised in the evening experienced the same change in body composition as the a.m. fitness group, but working out in the evening offered a more significant reduction in blood pressure.
This study was interesting to me. It shows the difference in how men and women respond to exercise as well as how the time at which you exercise can affect body composition, strength gains and overall fitness improvements.
When do you prefer to work out?
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Ann, that’s interesting. I do strength training once a week. But I miss both windows. My time is 11 a.m. 🙂 Hope it make my bones strong!!
I share the info for whatever it is worth but definitely take it with a grain of salt. As far as I’m concerned, whenever you will consistently exercise is the best time for you and will benefit your body,
This is very interesting, Ann. Thank you for sharing. My workout time is never the same and after seeing this, I think I’ll continue to try and mix it up.
While I work out at pretty much the same time most days because of whatever else is going on, I change things up daily. I think it’s good to surprise your body.
When the wife and I used to work out together, it was make a coffee to go, drive to gym and workout, drink coffee on the way back home, shower, and work. When she retired and I had a gym where I worked, it was “get a workout in when time allowed”, which meant mostly evenings. Now maybe it was because I was in a high-stress, time-sensitive job, but I saw little correlation between HBP and workout times. Now that I’ve retired to ranch life, my workout seems to be all day, every day, but the blood pressure is much better out here in God’s country. 🙂