Is Exercise More Effective at Certain Times of Day?

Healthy individuals who follow an exercise regime will often create routines and rituals around their workouts. Some prefer to visit the gym or take a run before they start work, while others find exercise to be an effective stress-reduction technique at the end of a long day. But does the time of day chosen for exercise have any impact on its efficacy? And can timing workouts differently add value to the effort?

Workouts More Effective in the Afternoon

A study conducted by scientists at the John Moores University in Liverpool, England, would seem to indicate that it can. Dr Thomas Reilly and Jim Waterhouse conducted the study, which showed that workouts completed later in the day appeared to be more effective at raising heart rate levels while the same amount of exertion was performed, thus providing exercisers a greater health return for the same expenditure of effort.

The study also found that exercisers experienced no difference in the perception of their work rate, despite afternoon and evening workouts offering a greater rise in heart rates than those taken in the morning.

Scientists Split on Question of Workout Timing

The phenomenon is one that health conscious individuals have often commented upon with anecdotal evidence being recorded in a number of fitness blogs and forums, but many scientists have played down the possibility of timing playing a part in the efficacy of workouts. Physiologists argue that there should be no discrepancy between performances regardless of time of day, while chronobiologists claim evidence proves a greater capacity for a raised heartbeat is often witnessed later in the day.

Dr. Michael Smolenski of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center concurs with the choronbiology camp saying, “In the afternoon and evening you are in a different biological state.” Dr. Smolenski explained that the phenomenon had implications both for consistent exercisers and those first embarking on a fitness regime. He warned that those uninitiated into the rigors of physical exertion could place their heart under greater strain by attempting morning workouts and noted, “My personal approach is to train when your biological efficiency is greatest, which means late afternoon or early evening for most people.”

However, the jury remains out over whether it is more beneficial for dedicated athletes to train in the morning or afternoon. While an afternoon workout could result in a great increase in heart rate, some athletes argue that morning training constitutes a tougher workout, and that pushing the body when it is at its least willing offers both physical and mental rewards – indeed many professional athletes who train in the morning have set personal and official records at late afternoon and evening events – perhaps buoyed by their systems reduced resistance to the task at hand.

Balance Key to Health and Fitness

Fitness experts continue to recommend that consistency of regular workouts, at whatever time of day, eating nutritious foods and ensuring an appropriate balance of nutrients including multivitamins and antioxidants, is the most reliable route to long-term fitness and wellbeing.

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