Does it matter what time of day you work out?

shortstuff!

I started the insanity workout programme 2 weeks ago. The 1st week I did all mid week sessions at 6.00am on an empty stomach, having breakfast straight after. Sessions were tough, legs were shaking doing stretchs at the end but overall felt good. 1 have an hour long bus commute and found that when I went to stand up my legs were in bits and stayed like that for the day....(could barely walk after sitting for a couple hours at my desk) subsequent workouts were done on very tired/stiff legs.

Last week, I did the workout straight after work around 7/8pm before dinner... again they were tough but got through them. Had dinner, shower, off to bed.... thing was, my body felt no pain the following morning day, was like I had been sitting on the couch for the evening.

Is this because I'm after getting use to the exercise, doubt this as I find it very hard, would be sweating/heart rate well up etc. or because I've changed the time I workout to evening instead of morning?

Guess I'm just a little worried that it's not working now that its not sore afterwards, no pain no gain and all that!

njoe

Hi Shortstuff,
i started insanity around August last ear and only finished 6 weeks. I would always eat (small) at least an hour before a work out. at least your body has some fuel for those high intensity workouts. One thing i will say is for the first three days of week one and week 6 i was hardly able to move, but on the 4th day of each week my body felt considerably better, and had no pain after this.
How is your insanity going? i am starting again on Monday hopefully. i need to get a good protein shake and recovery formula as the beachbody ones are way to expensive.
Any one else doing insanity feel free to jump in would be good to have some one to compare with.:)

thegreatiam

the time of day you work out makes no difference.

If you prefer to work out in the morning, then do so.

Sounds like you preferred the evening then that's what you should do.

I work out both mornings and evenings on different days of the week. on Fridays I have morning and evening.

Ive noticed no differences. Its nice to know that on Friday night with the empty weekend ahead of me i can go a little harder cos i can sleep more.

Ive never done insanity but to me it looks like its designed to exhaust you each work out. In that case then evening work outs may be better as you can sleep immediately after.

either way, just go with the schedule you prefer

Inspector Coptoor

Id say no, it doesnt matter,


with the caveat that I wouldn't perform heavy squats/deads/cleans/overhead presses or snatches ( or programme them for anyone I coach) very early in the morning as the spine hasn't fully compressed after sleep.

It's my own preference to have at least two meals in before training heavy but conditioning or aerobic work should be fine.

shortstuff!

Thanks guys, I lasted 5 & 1/2 weeks of insanity, the month 2workouts coincided with being mental busy in work & being too intense for the run up to Xmas. Definitely noticed improved fitness thought when I started back jogging this week. May start back in feb...Your advise all makes sense, ill definitely stick to the evening for this type of exercise

davesheahan

The time of the day you decide to train really is a personal preference. You must choose the one that fits into your lifestyle and schedule as well as when you feel best training. Doing cardio first thing in the morning on empty stomach is definitely an advantage for accelerated fat loss but it is not for everyone.
Don't worry about feeling wrecked on an empty stomach as this is normal as the body has no other fuel to access apart from fat which is slow releasing vs when you have carbs in your system which are fast releasing. The only thing to focus on is that you are giving 100% to your workout whatever time it is.
I personally prefer doing cardio first thing and weights around midday. As said previously your spine hasn't fully rectified itself after sleeping so typically doing weights later in day is preferable but again go for what will be consistent. Consistency is the most important thing. There are always BEST methods/strategies but these are useless if you don't like them or can't do them consistently. Results come from consistency.

and re the muscle soreness. Walking like John Wayne for a few days after starting a program is normal. It eases out after a few days and it is not true that you always have to be sore to be getting results. Some people are always sore, some only for few days., I trained a priest before that had never exercised in his life and no matter what training we did he never ever felt soreness. But he was giving 100% and got phenomenol results. So effort is the key

hope that helps

best of luck with INsanity everyone doing it. It is a great program.

To Your Success

Dave

njoe

I used to do my insanity in the early afternoon, which I suppose would be a morning workout for most people, but because I work an awkward night shift this was the best available time for me.

While Insanity is exhausting I felt went I went to work for a ten hour shift after doing it I felt I had more energy.

The only thing I will say is, with Insanity it is possible to burn up to 700/800 calories per workout, so make sure to have a good meal plan and get adequate rest.
Unlike me! while my results were great due to a lack of proper sleep/vitamins and sufficient food and calorie intake i killed my immune system and picked up a viral infection I couldn't shift for two months.

nice_guy80

I always train when I know I can eat afterwards. sometimes even take a little nap.

But everyone is different

Sangre

I've found that not eating before morning workouts has made zero difference to training. However, I would say that I'll often eat my dinner around 10 the night before because of work, however, this is not always the case.

Train whenever you can make it consistently. If you find that you can train whenever you want consistently, then you can start to figure out what works best for you.

Aquarius34

Yes, it's always better for the body to work out earlier in the day than oppose to the evening. We are pretty much like the cycles of day and night. We are most active when the sun is at it's brightest. It's not a huge deal to be working out at different stages of the day, but it would be best to work earlier in the day that oppose to late at night.

If you do workout, stick to a standard routine and make sure you eat your meals at set times so your body adapts.

Stench Blossoms

Aquarius34 wrote: »

Yes, it's always better for the body to work out earlier in the day than oppose to the evening. We are pretty much like the cycles of day and night. We are most active when the sun is at it's brightest. It's not a huge deal to be working out at different stages of the day, but it would be best to work earlier in the day that oppose to late at night.

If you do workout, stick to a standard routine and make sure you eat your meals at set times so your body adapts.

Can you back this up?

Hanley

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Can you back this up?

They do have a point about Circadian rhythm tbh.

Stench Blossoms

Hanley wrote: »

They do have a point about Circadian rhythm tbh.

Yeh, I wasn't actually trying to poke holes in it. I'm genuinely curious of the benefits of this.

Hanley

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Yeh, I wasn't actually trying to poke holes in it. I'm genuinely curious of the benefits of this.

The guts of it is that we're diurnal creatures and our bodies are optimized to run at their best (energy, hormonal function etc) during times of light, and sleep during times of dark.

Electric/unnatural light disrupts this rhythm and prevents optimal function. Most people train in commercial gyms, in the evening with savage amounts of artificial lighting which stimulates you at times when you should be winding down, same can be said for physical exercise.

BUT that's life and it's about the best we can do for the most part, and I only have a passing interest in the topic and it's nothing something I've a really well rounded knowledge on so would love to hear others inputs on it. I think there's a great book called "lights out" or something about the topic that I keep meaning to buy and read.

The Guvnor

I think the theory is great but IME and IMO the time does make a difference.

I cannot see many of us hitting 1RM's at 6-7am.

The probable ideal time for many of us to train would be mid morning probably around 10-11am or so which is great as most are in work by then so very impractical.

I've done early am training for years and I did get used to it (hoping to get used to it again) BUT it requires more preparation than at other times.

I also think the chances of injury early am when lifting heavy are higher.

Cardio on the other hand is great early am - fall into a pool and you wake up sharpish - get out on a lake early am with mist and sun rising is a great feeling plus you can ease into the session over a 5-10 minute period of gentle rowing etc.

The circadian rhytmn is more to do with times of the month rather than times of the day IIRC and they try to explain when one is more predisposed to hitting a peak which is great but a bit of a pain if your comp fall outside this window of opportunity!:)

Ideally I would train around 11am - have a meal or two before hand etc. however the reality for me is either train 1st thing which would be 7am or later on which would be 7pm or so.

Despite all my waffling I think the key thing is consistency and for a lot of people early am is the best option as you get it done whereas later on things could come up and session could be canned etc.