Does this mean that you should turn your life upside down to exercise in the mornings?



Of course not!

While our work schedules and personal preferences dictate our time (or the lack of it) to exercise, one fact is frequently overlooked; convenience. Your comfort level with a particular time determines the effectiveness and long-term success in exercise. If you are a morning person, then evening workouts might be inconvenient and vice versa.

A workout session that is optimally timed for each individual actually helps improve the concentration of the trainee during the workout (thereby resulting in a better workout session) and leads to more results.

Interestingly, the best time varies from person to person. How do you know what works best for you? Morning, noon, or night?

Consider a few facts -

Generally, when your body temperature is high (peak afternoon), your workout will be most effective and you'll burn more calories.

When you exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, it is likely that the majority of the calories you expend will be from your fat stores, since the circulating blood glucose levels are low after your over night fast. Hence your body has no option but to utilize the fat stores for energy.

On the other hand, when you exercise late in the evening, your blood glucose levels are higher, owing to the your preceding meals. Hence your body, (although it may burn the same number of calories), will preferentially burn more calories from carbohydrate, rather than fat stores. From a fat loss point of view, this is not the best thing, but it is certainly better than NOT doing any exercise all day.

WHEN SHOULD YOU EXERCISE?

Take a close look at your schedule and ask yourself - can you find time to exercise in the morning, afternoon or evening?

When is your concentration level at its peak?

When do you feel your best?

Do you have trouble getting charge up in the morning? If you're not a morning person, you might perform better at the end of the day when you're wide awake.

Are you usually dragging by the end of the day? If so you may be too exhausted to exercise and thereby risk injury due to poor concentration levels.

If you feel alive, energetic and revved up in the morning then put in that extra effort for morning sessions. In fact, people who exercise in the morning are more likely to stick with their exercise programs. If you're a beginner, consider 25-35 minutes of walking / running / cycling early in the morning.

If you do not look forward to your workouts, the time may just be the factor that is holding you back. It's all about timing, so make that change today. It could be one of the best things you ever do!!.