Morning Workout – vs – Evening Workout

During the spring and summer months, when is it best to work out?

Working out for 30 minutes in the mornings during the months of spring and summer will bring you better results than working out in the evenings.  Read why below.

 

From a very young age, working out has always been a part of my lifestyle.  My workouts usually occurred in the early evenings after work.  For some reason, the evening schedule always seemed to work out better for me.  However, during the months of spring and summer, my workouts seemed to disappeared off my calendar for no specific intention.  

 

For this purpose, I compare the two workout options in hopes to determine which one is better for the months of spring and summer.

 

In the past two weeks, I have tested both options.  The first week was working out in the morning and the second week was working out in the evenings.  From my discovery I have found few conclusions which drew me to my ultimate solution.  Before stating which one is better for the months of spring and summer, I would like to give you the positives and negatives for both. 

 

If you workout in the morning, the evening stays open for any plans that might come up throughout the day.  As a result of working out in the morning, you will also feel more energetic throughout the day.  However, the problem here is in how well can you force yourself to wake up earlier than you really have to?  In my research, forcing me to get up is what took the most effort.  My mind wanted to just say “I will just go workout after work” or “I will go jogging after work in the park”.  Especially knowing it was going to be sunny and warm, jogging in the park always sounded better than going to a stinky gym. 

This brings me to working out in the evenings.  When the sun starts shinning and the days become longer, it seems that more people spend time outside, with their friends and families.  The phone starts ringing more and last minute plans from friends start making their way onto your calendar.  As the plans start appearing in the evenings, workouts seem to start disappearing.  I probably shouldn’t say disappearing.  It’s almost as if they get pushed out daily with the excuse we have all used, “I will just go tomorrow”.   This was a major problem I noticed during my research.  As the conclusions of the research came together, I have put together a solution that can work for anybody.  In general it is better to do a small workout everyday or several times a week than a long workout randomly.  Taking this method into considerations, schedule your workout every morning before work for at least 30 minutes.  If all you can do is 30 minutes then only do 30 minutes.  You really don’t need to do more than 30 minutes as long as you are being consistent.  If you notice yourself trying to come up with an excuse, stop and think to yourself.  If I don’t go now, I won’t go in the evening, which would mean, I won’t get to work out today. 

I can guarantee that keeping a continues workout schedule in the evenings during the months of spring and summer is almost impossible, so why not avoid it by working out in the mornings for less amount of time.  This way you will avoid the guilt and excuses by working out in the morning and actually enjoying the evenings with your friends, family or just by yourself and a glass of wine with cheese.

Comments

[Tatia Gvelesiani]

Hi Ed, Thank you for your comment. You have raised an interesting question.
I believe there is no specific workout that is better for mornings or evenings. It is solely based on your preference and habits.
My only advice is to keep the morning workouts less intense than the evening workouts. Especially if you don't eat breakfast before you hit the gym. Workouts take a lot of energy and food is what gives you the energy to stay active. From my experience, if I do an intense workout in the morning, it tends to make me tired for rest of the day. However, if my workout is less intense, then my energy level rises and I feel good throughout the day. By less intensive workout, I mean; less weight, less duration or less repetition.
Both of the workouts are better than nothing. Find the one that fits you better as well as your schedule and stick to it.
Let me know how it goes.

[Ed]

Yes, I agree with you. It's harder to workout evening when it's still sunny and nice outside. Thanks for the advice :)
One question for you: If you know what type of workouts are specific for mornings and for evenings? When I run at night I always think, do I do right or wrong?
Thank you
Ed