best time to exercise?
 

I currently don't get much regular exercise, and was thinking of starting to do some light cardio every day once I get back to school (probably just a couple of miles on the treadmill). Is there an optimum time of day to do it? Is it best to wake up early and start doing it every morning, or sometime during the day between classes? Also, if it's going to be in the morning, should I do it before or after breakfast? Thanks a bunch for your help, sorry for the rather inane question :P.

technically speaking, the "best" time is when you first get up in the morning. however, i'm not a morning person at all, and if i try to make myself work out in the morning, i'm much more likely to miss workouts. find what time is best for you personally... i enjoy working out in the evenings more, so thats when i do it. if you have absolutely no preference, then do mornings. it'll jump start your metabolism and keep your metabolism running higher the rest of the day.

Yeah, I'll have to agree: mornings.

I can never do em though.. I have trouble sleeping and there's no way I'm able to wake up before I'm "supposed" to. However, I have definitely noticed the increased metabolism.

If I work out in the AM, it feels like I'm hungry ALL day long because anything I eat gets digested like that *snaps fingers*. It always feels like I can't eat enough! It's kind of annoying, but neat in the sense you notice it actually working. If I wait to workout at night, the metabolism is normal.

Honestly though, if you can't do it in the AM and instead do it at night or whenever, that's perfectly fine too. Working out is working out, it's just rumored that you burn fat directly if done first thing. If you do it after you eat, it's just less you gotta burn off later, so it kinda equals itself out.

It really depends on what time of the day works best for you. One time of the day is not better than any other. I usually just work out in the afternoon, because I am too tired in the mornings.

http://walking.about.com/library/weekly/aa030303a.htm

Here's an article I found on the subject.

Make sure you eat before you do cardio.

The "do cardio before you eat to burn 3x more fat" thing is largely a myth. While you may burn more fat, you'll also burn alot of your muscle because your body is in a catabolic state when you first wake up.

True. But if he's just trying to drop a few pounds, thats not so bad. Clearly if you are doing anything hard, you *have* to eat before you do it, but running for half an hour or less, you could probably get away with.

I prefer in the morning. I like heading to the fitness center bright and early when there are few people there so you don't have to wait and can take your time. I also like run on sentences.

actually, if he's trying to drop a few pounds, that's horrible then. muscle is like 10-20x more metabolically active than fat, so burning muscle might make him weigh less, he won't be losing the fat that he wants to and will have less muscle to continue burning fat with.

I'm definitely not a morning person but I regularly work out in the morning. It means I have to get up quite a lot earlier to commute as my gym is near my workplace. But there are benefits, you feel invigorated and fresh after making the effort in the morning, and the feeling lasts all day. You're more alert, more energetic, and feel better about yourself. I also sleep more soundly at night and find it less of a chore to get up in the morning as I slept so well.

True, it is. But if there is enough aerobic exercise, it burns entirely more fat than the muscle ever would.

Anyways, the point still stands: he's good for a short workout, but if he wants to workout any more than that, he needs to eat :)

But..he's not. Take some food in before you do ANY exercise in the morning.

Here's my opinion for what its worth. I always work out about an hour after I get up. I've eaten, had my coffee and ready to start. Gets my blood pumping and I always seem to get much more accomplished during the day. Then again, I work out after work as well...sooo

I've evolved into a morning exercise person. Now if I can get up, eat breakfast, then get out on my bike about 90 minutes later I'm a happy guy. Of course that only works if it's a non-work day. Otherwise I have to go after work whenever I can squeeze it in.

Have you considered trying to find an activity a little more interesting than a treadmill? A sport or maybe something that will get you out in the fresh air?

I try to excercise in the morning because it makes my day a lot easier...but i have a hard time waking up sometimes. I can definetly see the difference when i excercise in the morning and when i dont.

Do it whenever your schedule allows. There's no 'best' time.

whatever works best for you. sure theres advantages for doing it after sleep, but it doesnt mean anything if you cant bring yourself to do it. I do my workouts at night, have a big meal, and sleep. Just what works for me :)

I have read...cant remember where...that you burn double the calories if you workout in the am because of increased metabolism. So if you burn 500 calories in the morning, you will burn an extra 500 throughout the day just from an increased metabolism.

So if you are trying to lose weight I would suggest am. Otherwise pm because the nighttime is when the body heals itself.

My 2 cents worth includes 2 things:

1. your body needs fuel to work but you don't want to have leftovers
2. excercise when you enjoy it, whenever that is, because if you don't, pretty soon you won't (heh, heh.... I just thought that up and it sounds pretty good, huh?)