The Best Time of Day to Hit the Gym May Surprise You

1. Research Is Clear: Evening Beats Morning

1.1. Your glycogen stores are relatively depleted in the morning, so you’ll burn more fat during a morning workout.

1.2. When it comes to resistance training, trainees perform better later in the day.

1.3. A 2014 study by Malhotra et al found significantly greater strength gains from early evening versus morning training.

1.4. The evening training helps you gain more muscle mass.

1.5. A study performed on bodybuilders found that the evening group gained more fat-free mass, and lost more body fat more than the morning group

2. Why Afternoon/Evening Workouts Are Better

2.1. Reason 1: A better hormonal environment later in the day

2.2. Reason 2: Core body temperature is higher later in the day

2.3. Reason 3: Timing relative to meals and sleep

3. A Few Caveats

3.1. This is relative to when you wake up, not the clock

3.2. You have to do what fits your schedule

3.3. Stress matters

3.4. You can become entrained to your workout time

3.5. Caffeine can make a difference

4. What This Means For You

4.1. Schedule your resistance training (i.e. weightlifting) workouts at least six hours, and no more than twelve hours, after waking.

4.2. Cardio may be more effective in the mornings.

4.3. If you do have to resistance train earlier in the day, consume around 100 mg of caffeine pre-workout to give you more energy and strength.

4.4. Whatever time of day you work out, do it at the same time every day to become entrained to that workout time.

4.5. If you train outside of optimal hours, also train at least 4 days a week to strengthen the entrainment effect.

4.6. If you experience a lot of work stress and have no energy at the end of the workday, train either at lunch or before work and use caffeine as suggested above.

4.7. Keep prioritizing getting a good night’s sleep.